Matt Scott just does it

CHARLOTTE (Steve Goldberg's Wheel World) - About this time four years ago, in the run-up to Beijing, a major athletic shoe company cut some new television commercials, eschewing their high-profile, household name stars for some lesser known athletes. High contrast black and white, quick cuts, and lots of attitude.

One ad featured Michigan-native basketball player Matt Scott machine-gunning through a litany of flimsy excuses why an athlete couldn’t do the work required. Shot from the chest up, he’s dribbling two basketballs simultaneously or taking shots as he talks.

Quite a coup for a basketball player that nobody in mainstream America had ever heard of, especially one not on an NBA team, perhaps more uniquely one born with Spina bifida.

A former college player at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, the 27-year-old Scott is an American professional basketball player competing in his fourth season for Turkey’s famed Galatasaray.

He’s not the first American to play for one of the biggest sports clubs in the world – over 30 USA players have seen some court time in the red and yellow; three others are there now – but the difference is that he’s the only one to play for Gala’s wheelchair team.

Though the game’s roots and largest contingent live in America, players looking to it for their livelihood have had to go overseas to countries such as Turkey, Germany, Italy and Spain where they can get paid to play.

Along with Scott and their home grown players, the Galatasaray roster includes Australian Paralympic gold medalist Tristan Knowles and two Polish national team players, Mateusz Filipski and Piotr Luszynski.

Galatasaray have been the dominant team in the 10-club Tekerlekli Sandalye Basketbol Superleague, which launched in 1996 and is one of the better teams in Europe. They won their first Superleague title in 2006-07 and haven’t lost it since. In the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, they pulled the treble by adding the IWBF Champions Cup and Kitakyushu Champions Cup trophies to their domestic success. They won the IWBF title again last year.

Three world titles in six years; not too bad for a club in a country that has never qualified for a Paralympic Games until London this year, a feat just barely accomplished with a fifth-place finish in last year’s European Championships. But they are improving. Turkey claimed eighth place at the 2010 World Championships in Great Britain, their first visit to that event.

While wheelchair basketball, and disability sports in general, are commonly played in front of mostly friends and family in the U.S., not so in Turkey. It has all the pomp and circumstance of a football match marvels Scott.

“The fans are very knowledgeable," he says. "If we are playing one of the top teams in the league, they pour into the arena and are very active supporters. They have synchronized songs and cheers; they don’t sit the entire match!

“Besiktas is the other major sport club that has a wheelchair basketball team and also has many supporters. The top four teams are highly-competitive and the games are intense with loads of scoring and high quality basketball,” Scott goes on, noting however that there are more than a few teams in the building phase.

“Sports in general are huge in Turkey. Wheelchair basketball is no different. We are supported by thousands of Galatasaray fans across the country and even fans living abroad. We traveled for games in Germany and the amount of fans that came out to cheer us on was in the upper hundreds, lower thousands.”

“The European league is the best of the best. The teams are loaded with the absolute best players from around the world and the stakes are very high because we are all fighting to be considered the best team in Europe.”

The use of a wheelchair doesn’t diminish the professional athlete experience in Turkey.

“Our games are nationally televised and that gives us enough exposure for people to recognize us as athletes when they see us in public. Often times at restaurants, shopping malls, riding in a taxi, I am approached by people who adore our sport or team,” he explains.

Scott gets asked for photos and autographs, all easy to give, as well as his uniform, which can be a bit more expensive if you’re not Dwight Howard.

“It is big enough here for people to treat us as if we were celebs,” he says modestly of the social benefits. Most importantly though, from the athlete’s perspective, it allows him the freedom to dedicate himself to the game.

“It is big enough that playing basketball and maintaining our level of fitness and performance is our one and only job for everyone on the team and we all live comfortably.”

While many athletes can suffer a little homesickness, Scott says living in Turkey has been the single most amazing adventure of his life.

“I have experienced a new culture and way of life, and have enjoyed every aspect. Istanbul is a beautiful city filled with warm people, amazing scenery and attractions, and great food. It’s been nothing short of incredible," he says.

“I am very happy, well taken care of, and challenged athletically. It’s the perfect atmosphere for me to be in.

Scott, who will play for the USA in London, his third Paralympic team, takes his job seriously, giving it all credit for his fortunate position.

“Wheelchair basketball didn’t change my life. It is my life,” he states.

At the end of the Nike ad, Scott slams both basketballs to a dead stop on the court as the camera pulls back. The big reveal is the wheelchair he’s sitting in as he spins and leaves the gym, stating the ironic last excuse for not training, “My feet hurt.”

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

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