The Albuquerque Kings are a wheelchair basketball team who have been around for many years promoting physical exercise and comraderyto these disabled athletes. Last year, they lost their home at the University of New Mexico. With no place to practice or host games, they turned to us and with the help of AJCC Recreation Manager, Manny Martinez, we opened our arms to this important organization.

They recently joined 184 other teams who compete for rankings in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Team representative, Jake Schmalzriedt, stated, “Now, not only does Job Corps help us by allowing us to practice at their facility 2 times a week, they also help us host our annual „Go Unlimited Duke City Wheelchair Basketball Tournament‟. We would not be able to have such a great event without the help of Job Corps, Manny Martinez, and his staff and students. They donate so much time and effort into making the tournament happen. In fact, I might go one step further and state that without their help we might not even have a tournament. Keeping active is so important for a person with a disability both physically and mentally. Very few entities in Albuquerque support sports for the Physically disabled athlete. Job Corps is one of them.”

The Albuquerque Kings hosted the Second Annual Duke City Classic Wheelchair Basketball tournament on February 26thand 27thin the Center gymnasium. Teams from Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico competed and it was an exciting and great experience for all involved –especially our students who were inspired by these great role models.