The Public Relations Student Society of America will be sponsoring the first “Helping Through Hoops” at 4 p.m. today in the back gym of the Joe Frank Sanderson Center.
Helping Through Hoops is a wheelchair basketball game played against the Mississippi Magic to raise money for the Magic and the society. A $3 donation can be given at the door of the game.
The Magic is a professional wheelchair basketball team out of Jackson. They compete in the Gulf Coast Conference of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and have been division champs for two years.
The Mississippi State University Allstars is a team of volunteer students who will play against the Magic. None of the varsity basketball players are allowed to play because of NCAA regulations, PRSSA President Abby Barber said.
“The basketball game is a way to support both the PRSSA and the Magic, especially since the Magic rely only on donations,” Barber said. “The donations will be split between the Magic and the PRSSA.”
The donations for the PRSSA will go toward funding the members to be able to go to a national conference in New York, Barber said.
Barber said her mother gave her the idea to have the Magic come play. Her mother had told her how the Magic came to the middle school she taught at in Ridgeland, Miss., and played a team of middle school boys.
Magic player James Clayton said: “All of the team members have some form of a disability. Through these fundraising events and the regular season, we are able to make people aware of the things we can achieve. This is also an opportunity for us to encourage those with disabilities to be active despite their condition.”
The wheelchairs that the Magic uses are different from a normal hospital wheelchair. The wheelchairs are lighter, faster and specially designed to give quicker turns or movement, Clayton said.
“Even though the chairs are specially designed for this kind of activity, we still have to do a lot of physical workout to be able to perform,” Clayton said.
“I’m excited about being able to play against them,” Allstar team member Frank Haynes said. “It’s going to be different, but fun. I think I’m going to appreciate the life that I have. Maybe I’ll be able to understand what people in chair have to go through or what they do.”
The Magic will spot their opponents-in fund-raising events only-50 or 60 points and then begin to seriously play against them, Clayton said.
If Helping through Hoops is successful, then the society will consider repeating it next year, said Barber.
Faculty adviser to the society John Forde said, “I think it’s a great idea and great that the students decided to pursue it. It will display the different abilities that people have. It’s amazing what they can do.”