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CUNY Adaptive Wheelchair Basketball Head Coach Ryan Martin Talks 2024 Nationals · OneLegUpAlex Media

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Here's your host, Alex Garren tonight a very special conversation with Ryan Martin.
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He's the head coach of Quney Adaptive's wheelchair basketball squad. The women's team is
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actually on their way to Nationals right now once again, and the men will
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be going to Nationals in a couple of weeks. But yesterday, the first
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Tuesday in March, was National Sportsmanship Day. And to me, when you
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think of sportsenship, I think of the handshakes that opposing players of a wheelchair
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basketball team, you know, do the handshakes before the game, after the
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game. I mean that is sportsroanship, and it's sportsroenship that able bodied athletes
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can certainly learn from. And I talked with Ryan about sportsenship, about what's
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been going on in the Cuney Adaptive world and a big win that Cunei Adaptive
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men's wheelchair basketball squad actually had in the twenty three four regular season. Well,
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you know, we have the Kenny Alberts of the world, but we
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also love talking to the adaptive sports world. And that's why I always love
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having Ryan Martin on the head coach for Cuniy Adaptive. Who's got some big
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news for us because if you follow our instagram's Cuniy Adaptive, Ryan Martin's or
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Alex g NYC one, you might have known a big thing happened for Kuniy
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Adaptive Wheelchair Basketball earlier this year. Ryan tell us the big news, do
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we bet a D one school or am I imagining things we did? But
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uh, there's more work to come, so we're not going to celebrate too
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much. But yeah, milestone for the uh for the program there to get
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a win, and you know, really it shows kind of the growth is
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continuing, you know, three years into the program, and we're excited.
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Our men are going to nationals here in Minnesota pretty quick in two weeks,
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and then this week our women are going to Alabama for Women's Nationals, and
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so we're excited as you know, as the project goes on and we continue
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to try to scrape out a few more wins here. Well, while we're
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on the topic, how did that win come to play? Give fans all
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insight into how Cunion Adapted was able to beat Missouri on a big stage.
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Yeah, I mean kind of, to be honest, Alex, it was
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kind of a rock fight, you know, a sense of it wasn't the
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prettiest wheelchair basketball that you'll see. You know, I think the final score
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was I think like forty eight forty five, which is, you know,
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really low scoring for us and really low scoring for you know, such a
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great program like Missouri. That is, you know, just we're able to
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battle it out, and you know, it's it's good because I think you
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know, a lot of times as a coach you tell your team, like,
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you know, offenses. You know, offense is the sexy thing and
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the attractive thing and what gets the Instagram clips and you know, gets what
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people to you know, repost on Twitter and you know, and all that
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stuff. But defensively, that's what travels, right And in these tournament weekends
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where you got to play three to four games and you know, maybe one
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game you shoot well, one game you shoot poorly, defense travels, and
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our ability to rotate on defense and hang in there just long enough was able
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to give us a win. But we'll be we'll face some really good competition
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this uh in a couple of weeks on the men's side, and then definitely
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you know, on the women's side. This week where we start off the
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bracket with the women's team from Illinois, which is uh a well coached team
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and uh you know has as good a chance of winning a championship and the
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women's side as anybody. You know, the torch has sort of been passed
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down now from the original crew that helped you start this team. So talk
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about the new newbies, if you will, that have really uh helpeding compass
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and help grow these programs. Yeah, you know, we we've got a
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lot of the the original class of players. You know, our freshmen that
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have you know, are you know juniors and seniors and working on finishing school
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and really have been the rock of the program. And you know, this
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year on the women's side, we have five new players and next year on
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the men's side, we'll have several new players as well. So we're in
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that, you know, kind of that first recruiting cycle of the program where
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you know, we're past the proof of concept phase from a university perspective to
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get buy in for the program, and you know some of the things that
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starting up a program really takes time. And so you know, we're looking
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forward to adding you know, more pieces to the puzzle down the road,
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and you know, it's it's it never ends, right, you know,
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you have that you know that right after you win a game, you really
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have to start preparing for the next game. And you know, especially the
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way the tournament brackets are set up, where you know, if you win,
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you play another game the next day, and you know, there's not
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a lot of time to process. So you hope that you hope that your
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athletes are ready one hundred Now now as you're coaching this, you've had a
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lot of experience as coach and as player. Brian Martin, is this uh
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is this project feeling or rewarding for you? I'm sure it is, But
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talk about the coaching melting pot, if you will, from where you were
