ARLINGTON, Texas. (BVM) — Learning how to play the game of basketball is no easy task. That task becomes even harder when diagnosed with a disability. 

AJ Hummer suffers from cerebral palsy which affects only his lower body. 

“Essentially, if I stand for too long or walk for too long, it gets really difficult,” Hummer said.

He has fought through these challenges and now plays wheelchair basketball for the University of Texas Arlington. Not only does he play, but AJ has already been crowned a national champion within his first three years of college. However, that is not the end goal for AJ. He is determined to make his mark on this world.

Hummer was first introduced to the game of basketball around the age of 6 years old at Turnstone, an organization that helps people with disabilities. 

“I was going to do physical therapy for my legs,” Hummer said. “Then I saw they had wheelchair basketball and I thought it looked fun and wanted to try it out.”  

He began playing soon after being introduced to the game. For nine years, AJ spent the majority of his free time shooting at a local church or going to Turnstone for some competitive games. 

However, just like with any other sport, wheelchair basketball has its challenges. Hummer noted how difficult it is to adjust to the wheelchair and the difficulty it first proposed.  

“The biggest thing is getting used to the chair and how it moves,” he said. “Once you’re able to figure out what your needs are in a basketball chair, based on your disability and how much function you have, then you can start to maximize your potential in a chair.” 

Additionally, most players do not receive their own fitted wheelchairs until a few years of experience. Instead, during their first few years, most players have to use a size that is meant to fit a variety of people. That would be like having to wear the wrong-sized shoe. It can be rather uncomfortable adjusting to a wheelchair that is not specified to your preference. However, as time went on, Hummer became adjusted and was able to move efficiently in the wheelchair. 

It was not until his sophomore season that AJ got his own chair to play ball in. 

“The thing is, once I got into my chair that fit me properly, it still took me at least a year, at that age, to get used to my chair,” Hummer said. 

After getting adjusted to his own chair, he decided to join the RHI Racers, a team based out of Indianapolis, for his junior and senior seasons. The team mainly traveled to locations in the Midwest due to the amount of competition but did travel nationally as well. 

“The Midwest has some of the best wheelchair basketball in the country for high school teams.” Hummer said. 

During his senior year, Hummer recalls his team being ranked within the top five in the country. Along with this ranking, his team was able to compete in nationals which provided one of AJ’s favorite memories.

“I think it was in the quarterfinals of the national tournament,” he said. “We played a team from Utah and they were good. There is no other way to put it. We probably had 500 to 1,000 people just watching our game because both teams were pressing the whole game and it was a nail-biter to the end. I don’t know how many Paralympians and college coaches I saw there. You look around and you’re like, ‘Dang, I know half of these people and they’re very high up in the sport.’”

After his senior season, Hummer had to make the decision of where he was going to continue his basketball career. He originally had offers from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Illinois, and Auburn University. The University of Texas Arlington was not even in his top three. 

It was not until a friend of Hummer’s committed elsewhere and told Hummer that Texas Arlingtonhad offered him a sizable scholarship. Soon after, AJ reached out to Doug Garner, the head coach of Texas Arlington to see if there was interest. 

Sure enough, after getting on campus, both AJ and his brother Isaac were offered scholarships to play for the team. 

“I got on the plane ride back home and literally, there was something telling me this is where I was meant to go,” Hummer said. “I’m pretty faithful and I just prayed that God would help me find the place that was meant for me.”

Once getting back, AJ and his brother signed their letters of intent to play for the University of Texas Arlington. 

“I was just nervous,” Hummer said. “It was one of those moments where all your hard work is paying off and you realize this is the moment you have been waiting for your whole life.”

So far, AJ’s collegiate career has lived up to his expectations, despite the cancellation of his second season due to the pandemic. His team responded the following year and won the 2021 Toyota National Championship, defeating Alabama by a score of 66-51.

“Once the time ran out, it was just so exciting,” he said. “It was just pure joy, that’s literally the only word I can come up with. You’re just sitting out there waiting for it to hit that final buzzer and when it finally does you can just go and hug all your teammates and celebrate with them because we accomplished something that none of us could have accomplished by ourselves.”

Hummer thanked a plethora of people for guiding him throughout this journey including God, his stepdad, Josh Collins, Jake Briley, and Ryan Neisweinder. However, most important of all, he thanked his mom for pushing him to be the greatest version of himself. 

“She’s been there through it all with us,” Hummer said. “Having three kids with disabilities and trying to learn how to best raise them and help them grow up to live the most normal life is obviously a challenge. Being a mother, in general, is not something that people are trained on. But she kept me going this year. The stress of COVID and trying to keep our grades up and trying to train as hard as we could for what felt like nothing. She was able to keep me going.”  

As for the future, AJ plans to continue to excel at the game of basketball. He wants to have two more national championships added to the collection by the time he graduates. Those are great goals by themselves, but he did not stop there.

“I’m trying to make a Paralympic team within the next seven years,” Hummer said. “I would like to think that I will be on either the Paris team or the Los Angeles team.”

With his goals set high, AJ will continue to train intensely until reaching these goals. 

“I don’t want to ever look back on my life, whether it’s in basketball or anything I do in my life, and say, ‘Man if I just worked harder, I could have made that dream come true,’” Hummer said. “I don’t ever want to look back and say I didn’t give it everything I had.” 

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