WWAR Generals Capture Eighth Annual PVA Wheelchair Rugby Invitational
The Generals are still giving the orders at the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Wheelchair Rugby Invitational.
For the second straight year, the Wounded Warriors Ability Ranch (WWAR) Generals knocked off the Ability360 Heat in the Division I championship game. And once again, they hope the title helps propel them to a second consecutive Division I United States Wheelchair Rugby Association championship in Florida in the spring.
Led by new U.S. wheelchair rugby national training squad team members Anthony McDaniel and Travis Baker, along with three-time Paralympians Chuck Melton and Josh Wheeler, and teammate James Adams, WWAR defeated Ability360, 56-51, in the Division I championship game at the eighth annual PVA Wheelchair Rugby Invitational at the University of Louisville Student Recreation Center in Louisville, Ky.
After beating Ability360 by double-digits in a Saturday division game, Sunday’s title tilt was closer. WWAR’s biggest lead was 7, while Ability360’s largest was 3.
If the Generals want to make a run for another national tournament title, Adams and McDaniel say they still have to play better. McDaniel now knows they expect to get every team’s best, and coming out sluggish isn’t an option anymore.
“Close games are fun. But if we can put teams away early, that’s what we prefer to do to make sure that we are in control. And that’s the biggest thing,” says McDaniel, who was named the tournament’s Best High-Pointer award winner. “You know, teams is not going to let up no matter. Us winning the championship from last year, they want to take it from us and we want to be as hungry as they are to show them that we want to come back and repeat again.”
A Marine Corps veteran, McDaniel has been playing wheelchair rugby since 2015 and is a triple amputee. The 36-year-old served from 2007 to 2012 in field artillery and was injured Aug. 31, 2010, while on patrol in southern Afghanistan after an improvised explosive device detonated. It almost completely severed his left hand at the wrist and also led to bilateral above-the-knee leg amputations. He’s also played wheelchair rugby for the U.S. at the Invictus Games, and in late January, he made the U.S. national wheelchair rugby training squad team.
Despite injuring one of his fingers in Saturday’s semifinal win over the Texas Stampede, he played and came up clutch late.
Leading just 42-39 with 5 minutes and 56 seconds remaining, the Generals’ full-court press and trapping defense created three turnovers in the next minute, and McDaniel scored three tries during that time, pushing the team’s advantage to 46-40 with 4:56 left in the game.
“In the first half, we was able to kind of control the low-pointers a lot easier. We was more focused on that. And that made the offense have to work a little bit harder against our defense. So, it wore them out in the first half,” says McDaniel, a Navarre, Fla., resident. “And then we went to the trap in the second half just to make them, once they switched lineups, to make their second weaker ball-handler have to make the plays. So, once they main guy got tired, we just put more pressure on him to force the ball out of his hands at that point.”
A 32-year-old Atlanta resident, Adams developed meningitis when he was around 5 months old, and at 6 months old, he had his feet and lower arms amputated. He’s played with the WWAR Generals the past four years. He and McDaniel met playing wheelchair sports, mainly wheelchair basketball, before and finally joined up on the Generals’ wheelchair rugby team in 2020. That’s when Adams says he saw greatness in them.
Now that they have two straight PVA Division I Wheelchair Rugby Invitational titles, Adams says they want a second straight national Division I title.
“Ain’t nothing’s gonna be easy. And we’re gonna have to clean it up if we think we’re gonna win again at nationals,” Adams says. “… We don’t come into it thinking that, ‘Oh, we got this.’ No, we have to come in, respect our opponents, play hard.”
Additionally, Baker was named the Division I’s Low Mid-Pointer Award winner.
Meanwhile, Ability360 has reached the Division I championship game each of the past three years but won one title in 2023.
Additionally, WASA/CKRI Lightning had the best record to take the Division II title and MedStar NRH United finished with the best record to take the Division III title, with Oscar Mike Militia in second and the NEP Wildcats in third.
Division I Awards
Best High-Pointer — Anthony McDaniel, WWAR Generals
Best High Mid-Pointer — Sarah Adam, St. Louis Bombers
Best Low Mid-Pointer — Travis Baker, WWAR Generals
Best Low-Pointer — Bryan Sperle, TIRR Texans
Most Valuable Player — Chuck Aoki, University of Michigan
Division II Awards
Best High-Pointer — Lukasz Rekawiecki, Las Vegas High Rollers
Best High Mid-Pointer — Rio Kanda Kovac, Boise Bombers
Best Low Mid-Pointer — Ryan Engleby, WASA/CKRI Lightning
Best Low-Pointer — Max Woodbury, Portland Pounders
Most Valuable Player — Paco Torres, Magee Eagles
Division III Awards
Best High-Pointer — Aarol Clinton, MedStar NRH United
Best High Mid-Pointer — Danny Dawoud, MedStar NRH United
Best Low Mid-Pointer — Mason Symons, Oscar Mike Militia
Best Low-Pointer — Nate Washington, MedStar NRH United
Most Valuable Player — Mason Symons, Oscar Mike Militia
Jeremiah Butler Best Smile Sportsmanship Award — Chris Hull, WWAR Warriors
Jerry “Bull” Baylor Mentorship Award — Steve Kearley, TIRR Texans