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to now and how that's all been part of the experience you had coming into
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this appropriate and melting it all together, if you will. Yeah, I
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mean, you know, I don't think I've had a chance to really look
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back on it, you know, you know towards the off season when you
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get a little bit of a reprieve and then you kind of hit the recruiting
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trail and reset your recruiting cycles for you know, the following year and things
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of thatture. Uh, you know, I'll have better chance to kind of
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reflect on those things. But I think I think it's been good. I'm
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really proud of how the team has, you know, forged through some tough
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moments, you know, on the court and off the court. And I
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think, you know, a lot of the success of the program in the
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near term is just to the resiliency of them, right you know, uh,
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just continually battling, and you know, the leadership we have within our
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older players trickling down to our younger players has been really solid. And so
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you know, I'm just excited to get after it and continue building and continue
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building this Oh absolutely. Now, I know you don't like to name you
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know, I don't know, I know you don't like to name drop,
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but some of the players that stand out for you, that that you want
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to talk about while I have you here on the podcast today. Yeah,
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you know, I think on the men's side, I think, you know,
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everybody is accustomed to you know, Remy and Abdul as our post players,
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you know, really leading us and scoring. But I think this year
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we've really been buoyed by the by the improvement in Rogers game. You know,
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I think Roger is really stepped up, and you know, Rogers our
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glue guy. There's times you know, depending on what we're trying to run
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and where we're trying to go that you know, I'm asking him to be
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a you know, a complimentary scorer. I'm asking him to facilitate or I'm
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asking him to, you know, lock down one of the opposing team's primary
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offensive threats. And so I ask a lot of him, and he's done
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really well. And I mean he's uh, you know, he's filling a
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void you know from Errol who graduated who Errol did that played that role really
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well for us. But you know, I think for us, we we
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we go as far as like we can go with Roger in the sense of,
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you know, when Roger's on and Roger can make some shots and be
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that second or third scorer that we need, we're much more We're much more
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effective and much more by well as a team offensively. And then you know,
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you always need a really solid guard who can handle the ball and take
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care of pressure and just get you in the sets and you know, tight
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games and things of that nature. And so Roger does a really good job
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for us there, you know. And on the women's side, I would
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say it's our freshman Zoe who has really come in and and like I knew
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she was going to be really good coming in, and I knew we were
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going to ask her to do a ton of stuff, right. We were
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going to ask her, you know, to score the ball a little bit
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for us, to fend a little bit at times, facilitate for others,
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which is a lot to ask a freshman as she's making the jump from playing
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you know, juniors basketball too the collegiate level. But she's done really super
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well, and you know, her and Isabella have been really solid building blocks
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for the future for our team. So I'm excited for them to go down
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the Nationals and get that first taste of that experience down in Alabama and you
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know, continue to continue to build from there. I'm glad you mentioned the
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Zoe. I'm glad you mentioned freshman because I want to ask you about recruiting.
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Obviously, recruiting is an interesting term when it comes to wheelchair basketball because
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people may think, oh, there's not many programs to recruit from. But
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give us a little insight. How many teams, how many high schools,
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how many even colleges are you recruiting from too? You know that I've really
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adapted to this program and really made it part of their sports department as well.
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Yeah, so, I mean, you know, most of the list
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arners will probably know that like the NWBA, the National Wheelchair Basketball Association is
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the governing body for our sport, right, and so our youth level is
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junior wheelchair basketball, and so from that is pretty much your main recruiting source,
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you know, recruiting younger into the university setting. But due to the
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nature of how people acquire their disability and later later in life with spinal cord
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injuries or military injuries or you know, different things that that you also have
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a chasm of folks who are you know, non traditional students who are coming
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back to the university after acquiring their disability and you know, part of the
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makeup for your roster two. So here are always looking for you know,
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different veteran installation games and you know, always keeping your ear out for you
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know, different possibilities and different recruits in that area. But predominantly you're you're
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pulling from the NWBA junior division, and I know that you are. You
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play a role on that as well, So you're you're very involved with this
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project. Now, last time we talked, you sort of became an intramural
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and cuniac and you sorry it was different. You're under the student section now.
