Wheelchair Lacrosse USA (WLUSA), the governing body of wheelchair lacrosse in the United States, is hosting its annual national championship tournament in Milwaukee this week, with the three-day event running from Friday through Sunday.
Founded in 2010, WLUSA has helped start dozens of wheelchair lacrosse programs across the country, and will have 10 teams gathering this weekend to compete for the 2024 championship.
Wheelchair Lacrosse is played on a standard box lacrosse rink with the Nationals format set for seven players per side, including a goalie. Players use their wheelchairs to maneuver around the rink, passing and shooting the ball with lacrosse sticks. The rules are a hybrid between field and box lacrosse and the sport is extremely similar to its mainstream counterpart.
Here are five things to know about the WLUSA’s 2024 championship event.
1. Milwaukee is the defending champion
The Eagles claimed their first WLUSA national title last year, defeating Colorado in the 2023 championship game, and are hugely motivated to repeat as champs. Undefeated through two summer tournaments, Milwaukee carries plenty of momentum into this week’s event.
Team founder Ken Lee points to a slight philosophy shift, started last year, as one of the factors in Milwaukee’s rise.
“Our goal has always been to play as many people as possible in every game, but beginning last year, we adjusted to a ‘just win’ mindset,” Lee said. “We still play as many people as we can, especially in earlier rounds, but once we reach the championship game, we shift to a ‘let’s go for it’ attitude. And after getting a taste of winning last year, our players want to defend the title this year.”
2. Welcome to the Midwest
In addition to being the defending champion, Milwaukee also has home court advantage in 2024 as the tournament host. The WLUSA requires that the host venue feature a minimum of two rinks, and Milwaukee’s traditional venue, the Ozaukee Ice Center, qualifies on that front. The facility is also fully accessible, providing easy mobility options for both participants and spectators.
In addition to securing the venue, Milwaukee has gathered plenty of community support for the event. The Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association serves as a collaborating partner and is hosting a Wisconsin-style cook out for all the teams on Saturday. There are also at least 17 other partners involved with this year’s event, ranging from local businesses to the Marquette University men’s lacrosse team. And as a nod to the Native roots of lacrosse, this year’s trophies and awards are being hand-made by youth from Milwaukee’s Indian Community School.
“Without partners, we can’t survive,” Lee said. “It would be a real struggle.”
3. The addition of the skills competition
One of the new elements to this year’s championship weekend will be a skills competition, featuring at least three different challenges: obstacle course, shooting accuracy, and hardest shot. Prizes will be given to all the winners.
“We think these will be some additional fun elements for the weekend,” said Shawn Maloney, who serves as a WLUSA board member and as USA Lacrosse’s Mountain Region manager. Maloney is also a member of the Colorado Rolling Mammoth wheelchair lacrosse team.
4. Supporting growth
In addition to the eight established teams that are competing – Buffalo Rolling Bandits, Colorado Rolling Mammoth, Grand Rapids Frenzy, Houston Apollos, Indy Rip, Maryland Thunder, Milwaukee Eagles, and New Hampshire Wildcats – this year’s field also includes two at-large squads comprised of free agents, designated Team Red and Team Blue.
Players on these teams represent markets that either don’t currently sponsor a team, or have a team that was unable to bring its full squad.
“Some of the free agents are coming from Dallas-Fort Worth, Ohio, Iowa, Richmond and elsewhere,” Maloney said. “The hope is that these players can bring their knowledge and enthusiasm back home to keep growing their local programs.”
To further support growth, the WLUSA has upcoming learn-to-play clinics planned in Albany, Rochester, and Ontario in hopes of creating more opportunities for regional play. Additionally, some of the established teams, notably Grand Rapids, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Houston, have started to develop youth wheelchair lacrosse programming. “This is the future,” Maloney said.
5. Understanding the tournament’s format
The 10 participating teams will begin with pool play on Friday and Saturday, with each squad playing four games. At the conclusion of pool play, the teams will be seeded into two brackets, with seeds 1-5 placed in the A Division and seeds 6-10 designated as the B Division. Games continue on Sunday to determine a champion from each division. See full schedule here.
As a new feature in 2024, at the conclusion of the event, each team will have one player recognized as an MVP, in addition to the naming of an overall tournament MVP.
Updates throughout the event will be available via social media at www.instagram.com/uslacrosse.
