BAMA ANNOUNCES 2008 SIGNEES

The University of Alabama Wheelchair Athletics announced today that seven players have signed letters of intent to attend and play for the Crimson Tide in 2008.

The Alabama women’s team signed Cindy Ouellet (Quebec City, Quebec), Emily Seelenfreund (West Orange, NJ), Ebony Glass (Bolivar, TN) and Kaitlyn Willard (Havertown, PA). Ouellet was recently selected as a member of the Canadian National Team that will compete at the Paralympics in Beijing China this September. Seelenfreund was a standout player on the New Jersey Spinal Liberty and Junior Nets the last 4 years as well as an honors student at the Hudson School in Hoboken New Jersey. Willard played wheelchair basketball for the Steel City Starz out of Pittsburgh, PA and also the junior Nets. Glass is coming off an outstanding performance for the U.S.A. junior national team in Sydney, Australia in 2007. She played wheelchair basketball for the Lakeshore Lakers out of Birmingham, Alabama. Wheelchair Athletics Director, Brent Hardin believes this class will have a big impact at Alabama. We are so fortunate to have these student athletes select Alabama to compete in wheelchair basketball and continue their studies. This entire incoming class is very athletic and will fit right in with our fast paced aggressive playing style. More importantly they are great people and all four really impressed our coaching staff and players with the way the represented themselves on and off the basketball court.

For the Alabama men’s team Jared Arambula (Valparaiso, IN), Jacob Goforth (Chester Springs, PA), and Mark Booth (Los Gatos, CA) signed with Alabama as incoming freshman. All three players were members of the junior national team that competed in Sydney, Australia in 2007. The players will join a young Alabama squad made up entirely of freshman and sophomores this past season. UA Men’s Head Coach, Miles Thompson is excited about the signing of the three new players. These three are just what we needed in order for us to continue our improvement at Alabama. All three are solid students, and all three are tremendous competitors. We are really excited to welcome them to the Crimson Tide Family.

The Crimson Tide women finished this season with a 32-4 record and played for the National Championship game this season. The Crimson Tide men’s team finished at 10-23 in only their second year of existence as a program. The University of Alabama is one of only four universities in the country that has both a men’s and women’s collegiate wheelchair basketball program and is the only University in the Southeast United States to field wheelchair athletic teams.

For more information about University of Alabama Wheelchair Athletics (UAWA) please contact UAWA director Brent Hardin at 205-246-3372 or UA men’s wheelchair basketball coach Miles Thompson at 205-253-6325 or visit the UAWA website at www.uads.ua.edu