Roberto and the BC Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team Win the Canadian National Championship Two Years in a Row!
On May 19, 2008, the BC Men’s Wheelchair basketball team won the Canadian National Wheelchair Basketball Championships for the second year in a row. TB Vets’ own Roberto Molina plays on the team. Congratulations, Roberto!
Roberto is TB Vets’ front desk clerk. If you call us, it is Roberto who answers. In addition to working at TB Vets and managing his restaurant, Mi Mexico, Roberto has played on the BC Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team for several years. At last year’s championship, Roberto had more time on the floor, but this year was special because many of his teammates are preparing for the Paralympic Games in Beijing. Roberto says, “I know the boys Jamie and Richard and Bo do represent the National team, and so they need to play all the minutes they can since they are going to China to represent Canada.”
In wheelchair basketball, players are assigned a point value according to how much mobility they have. The sum of the values of each team’s players on the court cannot exceed 14. An able-bodied player has a value of 4.5, a player with very little trunk mobility has a value of 1. Because of the point system, players are limited in who they can substitute in for. Roberto has a value of 2, so he substitutes for Jamie Borisoff, who will play for Canada in Beijing.
TB Vets is extremely proud of Roberto and all his teammates.
Roberto Molina, center, is a member of the BC Men's Wheelchair Basketball team.
The Voice of TB Vets Wheels Away With Gold
For two days in May 2007, TB Vets’ callers were greeted by a different voice. Roberto Molina, our front desk clerk, was in Winnipeg. But you can’t say he wasn’t working. He was busy bringing home the national wheelchair basketball championship.
Call us, and you’ll hear “Good morning, TB Vets,” in a warm, cheerful voice, with just a hint of a Spanish accent. Roberto Molina comes from Los Angeles, but since 2006, he’s worked at TB Vets. To look in his smiling brown eyes, you would never know that the small guy in the wheelchair is a champion athlete. Roberto plays defense on the BC Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team against guys twice his size.
Roberto in action at the Canadian championships.
At the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Championships this May, the BC Men’s team was determined to win. They won their first few games, but a 74-59 loss taught them a lesson. After losing, Roberto says, “We actually played like a team. We talked instead of bickering.” The teamwork paid off, and they took home the gold.
The rules for wheelchair basketball are the same as regular basketball. The chair is considered an extension of the player’s body. If you hit someone with your chair, that’s a foul. The court is the same size. The basket is the same height off the ground.
Wheelchair basketball was founded by Sir Lugwig Guttmann in the late 1940s in England. Sir Lugwig ran a spinal cord injury center for WWII soldiers. He realized that sport allowed disabled veterans to showcase their abilities. In 1946, TB Vets was founded in BC by veterans with tuberculosis and other chest ailments. We are proud to continue hiring people with disabilities. Our staff proves every day how able they are.
Congratulations, Roberto!
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