Steve Serio

Steve Serio
Personal information
Full name Steven Serio
Nickname(s) Steve
Nationality  United States
Born (1987-09-08) September 8, 1987
Mineola, New York
Residence New York, NY
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) (2011)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg) (2011)
Sport
Country  United States
Sport Wheelchair Basketball
College team University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Team RSV Lahn-Dill
Turned pro 2010
Steve Serio
Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men's wheelchair basketball
World Championship
2006 Amsterdam Team
2010 Birmingham Team

Steve Serio (born September 8, 1987) is a wheelchair basketball player. When Steve was 11 months old, he had surgery to remove a spinal tumor which resulted in the compression of his spinal cord. Consequently, he was left paralyzed and is classified as an incomplete paraplegic.[1] He grew up in Westbury, New York and graduated from Carle Place High School in 2005.

Steve began his wheelchair basketball career as a sophomore in high school with the Long Island Lightning, the only competitive junior wheelchair basketball team in New York State.[2] He was a tremendous asset to this team, eventually leading them to the team's first National Championship in 2005 where was named the tournament MVP.[3] In that same year, he played on a USA U-23 Team played at the Australian Junior National Games for the Disabled in Sydney.[3]

He played point guard for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Steve was named a 2nd Team All-American in both the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons at Illinois.[4] At the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament at Oklahoma State University on March 15, 2008, Steve led the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to a NIWBA Championship over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.[5] Steve took home the Championship Game Player of the Game, NWBA Tournament MVP, and the NWBA 31st NIWBT Player of the Year in the process.[6]

Steve also plays on the U.S. Paralympics Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team, which came in second place at the World Championships in Amsterdam in the summer of 2006.[7] In the summer of 2007, the U.S. National Team won a gold medal at the Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Steve made his Paralympic debut with the U.S. National Team in 2008 in Beijing, China.[8] The team finished in fourth place, just missing a medal. Since the disappointing Paralympics, the U.S. National Team took the gold medal at the 2009 America's Cup in Richmond, Canada[9] and finished third at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, England.[10]

He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2010, where he studied Kinesiology.

He is currently living in Germany and playing for RSV Lahn-Dill. His contract was recently extended through the 2016 season.[11]

Major achievements

Juniors

Intercollegiate

US National Team

Professional

Notes

  1. ↑ U.S. Paralympic Athlete Biography
  2. ↑ United States Olympic Committee Article 3/20/06
  3. 1 2 USOC Athlete Spotlight: Steve Serio
  4. ↑ Past NIWBA All-American Teams
  5. ↑ Fighting Illini Men's Wheelchair Basketball Page
  6. ↑ Daily Illini Newspaper Article 3/24/08
  7. ↑ 2006 U.S. Paralympics Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team Defeated by Canada in IWBF Gold Cup Final
  8. ↑ U.S. PARALYMPICS: 2007 U.S. Men’s Parapan American Wheelchair Basketball National Team Announced
  9. ↑ USA Wins Gold
  10. ↑ 2010 Men's Wheelchair Basketball World Cup Final Results
  11. ↑ [http://www.rsvlahndill.de/index.php?id=60&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=588&cHash=bfb17de9be269ad41f3027daebf63b42 RSV Lahn-Dill renews contract with Steve Serio]

External links

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