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But how has CUNEY continued to support this program as it grows? I
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mean, this national win turn some heads and I'm sure put a little more
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of a spotlight on you guys, right, yeah, I think, you
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know, for those who know basketball like you know, I don't think you
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get too high or too low with a win. I think, you know,
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it's I think it's really important to show, you know, growth in
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your program. And you know, growth in your program isn't just on the
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court, right you know, by showing your recruiting new students and by students,
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you know, take advantage of the educational opportunity to have when they come
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to the university. And so you know, I think this win shows us
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the potential that our men's program has. But but you know, no one's
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going to give you any accolades or kudos the next time the ball goes up
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to start the next game, right, you know, you have to be
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able to do that consistently, you know, and kind of the mantra you
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know with our men's team has been all year long of you know, let's
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you know, do the things that good teams do for forty minutes and be
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really consistent. And I think, you know that is the one area where
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we still have an opportunity for some growth, is you know, executing the
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finer elements of the game for forty minutes. And I know you have a
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very big supporting cast rounding with Melissa and whatnot. Talk about your staff that
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helps make all these games and these moments and agendas and travels possible. Yeah,
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I mean, aa, Alyssa's fantastic, right you You know, there's
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a there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that needs to get taken
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care of before we can even get on the court. And I think I
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couldn't do this without Alyssa's support and without the other folks within our university structure,
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you know that kind of make the administrative stuff kind of move a little
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bit faster than it than it it would normally. And so I think,
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you know, when you look at a program like this, I mean,
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this is a reflection of an hire university embracing students with disabilities in a way
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that they never had previously. And so it's a it's definitely a team effort
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from numerous people behind the scenes, you know, pushing and moving things along
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so you know, we can get to the places we need to travel,
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or the students can get the academic support on their campuses that they need,
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and so it's it's nice to share, you know, milestones with those folks
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when you're able to, when you're able to do so for sure, all
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right, Ran, Well, I know I was part of this journey a
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couple of years ago to Texas, a lot of we you know, wheel
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chairs fitted for wheelchair basketball getting on a plane, and I'm assuming it's gonna
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be the same kind of routine this week as well. I mean, tell
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us the travels because maybe people are interested in how a wheelchair basketball team travels
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with their equipment to these different tournaments. Yeah, I mean it is a
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you know, I think it is kind of a site to be seen in
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that regard as far as you know, the comedy of erarors of trying to
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coordinate all of that. But you know, ALYSSA does a really good job,
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and our and our student athletes are really good and you know, as
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far as managing their stuff and managing their equipment, and but it is it
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is quite a uh, quite a lot you know, a lot of chairs,
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a lot of bags and different things of that nature. But you know,
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the good part is most of our athletes, I think all of them
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have you know, played the sport, had the chance to travel and different
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things like that. So you just hope for uh, you know, smooth
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flights and that all the chairs arrive when you get there. All right,
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Well, I unfortunately missed obviously this past CuNi festival, if you will,
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when you guys played at home at Queen's College. But give us a recap
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of that. How was that weekend? And I know the crowds are starting
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to grow and come out to watch you guys. Right, Yeah, it's
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been good each time, you know, each time it's uh, it's getting
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a little bit better. You know. Next year we hope to be able
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to do more stuff at home and you know kind of continue to cultivate that
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fan base in different things of that nature. But it is nice. It
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is aside from the university supporting it, it has been something that the you
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know, the greater disabled community within the city have really shown a lot of
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support for and have come out for. So that's really good to you know,
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get that level of support internally and externally. You know, I love
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also and then you may not realize this, but cuney adaptive is just that
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it's all the Qunity schools. So whether it's in the Bronx or in Brooklyn
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or Queens I mean, all the Qunity schools are able to participate, right
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correct, Yeah, which I think it makes this program pretty unique that,
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you know, it's not it's not a Hunter based program or a John Jay
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or Queen's or you know a Hostos or you know a Queensboro. It's it's
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an everybody thing. And so I think it's I think it's a nice reflection
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of the you know, the strength of the entire university and the diversity of
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the entire the entire system. Now I know that you know, the men
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have had some great times in the Nationals. Women are getting there, But
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what are you looking for out of women this week when you go to Nationals?
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Because obviously that's going to be a bit of a challenge, but you
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guys are always up for that challenge. Yeah, I mean that's a tall
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order. You have some really you know, you have some really talented teams
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and you have some really talented players who a lot of them, you know,
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are a handful of them, excuse me, will be representing their respective
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countries, you know, in Paris this summer for the Paralympics. And right,
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so, I think what we're always looking for is continual growth, right
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and sometimes you know, you have to measure that in intangible Sometimes you have
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to you know, find certain stats that allow you to validate that claim.
