SLINGER, Wis. — A 14-year-old Slinger athlete born with a disability is already making history in wheelchair basketball while setting her sights on the Paralympic Games.
Lucy Rate, who was born with arthrogryposis — a condition that limits bending, growth, and full movement in her limbs — plays for the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association's co-ed wheelchair basketball team, known as WASA. Last year, she and her teammates became the first all-female prep team to win nationals—it's a coed league, but she said her team happened to be all females.
"We were the first all-female prep team to win nationals," Rate said. "There was a team that was like, 'Yeah, we want to go against WASA, they seem like an easy team.' Then they saw us play and they were like, 'Uh, I don't know about that anymore!'"
The young athlete said her team's competitive edge catches opponents off guard. With nationals already under her belt, Rate has her eyes set on an even bigger stage—the Paralympics.
Watch: 14-year-old Lucy Rate wants the world to know wheelchair sports are 'not easy sports'
"That's a pretty big dream I have," she said. "That's one of the things I'm working for."
Rate's father Kyle got a firsthand look at just how skilled his daughter and her teammates are when the girls played their dads in a wheelchair pickup game — and won.
"We took on all the girls, and they smoked us," Kyle said. "It's second nature to them, us as parents, we really struggled out there. It's a whole different thing that we as parents aren't really used to. It gave me a new perspective."
The experience gave him a new appreciation for what his daughter does on the court.
Lucy hopes her story helps change how people think about adaptive athletics.
"Wheelchair sports are sports. They're still competitive sports. They're not easy sports," Rate said.
Rate will add another discipline to her athletic resume as she's going to compete in track and field for the first time for Sling High School. Track practice begins Monday, where she will compete in wheelchair racing—long and short distance.
WASA will compete in the 2026 National Wheelchair Basketball Championship tournament in March—people can stream their games on YouTube.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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