A unique post-season basketball game at the DeVos Fieldhouse on Wednesday, April 13, will be among the highlights of Disability Awareness Week at Hope College.
The Grand Rapids Pacers wheelchair basketball team will challenge a co-ed team featuring members of the Hope men's and women's basketball teams beginning at 7 p.m.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The Hope players will be occupying wheelchairs with brief instructions on techniques and differences in rules from what they are accustomed. Although the Flying Dutch and Flying Dutchmen both advanced to the second round of NCAA Division III regional play this year and will have the homecourt advantage, the Disability Awareness Week coordinator notes that she gives the edge to the Pacers.
"The things they they do and how well they play -- it's a lot like having the Globetrotters come," said Louise Schumaker, who is director of disability services at Hope.
The Pacers will be making their third appearance at Hope in conjunction with the week. Their last time at Hope was 2008.
Schumaker is glad for the return engagement.
"We appreciate being able to bring really good people in to have an impact in a fun way," she said, "to build awareness of how much somebody who's sitting in a wheelchair can do with an athletic event -- that's a really big thing."