Lakers, Kobe Bryant host visit for wheel chair basketball player

For all the limitations she has experienced staying confined in a wheel chair, 16-year-old Erica Wilson sure knows how to get around.

She was diagnosed four years ago with a neurological disorder that has permanently prevented her from walking. But Wilson soon joined a wheelchair basketball team with the “Lakeshore Lakers” in Birmingham, Alabama, a place where she found her life’s passion and an outlet to tell her story. First, Gatorade profiled Wilson as part of the sports drink company’s “Win from Within” series. Shortly after, Wilson spent her Friday with the Lakers, watching their morning shootaround at their practice facility in El Segundo, chatting with Kobe Bryant and coach Byron Scott and then presenting the game ball before the Lakers’ loss to Golden State at Staples Center.

It all has become what Wilson describes as an “overwhelming” experience, somehow finding something so inspirational and positive toward something that could have proven devastating to others.

“If I had to choose between being able to walk and playing wheel chair basketball,” I’m probably going to choose playing wheelchair basketball,” Wilson said. “It’s more important to me than walking. Walking doesn’t make you who you are as a person. The experience I learned form playing wheelchair basketball defines who I am as a person.”

In a weird sort of way, Bryant offered a similar story. He shared how he immediately knew he wanted to become a professional basketball player at age five, giving him a clear purpose on his goals and how he should pursue them. Wilson took dance classes before suffering transverse myelitis, but described the experience as “casual,” her passion undiscovered until she began playing wheelchair basketball.


The stories are proportionally different in scope and circumstances. But Wilson’s perspective explains why she sees parallels in her story with Bryant, who is only a season removed from playing only six games because of both rehabbing his left Achilles tendon and then injuring his left knee. After Bryant spent the past year healing his injuries, he enters the 2014-15 season eager to prove his work ethic and strong fundamentals will become enough both to remain an elite NBA player and carry the Lakers back to championship prosperity.

“I see a leader on the court,” Wilson said. “That’s who I aspire to be like. When I was watching him at shootaround, I could tell he puts in the hours to be who he is. That drives me to practice harder and be more dedicated to what I already am. You can never be too dedicated.”

Case in point, Wilson immediately asked Bryant for tips on how to improve her left hand. What advice did Bryant offer?

“When you’re bringing the ball up the court, start off with your left hand,” Wilson recalled Bryant saying. “When you cross over, you can have it in your right hand and be more dominant.”

Bryant has proven that on the basketball court time and time again. Wilson sounded eager to prove that too even if it requires her to use a wheelchair to accomplish the same goals.


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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com