02/10/2015
Steve Goldberg's Wheel World
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Guatemala's little giant a David amongst the Goliaths

Charlotte (Steve Goldberg's Wheel World) - The leading scorer in the wheelchair basketball competition at the recent Parapan American Games wasn't someone you'd expect.

It wasn't the Americans' baby-faced assassin Becca Murray or poker-faced Desi Miller. It wasn't Canada’s force of nature Janet McLachlan or the speedy Cindy Ouelett.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't use any of those epithets to describe Guatemala's Alva Puac. Well, the baby-face one could apply but I'm sticking with cherubic Murray on that one.

Guatemala is not a contender in wheelchair basketball circles, not even close. They, like most countries, especially the developing nations, are on the wrong side of the participation and talent gap that widely separates the medal contenders from those who fill out the rest of the tournament fields and more so from those who are net yet making the cut.

Yet, from a team that only averaged 30.4 points per game in the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, the regional qualifier for the Paralympic Games next year in Brazil, comes a player who outscored them all.

Through a translator in Toronto, Puac told me she was very proud to achieve this distinction as it represented both her dedication and that with such resolve, "it shows us there are no barriers or limits, even in a developing country."

The star of the Guatemala National Women's Team, Alva Puac competes mostly with and against men in domestic play.
Photo: Courtesy of Alva Puac

She scored 16 in the opener against the hosts and current World Champions Canada and 25 against next year's Paralympic local favorites Brazil. By the way, she scored all but two of her team's points in each of those games. Help came in the next two matches as she drained 21 versus Mexico (33 team total) and 18 against Peru (30 for team).

She scored 25 of Guatemala's 44 points in the 44-38 win over El Salvador in their final game to take 7th place in the eight team field. It would be their only win of the tournament. They were shelled by hosts and current world champions Canada 78-18, by 2016 Paralympic hosts Brazil 66-27 and by Mexico 73-33 in group play. Outscored 78-217 in total.

Over five contests, Puac averaged 21 points per game to clear Murray (18 ppg) by three. Mexico's Flora Estrada averaged 16.4 followed by Miller at 15.8 and McLachlan at 15.6. Lia Martins of Brazil was the sixth leading scorer at 15 per game.

Estrada and Martins are very much like Puac, the strongest scoring links on otherwise weak teams. Both of them have also done it on the Paralympic stages of Beijing and London where their names were at the top of the scoring charts. But like Guatemala in Toronto, their teams had no reality of a medal or high placement in those games.

Some other factors have to be acknowledged here. The Americans were supremely balanced with five players in the top ten scorers. After the M&M's, Kimberly Champion averaged 14.8, Abbie Dunkin 13.8 and Rose Hollermann 13.6. (Note: Over half of Hollermann's points came in the gold medal game against Canada where she tallied 37.) Murray and Miller also only played 4 of the 5 USA games, a luxury coach Stephanie Wheeler could take in a tournament where Canada would be the only true competition. Though McLachlan started, she only played 1:39 in the first game against Guatemala. Divide her 78 points by 4 games and her average would have been 19.5.

Yet, the records will forever show that the unassuming Puac was the top scorer amongst all others and nothing I stated above should diminish that.

Her effort also made her the leading rebounder for the Parapan tournament averaging 13 per game.

Having just turned 39 last month she is as old as Hollermann and Dunkin, who both will turn 20 by the end of the year, combined. Puac, who suffered poliomyelitis entering her teen years, was fortunate to have a friend suggest that they try wheelchair basketball. It became her passion. Home in Guatemala where she plays for Asodedis Vida, she competes mostly with and against men as the pool of female players is thin.

Currently a psychology student in university, her objective is to bring more people to the game, or rather the game to more people.

One comment on a basketball photo of her on her Facebook page called her the Messi of Guatemala in comparison to the Barcelona soccer star.

I asked her if she was a celebrity in Guatemala. She laughed and said no; in her house yes, but throughout the country, no.

In a another photo on her Facebook page, Puac is in the center circle at the Ryerson Arena in Toronto, waiting to contest the jump ball to start the game against Canada's McLachlan. Though listed as a center on the team roster, the top of her head is still several inches lower than the top of McLachlan's shoulder. While the Canadian is looking back at the referee approaching with the ball, Puac’s eyes are intently fixed on her opponent.

One comment from a friend accurately calls it David versus Goliath. Another describes it better.

"(sic) Saludes Albita, sos el reflejo de lo que una buena jugadora de baloncesto debe de tener, tu carácter, voluntad y espiritad deportivo te hace ser especial."

This roughly translates as "You are the reflection of what a good basketball player should be. Your character, your will and sporting spirit makes you special."

It does indeed.

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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Steve Goldberg

Steve Goldberg

Eight years after first getting a glimpse of wheelchair basketball at the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul when covering the Olympics for UPI, Steve Goldberg got the chance to really understand the game as Chief Press Officer for the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta. He's been a follower of the sport ever since. Over the years, the North Carolina-born and bred Tar Heel fan - but University of Georgia grad - has written on business, the economy, sports, and people for media including Time, USA Today, New York magazine, Reuters, Universal Sports, TNT, ESPN, New York Daily News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Olympian. Steve Goldberg's Wheel World will look at the past, present and future of wheelchair basketball.