Kai Ryan
Kai Ryan was born with Lipomyelomeningocele. Try pronouncing this 20 letter long word, its tough and so is Kai. Kai Ryan will try almost anything, which has lead him to show up and been seen not only for his natural athletic abilities but many other talents too. Kai plays the piano, participates on his schools robotics team, loves a friendly game of nerf war, wins nearly every time at kings corners and will never turn down a tootsie roll!
Kai began playing on the Chicago Skyhawks wheelchair basketball team in 2019. Kai was awarded the AMA Award (ability, motivation, attitude) at the Rockford IL Holiday Tournament December 7 & 8 2019 and also received the Midwest Scholar Athlete award from the National Wheelchair Basketball Association for the 2019-2020 season.
Coach Mark from the Chicago Skyhawks Wheelchair Basketball team said "Kai is the type of person that every coach wants in their program. He’s passionate, determined, punctual and hardworking. All of these traits make him a respected member of our program. Kai is a quiet leader who leads by example with his work ethic and always carries a positive attitude. As he continues to develop both personally and athletically I see him being a key leader of our program. He also has tremendous athletic talent and is an athlete I see being able to bridge the gap from a community program to an elite level competitor."
At a recent wheelchair basketball practice Kai worked on how to get back up after falling down in his chair. It is an incredibly difficult skill to work on as no one wants to find themselves face flat on the basketball court with their chair on top of them but as with everything Kai trys, he digs in, focuses on what he can do and figures out a way to get back up! We can not wait to see Kai's growth in wheelchair basketball over next few years.
Sports
- Basketball/Wheelchair Basketball
City
- Crown Point