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But continual improvement in you know, the phases of basketball that we're we're really
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trying to emphasize as far as you know, movement with the ball and without
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the ball in the offensive end, and defensively being really you know, stingy
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about what we give up in the paint and things of that nature. So
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you have to chart your growth trajectory differently, but you have to have a
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holistic approach of you know, what can we do today to get better for
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the next tournament or the next game or the next season. And you know,
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basketball's a basketball is an unforgiving sport, but it also does give you
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the opportunity to get better each day. And so I think really leaning into
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that is the key. You know, growing up around coaches like Chris Bacon
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and Joe Salonica, I mean I've seen them really support this program. What's
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I mean to have the coaches, you know, your peers support and actually
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sort of become a pipeline for kids that may be leaving you know, maybe
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graduate high school one springing into the college scene in the fall. I mean,
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what's that like to be a pipeline for these coaches and for these kids
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that want to have a career wacher basketball after high school. You know,
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it's great. I think everybody understands, you know that the larger picture that's
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you know, this opportunity provides individuals with disabilities as far as you know,
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being able to use basketball to get their education and all of those sort of
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things. So I think it's really critical too, you know, for everybody
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to you know, want those same things right. And so I think the
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junior coaches in the in the area, you know, ultimately want the best
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for their athletes long term, whether that means they come to play Acuniti or
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they go play at another university or just end up going to school. I
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think it's something we can all get back behind on. And you know,
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those of us who are in this community understand the value proposition of adaptive sports,
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you know, brings multiple facets from like a health and wellness from an
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employment perspective, from a quality of life perspective, and I think anybody who
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works with young people, whether they're disabled or not, can support those long
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term notions and visions for those folks. Ran. What I honestly loved about
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this when I first got involved with you guys in covering you guys, is
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that as kids, we had the we had to basketball program at Viscardi and
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then it was sort of the that was it. And I feel like this
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is opening a world that maybe kids who think of a day to day wherever
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they're at now don't realize what they're on the new show up and it's got
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to be like, Wow, what door's opening here? Sure? Yeah,
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no, agreed, I think it's uh. I think that's the hope,
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right, And I think long term, you know, I hope that we
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can see this program being a fixture within the you know, within the city,
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within the university, and then just the disabled community as general. I
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think it's it's really hard to compete in today's economy, you know, without
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the best education and all of that sort of stuff. And I think the
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benefit for a individual from New York this stay and go to school at QUNI
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is more cost affordable, you know, and so being able to access that
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education, you know, at a good institution and then being able to you
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know, play the sport that you grew up and you love to play and
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you know you want to play your whole life is I think is really critical
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and so hopefully, hopefully this is a small step each day and towards that
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ultimate goal there. Did you feel like you had the chance to live out
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this dream of going from you know, playing as a kid into into college
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or is this something that you kind of wish you had grow you know,
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growing up, if you will, from teenager in the twenties and whatnot.
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Yeah, I mean for me, like I've I've had a really you know,
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some opportunity to you know, playing college, play professionally, come back
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and win some NWBA championships with the Knicks, and you know, as a
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kid, this was beyond my wildest stream, right just because you know,
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there was very I think there was maybe a few schools that we're doing like
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adaptive sports at the collegiate level at the time. And so now that that
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number has continued to increase and I think you see, you know, growth
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of the adaptive sports movement, you know throughout the country, you know,
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in large part too, you know, the Paralympic Games and the media attention
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that draws, and the trickle down effect of that attention. And so I
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think right now, you know, a kid with the disability can see like,
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oh, I can go to college and play a sport, and then
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I can go to Europe and then I can represent my country and I can
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win medals, and you know, I can do this and I can do
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that, which I think is really a powerful tool of representation that I don't
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think existed when I was growing up. But I really can't complain about my
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journey. I think the sport gave me more individually than I can ever give
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back to others. But hopefully I can kind of even the score at some
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point here. Well, you mentioned it rolling Nixon. Of course, Steve
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Cirio, and he's been a partner in crime with this, if you will,
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for you guys, having him as part of this project and this journey
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must mean a lot as well. Yeah, I think there's a lot of
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the guys you know that have really supported it. Pat has been super supportive
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of things, and you know, KG and a lot of those guys that
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you know, have been around the game for a long time and been around
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New York City for a long time, have really kind of seen this program
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as as something that they wish was there when they were, you know,
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a little bit younger and coming up, and so I think they can support
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it. You know, we're all trying to worry about that. You know,
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we're all trying to leave the game better than we found it, right,
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And I think that's the you know, I think that's a challenge and
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sometimes a burden for people when you're a part of a marginalized community, right
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and you're successful, so you feel inclined and you feel the need to give
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back in that sort of way. And I think that's very true with a
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lot of the folks within the wheelchair basketball space in the city, in the
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state, in the region, as far as really making sure this opportunity lasts
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for other folks. Speaking of the city, you know, and I know
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you guys are practicing at home at Queen's College, but I got to say,
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Saint John's just had a Wheelchair Sports Federation do wheelchair basketball as featuring them
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at ubs Arena. When you see moments like that, Ryan what does that
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mean to bring the court to the college level, Like the Saint John's embracing,
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you know, Wheelchair Sports Federation talk about when you see things like that
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happen, what does that mean for you that even Saint John's embracing this Now.
