Wheelchair basketball team rolls on at Central YMCA

YOUNGSTOWN — Each Wednesday, when practice begins, Tony Sertick, 41, straps himself into his chair and rolls onto mid-court.

As a founding member of “Hot Wheels” wheelchair basketball team, Sertick knows his way around the Central Branch YMCA’s basketball gyms. The team has been practicing there for 20 years.

The nine players who make up the Mahoning Valley squad of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association vary in age and ability.

Sertick — who has limited use of his legs due to a birth defect called spina bifida — once competed in the National Wheelchair Games for weight lifting.

Rick Ackerman, 47 — who was injured while serving stateside in the Air Force — skis in Aspen every year with the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“Some [players] are more competitive than others,” said Sertick. “I see it as much as a social venue ... It’s almost like a family.”

Their opponents are scattered as far away as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, N.Y. They take turns traveling.

But the four teams that make up the “Keystone Conference” don’t nurture any long-term grudges, said coach Lindsay Speaker.

“Everybody knows everybody,” she said. “They’ll be going down the court with each other and picking on each other.”