Friendships bring in more athletes, teams to NWBA Military Division Tournament
Tee Foster felt like he’d found home.
Playing in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association’s (NWBA’s) Military Division Tournament on Friday morning, the Army veteran and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Mid-Atlantic Chapter member reignited his childlike passion for the game.
It was the first year for the team, Foster’s first year in the tournament and plenty of first-day fun.
The Bridge2Sports SharpShooters player helped lead his team to two opening-day victories, and he had a blast at the Plassman Athletic Center at Turnstone in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“Well, I’m able to play and be a kid again, so to speak, because it takes me back to when I first played it,” says the 55-year-old Foster, who has played wheelchair basketball for the past 30 years. “They call me ‘Rookie’ on the team. I’m enjoying myself.”
Bridge2Sports rolled to wins over the LWSRA Hawks (74-14) and ParaSport Spokane (100-22) before a late-night game against the Wolfpack Vets. And to think, they’ve only had one practice together — way back in the early winter. This is the first year the Military Division is an official part of the NWBA National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament series — and with a high of eight teams, surpassing six from last year.
A Fayetteville, N.C., resident, Foster sustained a level T12 spinal cord injury while serving in June 1972 in what was then called Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) in Texas after being run over by a Humvee. He’s played with the Adult Division III’s Fayetteville Flyers, but he got recruited for the new Military Division team based out of Fayetteville by their coach, Bill Johnstone.
Johnstone is a right above-the-knee amputee after a 1993 upstate New York automobile accident and has played wheelchair basketball for the past eight years for the Adult Division III’s Coastal Chairmen. Now, he’s coaching the sport for the first time. After playing against Foster in the Adult Division in the past and teaming up with him for back-to-back titles in the Bridge2Sports/Valor Games Southeast 3-on-3 tournament in 2022 and 2023, he wanted him on the military team this year.
That’s turned out well.
“Oh, having just such having great players around the coach, it makes it easier for a coach, you know? All you have to do is sub in players for each different player, just kind of tell them, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to run. We’re going to press or we’re going to run a zone.’ You know, a lot of them are very experienced, so they kind of help each other out, talk about it,” Johnstone says. “… You know, it’s so great working with great players. He [Foster] is one of the good players.”
Coming out to the military tournament refreshed Foster. He says it’s been a tough rebuilding battle for the Fayetteville team since 2020 when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit. The Flyers have a good amount of newly injured players and those new to the sport, while the Sharpshooters have an established group and presence on and off the court.
“The thing about the military that I’m seeing is … the different skills that I have, my teammates have those same skills,” Foster says.
Foster wasn’t the only one who had someone convince him to come out to the Military Division tournament.
Some military friends convinced five-time U.S. Paralympic sled hockey player and three-time gold medalist Rico Roman to join the Wolfpack Vets for this year’s tournament.
After playing with the Bridge City Rolling Blazers in Adult Division II and helping lead them to a sixth-place finish two weekends ago in Virginia, the Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient decided to hoop it up some more. The Wolfpack Vets defeated ParaSport Spokane (61-30) and the LWSRA Hawks (55-20) before their late-night game against the SharpShooters.
PVA Northwest Chapter member and Army veteran Russ Norris and a few others helped convince Roman to join.
A retired Army staff sergeant, Roman was injured in February 2007 after being wounded by an improvised explosive device while serving his third tour in Iraq. Later, he had his left leg amputated.
Up until two weeks ago, Roman had only played a few minutes here and there at national tournaments. But at this year’s Adult Division II tournament, he spent most of his time on the court. He liked it so much that with his friends’ push, he decided to join his military brethren this weekend. He thought the team’s opening game went pretty well.
“Good chemistry, got some points, got some assists, some rebounds. And everybody’s super supportive. You know, all different branches of service here. You know, I think that’s what’s really cool about this tournament,” Roman says.
It marked a busy week for Roman. After this tournament, he’s going back home to Washington for two days and then back out for the 2025 USA Hockey Sled Hockey National Championships at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs, Fla.
Even with all his success at sled hockey, Roman says wheelchair basketball has been his primary sport. Growing up, before he was injured, he played able-bodied basketball a ton.
“Because it was the first one you found accessible. OK, think about it — like it is. All I need is a basketball and not coming from a home full of money. I can take that ball. And I played basketball all summer long, you know? And then the free park lunch at that time was a big thing. You know, I’d go get my free lunch in the summer and hoop until I couldn’t hoop no more. You know, and then got injured and stuff in the service, and I got this,” Roman says. “I’d heard about it before, but they went back to back with [U.S. Sled Hockey] nationals, and I couldn’t make it. And this season, they spread it out a little more, and I’m here having fun.”
National Wheelchair Basketball Association Military Division Day 1
Pool Play
Wolfpack Vets 61, ParaSport Spokane 30
Bridge2Sports SharpShooters 74, LWSRA Hawks 14
San Antonio Grunts 73, Charlotte Hornets Teal 22
WWAR Florida 60, Charlotte Hornets Purple 40
Bridze2Sports SharpShooters 100, ParaSport Spokane 20
Wolfpack Vets 55, LWSRA Hawks 20
Bridge2Sports SharpShooters 57, Wolfpack Vets 49
San Antonio Grunts 80, WWAR Florida 42