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Yeah, so I look at it a little bit differently. I'd like
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to see these programs embrace it more holistically, right, you know, I
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think, you know, I think it's great to do a halftime demonstration of
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wheelchair basketball to raise awareness, but I also think that's only the first of
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you know, many steps towards really truly being inclusive in this space. So
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while I think it's you know, I don't get too giddy about those I
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think that they're a great opportunity to you know, show some different to create
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awareness around the adaptive sports movement. But I think there's more that these entities
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can do in that space. I mean, I think what you're seeing is
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you know, adaptive sports getting a little push due to the prevalence of the
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nil collectives that these universities are trying to do, and I think that's a
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great thing. But what I'd love to see is like a full embracement of
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adaptive sports from the NC Double A and you know, anything shorter that comes
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across as a little bit token stick to me in that sense. So I
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think it's I think it's good, but I also think I think I think
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we need to see more. I mean, it's twenty twenty four, so
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like the Dog and Pony show up, just an adaptive sports demo and all
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of that. That's great to raise awareness, but I think I think the
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disabled community should ask for more and demand more than just you know, those
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tokenistic gestures. I'm so glad you said that because I feel like sometimes,
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and I might be wrong, but I feel like sometimes if the average person
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walks into a game, it's sort of like this, ooh, look how
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inspirational they're making it. And I've said this before, Look how inspirational is
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that this kind made a shot? Well, that kid is actually competing their
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ass off right now, right, And that's how I look at it is
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they're not just being inspirational, they're working hard at their game. Ran Yeah,
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And I think it's really important to understand, like, you know,
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you know, I think sports is a meritocracy, right, and I think
26:00
if you're good at sports, great, and if you're not good at sports,
26:03
that's fine too, but I don't think. I think far too often
26:06
when people see adaptive sports, they look at it and they're like, hey,
26:08
you know, that's really great, that's really inspiring, and you look
26:11
at it and the person can barely make a basket, right or you know.
26:15
So I think I think us as members of the disabled community, really
26:22
just need to really look at that and see if it is the type of
26:32
adoration and visibility we want, and if that is the soul level of visibility.
26:44
You know, I personally take grievance with that, but I think you
26:47
know, as every person in the disabled community, has the autonomy to decide
26:51
how they feel about that. But as somebody who works in the nonprofit sector
26:55
who's always looking to great, meaningful and lasting change, I know that's a
27:00
those type of events or a caveat to get things started and start conversations.
27:04
But I think it also needs to be something that is fleshed out a little
27:08
bit more. And I'm so glad you mentioned that, Ryan, because I
27:12
feel like, you know, and I verse when we first started this journey
27:15
and there were a bunch of sponsors and I got I wanted to ask you
27:18
how the sponsorships are because you guys had some big names attached to Unity Adaptive
27:25
Sports. How has that been going for you the last few years and getting
27:29
those to really invest in the program. Yeah, it's been good. It's
27:33
been good. Like you know, we've had this, We've had some uh,
27:36
some really good engagement around people supporting the program and things like that.
