WHITEWATER, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is known internationally for its strong wheelchair basketball program.

What You Need To Know

  • This summer, three key members of the UW-Whitewater men's wheelchair basketball team are headed to Paris to compete in the Paralympic Games

  • Talen Jourdan and AJ Fitzpatrick will join the team, along with their head coach, Jake Williams

  • Williams has been to the Paralympics before in 2021 and 2016, when he helped Team USA win gold in Rio

  • Eight out of the 12 players on the USA team have ties to UW-Whitewater

This summer, three key members of the team are headed to Paris to compete in the Paralympic Games, the highest level of competition.

Talen Jourdan is one of them. He’s always been a skilled athlete, but when he was 13, a fall from a tree stand while hunting paralyzed him from the waist down.

Instead of giving up, he learned how to compete in a different way.

“Wheelchair basketball was kind of the first sport that I was introduced to after my injury, and ever since then, I’ve been playing,” Jourdan said.

Jourdan just graduated from UW-Whitewater after helping lead the school’s wheelchair basketball team to its latest national title. Now, his sights are set higher on victory at the Paralympic Games.

“I was introduced to a lot of people who played at that big level, and they said that I could always play there if I put in the work for it,” Jourdan said.

Jake Williams is the head coach of Whitewater’s wheelchair basketball team, and a former player in the program. He’s also competing in Paris this summer.

“Only 12 guys are on Team USA, so it takes a long time to get really good and really at that level,” Williams said.

Williams also lost the use of his legs as a teenager after he was hit by a car while riding his bike. In many ways, he said he believes wheelchair basketball saved his life, allowing him to continue being a high-level athlete.

“Whenever someone comes here to Whitewater, they know that they want to come and try that and it’s their best shot to make Team USA,” Williams said. “We have a bunch of players that want to get at that level.”

Williams has been to the Paralympics before in 2021 and 2016, when he helped Team USA win gold in Rio.

Both he and Jourdan said they have gold on their minds as they practice for Paris.

“To represent with all my other Wisconsin teammates, it makes me super proud to be a fellow Wisconsinite,” Jourdan said.

Another member of Whitewater’s team, AJ Fitzpatrick, is also on Team USA for wheelchair basketball this year, along with five other former Whitewater players. That means eight out of the 12 players on the team have ties to UW-Whitewater.

The Paralympic Games take place in August.

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