National Wheelchair Football Tournament Coming To Hillsborough Friday

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — The best wheelchair football players in the country will be coming to Hillsborough County this week as the Hillsborough County Buccaneers Wheelchair Football team hosts the Move United USA Wheelchair Football League tournament Friday through Sunday, Aug. 26 to 28.

In addition to the Hillsborough Buccaneers, seven other wheelchair teams will compete including the Arizona Cardinals, Birmingham Hammers, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints.

All games will be held in the West Hall of the Tampa Convention Center, 333 S. Franklin St., Tampa.

The tournament competition will kick off Friday at 2:30 PM. Saturday, games are scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers alumnus Dexter Jackson and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders will welcome the teams on Friday night at a welcome dinner at 7 p.m. and a champion will be crowned Sunday afternoon during the final matchup at 1:30 p.m.

The Hillsborough Buccaneers are scheduled to play Chicago at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Birmingham at 11 a.m. Saturday and Arizona at 4 p.m. Saturday. Sunday’s matchups will be determined by the results of Friday’s and Saturday’s games.

This is the second tournament of the 2022 season, which is the second full season of the USA Wheelchair Football League. Two weeks ago, the Green Bay Packers Wheelchair Football Team defeated the L.A. Rams Wheelchair Football Team in a tournament hosted in Chicago.

However, it's the first time for the Hillsborough County Buccaneers Wheelchair Football team to host the national tournament.

Although Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation has long had an active adaptive sports program featuring wheelchair basketball, track and field, archery and other sports for those with disabilities, the lineup of sports didn't include wheelchair football until last year.

See related stories:

• Bucs Wheelchair Football Team Receives National Recreation Honors
• Hillsborough’s Adaptive Sports Wins 24 Medals, Breaks 7 Records

In 2021. Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation held tryouts to create a wheelchair football team specifically with the goal of participating in the Move United USA Wheelchair Football League, which was founded in 2019.

Based in Rockville, Maryland, Move United first began offering wheelchair football in 1924. Since 2020, more than 700 athletes and coaches have participated in USA Wheelchair Football League programs, with support from the National Football League and Bob Woodruff Foundation, which is focused on helping veterans.

The USA Wheelchair Football League consists of 11 teams stretching from California east to Hillsborough County, which has the only team in Florida.

In addition to supporting the USAWFL’s competitive teams, the NFL and BWF partnership, as part of the league’s Salute to Service initiative, fund coaching education and learn-to-play clinics.

With the championship NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers right in their back yard, Hillsborough Bucs Wheelchair Football Team head coach Wayne Bozeman said forming a wheelchair football team seemed like a no-brainer, and the name of the team was a given.

The Tampa Bay Bucs have embraced their namesake, led by Jackson. The Tampa Bay Bucs' Most Valuable Player for Super Bowl XXXVII serves as an unofficial adviser, giving the team tips and pep talks.

Meanwhile, the Bucs owners, the Glazer family, provided the team with uniforms, practice shorts and T-shirts, helmets, footballs, sports bags, water bottles and other items.

In addition to Bozeman, a recreational therapist, the team is coached by Rick Riessle and Greg Lewis-Seals.

"Everybody can play football," he said. "Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean you can't play football. They can do a lot more than people think they can."

Matt Gardner and Shelton Mobley are the team captains.

Gardner said he was hooked as soon as he joined the practice squad last year.

“From that moment, I was hungry to compete in this league,” Gardner said. “I have always loved the game of football, but never had an outlet to compete competitively in a league due to being born paralyzed with no mobility in my legs."

Gardner grew up in Pittsburgh where he said he was obsessed with the Steelers.

"Watching the Steelers play was my religion," he said. But he was equally dedicated to his high school football team, attending all the games, cheering his friends on.

"As I watched on Friday nights, I wanted nothing more than an opportunity to put a helmet on and play the game," he said. "This league gives me that opportunity that I do not take for granted.”

"After I lost my leg, I met a guy who invited me to play basketball," said Mobley. "I've been into sports ever since. I've seen it change so many people's lives, getting them out of depression and getting back to feeling normal. When you get with these guys, everybody's normal. We're like family.

"There's a lot of benefit to it healthwise," said team member Adryan Powell of Brandon, who was an avid soccer player before his injury. Now, in addition to playing football, he also plays on an adaptive basketball team. "Then there's just the camaraderie, just being social. A lot of people in wheelchairs are very isolated. Being able to come out and see other disabled people compete really does a lot for your mental health."

Bozeman said the biggest hurdle to playing football isn't their disabilities; it's the cost of a sports wheelchair.

"These guys have a tough time," he said. "These chairs run from $4,000 to $7,000, just for a sports chair to play in."

However, through community fundraisers, sponsorships, the support of the Bucs and the NFL Salute to Service initiative, the county has been able to make sure all the team members have the specially designed sports chairs.

The chairs are built extra sturdy to hold up under rough play. Watching the team practice on the hard wood floor at the Lesley “Les” Miller Jr. All People’s Community Park and Life Center on Sligh Avenue in Tampa, it's obvious why.

This sport's not for the faint of heart. Wheelchair football is a game of speed, strength, skill and strategy in which wheelchair crashes and spills are inevitable.

That's one of the things Ryan "Bully" Lindstrom loves about the game. Because all the team members are disabled, they don't go easy on one another.

"I'm absolutely looking forward to a second season in the USAWFL," said the retired U.S. Navy veteran. "Playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for its second year in existence is an honor and incredibly exciting. I'm looking forward to the competition being elevated in the second year and making even more new lifelong friendships along the way."

While the majority of the team members are from Hillsborough County, there are those who travel from outside the county, even outside the state, to play.

Team member Rick Evans, a veteran and married father of two, travels from Savannah, Georgia, to Tampa to participate.

For him, playing wheelchair football is a state of mind and the reward is well worth the gas money.

Patting the arms of his wheelchair, Evans said, "These things allow you the freedom to do anything. That’s what we’re doing here. We can do anything we set our mind to. That’s what this is all about.”