Steve Serio
 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Steven Serio |
| Nickname(s) | Steve |
| Nationality |
 |
| Born |
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 |
|
| Sport | Wheelchair Basketball |
| College team | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Team | New York Rolling Knicks (NWBA) |
| Turned pro | 2010 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing | ||
| Men's wheelchair basketball | ||
| World Championship | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 2006 Amsterdam | Team |
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 2010 Birmingham | Team |
Steve Serio (born September 8, 1987) is a wheelchair basketball player. As a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team, he led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.[1] He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.[2]
He grew up in Westbury, New York and graduated from Carle Place High School in 2005. 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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5] In that same year, he played on a USA U-23 Team played at the Australian Junior National Games for the Disabled in Sydney.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10] 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[11] and finished third at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, England.[12]
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.[13]
Major achievements
Juniors
- 2005: First place - Junior National Wheelchair Basketball Championships
- 2005: Tournament MVP - Junior National Wheelchair Basketball Championships
- 2005: Gold medal - World Junior Basketball Championships
Intercollegiate
- 2010: National Champion - U.S. Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball
- 2010: MVP - NWBA College Division
- 2008: National Champion - U.S. Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball
- 2008: MVP - NWBA College Division
US National Team
- 2016: Gold Medal - Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2012: Bronze Medal - Paralympic Games, London, UK
- 2010: Third place - Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, Birmingham, England, UK
- 2009: First place - America's Cup, Richmond, BC, Canada
- 2008: Fourth place - Paralympic Games, Beijing, China
- 2008: First place - North American Cup, Birmingham, Alabama
- 2007: Gold medal - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2006: Silver medal - IWBF Gold Cup (World Championships), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2012: Bronze Medal - Paralympic Games, London, UK
- 2016: Gold Medal - Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Professional
- 2011: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2011: German Championship
- 2011: IWBF Champions League Silver Medal
- 2012: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2012: German Championship
Notes
- ↑ "Westbury's Serio helps USA to gold medal".
- ↑ "Who will rule the Rollstuhl this year?". FIBA.basketball.
- ↑ "U.S. Paralympic Athlete Biography".
- ↑ "United States Olympic Committee Article 3/20/06".
- 1 2 "USOC Athlete Spotlight: Steve Serio".
- ↑ "Past NIWBA All-American Teams". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
- ↑ "Fighting Illini Men's Wheelchair Basketball Page". Archived from the original on 2007-02-21.
- ↑ "Daily Illini Newspaper Article 3/24/08".
- ↑ "2006 U.S. Paralympics Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team Defeated by Canada in IWBF Gold Cup Final".
- ↑ "Newsfeed".
- ↑ "USA Wins Gold".
- ↑ "Day Ten - Finals - British Wheelchair Basketball". www.gbwba.org.uk.
- ↑ die.interaktiven. "Details - RSV Lahn-Dill". www.rsvlahndill.de.