Charlotte (Steve Goldberg's Wheel World) - Like anyone and everyone else who has ever picked up a basketball and tossed it at that metal ring 10 feet off the ground, I've set the game clock in my head to the last few seconds, my team down by one and the ball in my hands.

It was pure, it was simple, and it was one of my favorite things as I grew up with the game. As the game clock for 2015 winds down, I'm taking this time to look back at some of the stories I've gotten to tell, games that I've seen, people I've met, and other moments related to the game.

In the wonderful basketball movie "Hoosiers", there is one scene, just prior to the state high school championship game when the coach takes his team into the arena so big that it could hold the town's entire population several times over. As they stand there awestruck, he hands his players a tape measure and asks them to check the height of the basket and distance to the foul line. Ten feet, 15 feet, they reply.

"I think you'll find those exact same measurements at our gym back in Hickory."

The center of his message to them was that whether played in a small gym fitting a few hundred spectators or a massive arena holding thousands, or even a backyard court, it was still just basketball.

And that's the underlying premise of this column. Whether it's about IWBF, Paralympic or national champions like the USA, Germany or Canada, or about a fledgling program in Afghanistan, India, or some small town; about world class stars or unknown participants; played standing up or sitting down; it's all, simply and purely, basketball.

So, in no particular order, here are a few of my favorite basketball-related things from the past year and just in general.

It was great that I got to write two more pieces on the wonderful Dr. Tim Nugent, the founder of the NWBA and the pioneer of bringing adaptive sports into the American collegiate sporting scene. I hate that one had to be an obituary. For everyone playing the game of wheelchair basketball, know that he was your Columbus, your Lincoln, your Joan of Arc. I will always cherish the priceless gift I received of being able to talk with him at length for the column.

As I recounted in another column a couple of years ago, I had the fortune to sit and talk with Ed Owen, who I call the George Mikan of wheelchair basketball - "Wilt Chamberlain" would work as well - as he historically changed the way the game is played.

I've also been privileged to have one of the all-time great players in Dave Kiley and former NWBA President Dick Bryant here in Charlotte who have not only taught me so much about the game and its history but who have also become good friends. 

That appreciation goes for other stewards of the game as well such as Tip Thiboutot, who has worked so diligently to document the sport's history after his time as a player and coach on every level; retired FIBA and IWBF council member Jan Berteling who is not just a leader of the sport but also one of its biggest fans; Maureen Orchard, still the secretary general of the IWBF and captain of its path for so very long.

On my list of favorite things, there are the moments that I recall like ornaments on a great Christmas tree such as Paul Schulte's game winning shot against Great Britain that captured a bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, and watching Troy Sach's one-legged sprint down the length of the court before pulling himself up to sit on the back of the rim after Australia captured an unexpected gold in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics.

I was there when Jeff Glasbrenner scored the most unassuming 63 points, while grabbing 27 rebounds, you've ever seen in leading Denver over Dallas in the 2004 NWBA Championship Division title game. The Nuggets were happy but for me nothing will top the absolute joy of a young, end of the bench player for the Atlanta Jr. Wheelchair Hawks who scored perhaps his first basket ever at the very end of the championship game before rushing ecstatically into the arms of his dad.

And I am so thankful that Brian Bell's length of court run for the RHI Pacers against the Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks in the 2013 NWBA championships was captured on video for all to see. He beat the sum of the Mavs' speed, size, strength and several laws of physics in a most spectacular layup. I'd say more but I don't have the words. Fortunately, we have the clip.



Possibly more than the moments, I value the nuances such as Pat Anderson's tenacity as he took over game after game in leading Canada to gold in London; the sportsmanship of current Dutch women's national team coach Gert Jan van der Linden who once hopped out of his chair when playing for Holland at the Atlanta games to help right an opponent who had tumbled over, all while play was still going; and the broad smile of fellow Tarheel and former USA player, now head coach of the women's team, Stephanie Wheeler's broad smile after winning gold medals in Athens and Beijing.

But I also appreciate the tears of Argentina's Adolfo Berdun as he won a bronze medal at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games but lost the chance to play in Rio next summer. The Canadian men and women also found no solace in their silver medals at that event and I love that about them. There was no disrespect for the medals. They simply held themselves to a higher standard and that is what competition is about.

Yet, it's not the only thing. While I will always enjoy watching the best players and teams fight it out for titles, I can easily say that a favorite thing is watching the emerging development of wheelchair basketball in Africa, Asia and South America, and especially in a country such as Afghanistan where it is far more than sport. It's a life changer bringing confidence and determination to men and women who had been marginalized in their society by what war and disease have done to them. That spirit now extends beyond the Afghani borders as they venture out into the greater basketball world.

For this holiday season, regardless of what higher power (be it deity or your fantasy league commissioner) you believe or don’t believe in, I want to wish you all good times, good health, and good sport.

May all your last second shots hit nothing but net.

See you in 2016.

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.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.

To help make this column as inclusive as possible, please send any national or international event information, story suggestions, or comments to wheelworldmail@gmail.com.