Jackson Heights, NY—United Spinal Association and the New York Mets will host the Seventh Annual Major League Wheelchair Softball Tournament on Friday, September 21 and Saturday the 22nd at the Shea Stadium parking lot in Flushing, New York. The tournament is a round robin competition of wheelchair softball teams partially sponsored by Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises including the Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, and Oakland Athletics.

Wheelchair softball is played under the official rules of 16-inch slow pitch softball as approved by the Amateur Softball Association of America with a few exceptions to accommodate the wheelchair user. Players compete on hard surfaces, such as a parking lot, instead of the normal grassy infield, and use a 16-inch softball, which allows wheelchair players to keep one hand on the wheelchair while catching the softball without a glove.
United Spinal Association’s Director of Sports & Recreation, Bill Hannigan, noted, “we are delighted to host the tournament for the seventh year—it is definitely a wheelchair sport that is growing in popularity. Additionally, we will also conduct a sports clinic and we anticipate that about 100 children will participate.”

Wheelchair softball was started in 1975 by individuals with spinal cord injuries and lower extremity impairments in the Midwest who still wanted to enjoy America’s greatest pastime. In 1976, the National Wheelchair Softball Association (NWSA) was founded and serves as the governing body for wheelchair softball in the US.

United Spinal Association is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization formed in 1946 to provide expertise, create access to resources and strengthen hope, thereby enabling people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) to fulfill their potential as active members of their communities. United Spinal advocated for and drafted significant portions of landmark federal legislation including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act, and we continue to provide critical health care and benefits counseling to military veterans from all wars with spinal cord injuries through our Vets First program. Membership is free and open to individuals with disabilities of the spinal cord of all ages. For more information, please visit www.unitedspinal.org or call 800-404-2898.