27:42
So I think that's I think that's really important. And obviously, you know,
27:48
it's collegiate athletics. You need that, right, you need that those
27:52
partnerships and that sort of stuff. So I've been I've been happy, uh
27:57
to kind of see that develop along with the program, and I think,
28:02
you know, there's a lot more room for continued you know, partnerships and
28:06
collaboration in that area. I can't leave you. I can't let you go
28:11
without asking, you know, and almost maybe exciting the invitation to someone like
28:15
Caitlyn Clark, because here's a gal who's doing incredible stuff. But how cool
28:22
would it be if she showed up to like a Cunion Adaptive game. I
28:25
mean, these big stars, we shout them out, maybe they'll come through
28:30
and support these programs. What do you think? Yeah, I think I
28:40
think the I think the reality is, like I think, you know,
28:45
just like women's sports needed to be vindicated, if you will, by male
28:53
athletes. You know, like everybody talks about the the push that Kobe Bryant
28:59
did for the for the women's game and how meaningful that was, and I
29:03
think, you know, I think we need to kind of follow that sort
29:07
of philosophy and playbook of you know, getting people to embrace the fact that
29:14
you know, the Paralympics and adaptive sports are you know, are validated and
29:19
things of that nature. So I think there's opportunity for you know, that
29:25
type of stuff to take place, and I think you see it in different
29:27
pockets and different levels. But I also think the right now, the overall
29:37
chasm of how the general public views adaptive sports is it's like, hey,
29:41
that's cute, that's that's a nice thing for people to do, like they
29:45
can do that because they can't do this. And so I think, you
29:49
know, when we can get around on the stigma that's associated with adaptive sports
29:56
and then just the disabled community in general, I think we're actually providing meaningful
30:02
change. And so, you know, getting back to your question about like
30:04
you know, Saint John's and those type of things. I think once you
30:08
start to see more than the clinic and more than just the you know,
30:18
those type of things, I think you're starting to see the you know,
30:22
the real potential of stigmas and perspectives evolving. Well. I think it's a
30:30
statement that you know, d one schools across the country are doing it,
30:33
except not in New York. I think that's that's gotta change. I agree
30:37
with you on that they have to invest in it and not just make it
30:41
a halftime show. I see where you're going with that, because if the
30:45
country you know of Alabama, who's a big football school, can can allocate
30:48
funds to do wheelchair basketball, why can't Saint John's, I think is the
30:52
question? Right? Yeah, But but I also don't think these programs are
31:03
I think that I think that conversation is more nuanced. I think it's I
31:10
think you have to look at, you know, the economics of college sports.
31:15
I think you need to look at the evolution of college sports with nil
31:21
and collectives, and then I think you have to look at the stigmas associated
31:26
around adaptive sports. I think ultimately, the barrier to growth in the adaptive
31:32
sports world and the intercollegiate level is you know, the cost model to it,
31:38
right, I think, you know, I think colleges right now are
31:42
are, you know, financially seeing less people enroll in campuses, right,
31:48
so they're making less money. And then I think you see that sports are
31:55
kind of a lost leader for universities. Right. They're really good for marketing
31:59
and publicity and really good for driving enrollment, but they don't necessarily profit.
32:02
I think the last thing I read was there was maybe a handful of D
32:07
one programs that actually had an athletic department that was in the black, right,
32:13
just because you have Title nine and you have non revenue sports and all
32:15
of that different stuff. So I don't think the issue is as much the
32:21
stigma, even though it is a prevalent partner in that. But I think
32:23
it is a I think it comes down to the economics of it, right.
32:28
I think if you can show to a university that your adaptive sports program
32:32
is economically viable in bi economically viable meaning the resources to run the program are
32:40
external and you're not asking for internal support, I think they're more you know,
32:45
I think it's more realistic that you can develop a program at a university
32:50
but I think the question of growth and expansion can be discussed when you can
32:57
figure out the financial model that allow it to take place from a non revenue
33:01
sport perspective. Well, this is why they have you, Ryan. You
33:06
got a business mind, you got the athletic mind, you got the competitive
33:08
mind, and that is why you are continuing to grow this program and why
33:15
it's awesome CUNEY has you as their head coach. I gotta say that well,
33:20
Alex, I appreciate the time as always, and let's connect. So
33:23
my men, yes, sir and great, I have a great tournament and
33:27
let us know how we do. All right, we'll do man, Thank
33:30
you so much. Thank you again, Ryan, and thank you for listening
33:34
to Alex Skarts Sports Update, the one leg up on Sports feature. And
33:39
of course, good luck to the men's and women's CUNY Adaptive Wheelchair Basketball teams
33:45
as they represent the QUNY system proudly on the road.