CHARLOTTE (Steve Goldberg's Wheel World) - Eleven out of 10 times a coach will implore his players to do the simplest thing so rather than spend time coming up with a catchy title, I went with the direct route to the hoop.

The Rebound - A wheelchair basketball story is the title of a documentary film that makes its official debut tomorrow at the Miami International Film Festival. Directed by Shaina Allen and produced by Mike Esposito, it follows the players of the Miami Heat Wheels, who are now competing in the NWBA's Championship Division.

If the personal stories weren't dramatic enough, the team provided a competitive storyline with a first-ever run to the league's Division III title game in last year's NWBA National Tournament in the basketball country that is Louisville, Kentucky.

It was an improbable but welcome twist to the film. The Heat had lost their second game and had to fight back through the consolation bracket to meet the San Antonio Parasport Spurs, another NBA-affiliated wheelchair team.

Though they jumped out to an early lead, the Heat trailed the Spurs at halftime 36-32. That continued through the last 20 minutes until a 5-0 Miami run capped by a Jeremie Thomas lay-up with less than two minutes to play put the Heat on top 65-64. 

Carlos Martinez, who wears Dwyane Wade's number 3 on his jersey and would be the tournament MVP, sank 4 of 6 free throws and Manny Rodiguez made one of his own, creating enough space to where a last-second basket didn't matter except to make the final score 70-66. The Miami Heat Wheels would win their first-ever national championship.

How's that for a Hollywood ending to a documentary film.

2015 NWBA Division III Tournament MVP Carlos Martinez scored 35 points in the championship game leading his team to a 70-66 win over the San Antonio Parasport Spurs. Photo courtesy of Shaina Allen.

In the background of the tournament video stream, you can see Shaina Allen and Mike Esposito recording the celebration. This certainly wasn't part of the script but it would most definitely be part of the story, adding yet another layer to the definition of the word rebound. The team story in this game, this whole tournament really, much as the personal backstories of its members, would be about coming back from adversity.

That's the core essence of the film, which is cut around the three individual "rebound" stories of Mario Moran, Orlando Carrillo and Jeremie Thomas, against the broader fabric of the whole team.

Orlando Carrillo, paralyzed by a gunshot, earned a scholarship to the University of Texas-Arlington to play wheelchair basketball. Photo courtesy of Shaina Allen

These stories are simultaneously unique and universal. While the details may differ, they resonate with the familiarity of so many others I've heard in my work not only in Paralympic sport and wheelchair basketball but in sport overall. The hardships and obstacles to athletic success faced by members of the Miami Heat Wheels are just as real for any person pursuing a particular dream or passion.

Born premature with Spina Bifida and Cerebral Palsy, Jeremie "Phenom" Thomas is an aspiring hip hop artist whose music is the anthem of The Rebound, A wheelchair basketball story. His lay-up with less than two minutes to play put the Miami into the lead in the championship final. Photo courtesy of Shaina Allen.

The accident of fate that led to the making of the film came during the summer of 2012 when Allen's and Esposito's dog found a running mate in another big hound in the neighborhood that belonged to Heat Wheels coach Parnes Cartwright. While talking one day, Esposito volunteered his paramour, a recent graduate in film production from James Madison University, to shoot a promo video for the team.

At the first Wheels practice she attended, which would be her first exposure to wheelchair basketball and any adaptive sport, Allen says she experienced one wow moment after another as she learned about the game, its history and its opportunities, one of which was that there were scholarshipped collegiate programs.

Director Shaina Allen filming Miami Heat Wheels players Jeremie "Phenom" Thomas and Carlos Martinez. Photo courtesy of Shaina Allen

That fall, they traveled with the team to a tournament in Orlando where they met and learned more from former Orlando Magic Wheels coach Roger Davis. The scope of the game and the project grew from promo to feature length documentary after they followed the team to the NWBA National Tournament in April 2013 and saw firsthand how big the sport was across the country.

What we do is beyond basketball. It's beyond wheelchair sports. It's life and how we choose to live it. - Cartwright

The struggle to make a documentary film such as this is no less daunting than the Miami wheelchair basketball team's journey through it. Early in the film, coach Cartwright explains a dramatic drop in financial support from the county and what they would have to raise to make it to the national championship if they qualified.

That's certainly something the filmmakers can identify with. The marketing of a documentary film can cost many times more than what it cost to produce. And don't get me started on the sticker shock I felt when informed of what it would cost just to put a film into consideration for an Academy Award.

The filmmakers followed Mario Moran from Miami back to New Jersey to tell his story. Photo courtesy of Shaina Allen

Once they realized that this was going to be much more than a promo video for the team, Allen and Esposito launched a crowd funding campaign and started delving deeper into individual storylines within the team. By January 2015, they thought the majority of the filming was done and had edited a rough cut of the film. Last April, Allen and Esposito once again went to Louisville but this time to support the players they had come to know.

It's a good thing they had packed their cameras however because Miami - as the players chant loudly in several parts of the film - decided to "Bring the Heat!" and win their first national championship, which now plays a big part in the re-edited film.

Contacted late on a game day, their NBA brethren were very gracious and quick to express their enthusiasm about the impact of last April's championship and the film's Miami festival debut.

"The HEAT organization prides itself on being champions on and off the court in the South Florida community," said Michael McCullough, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of The HEAT Group.

We cherish our long-standing relationship with fellow champions, the Miami HEAT Wheels, and have wholeheartedly supported these accomplished athletes for many years. Our hope is that their courage, tenacity and talent will inspire people everywhere. - McCullough

Next week, the film will make its west coast premiere in San Jose, California at the Cinequest Film Festival where it has already received one award. 

Maybe there's a championship in its future as well.

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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