Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1189458
t m c » p u l s e | d e c 2 0 1 9/JA N 2 02 0 24 The other big difference? Eaton's regular wheelchair has no strap- ping or seatbelt, but her basketball chair has multiple straps. "In my basketball chair, I actually have three different straps—a waist strap, a leg strap that goes over the top of my legs and a Velcro strap that goes over my feet," she said. "We use those, obviously, to keep us in the chair, because people are falling down left and right, so it keeps you tight in your chair. We explain it like, you want to fit in your chair like a shoe would fit on your foot. … Any sort of movement that I make with my body, my chair will follow." In 2019, Eaton competed in the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru with the rest of the U.S. Women's National Wheelchair Basketball Team. She spent four years trying out for the team before making the official squad in 2017. Even then, she almost didn't make it. Eaton was not part of the initial roster and had pretty much given up on making the team. "I didn't think I was going to come back. … I didn't think I would play again. … I was pretty much over it at that point," Eaton said. "Fortunately, a couple of months into the season, one of the girls on the roster, she had to pull out and so Trooper Johnson, the head coach, called me and offered me the spot right then and there." Eaton credits the initial setback for her success today. "It was a mixture of emotions," she recalled. "I went from the lowest of lows to, obviously, pretty high, but it was a blessing that I got cut. I kind of went into the 2017 tryout thinking that I deserved to be on that team and that I didn't have to work as hard as everyone else because I thought I belonged there. But then getting cut really showed me that I had to put 100 percent effort into it if I wanted to continue. " To prepare for Paralympic tryouts, Eaton is following a rigorous training schedule in addition to her already-busy life attending classes and serving as the assistant coach for the women's wheelchair basket- ball team at the University of Illinois. "I'm doing three strength training workouts per week, three cardio workouts per week and three shooting workouts per week," Eaton said. "Each shooting workout is 500 shots. I also jump in the scrimmages with my team to get practice in." Although Eaton was part of the U.S. Women's National Wheelchair Basketball Team that qualified for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, she and her teammates did not automatically qualify as indi- viduals. In January, she will travel to the Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to try out for a spot on the 12-woman team once again. "Going into a tryout in a Paralympic year is nerve-racking, espe- cially with it being my first one," Eaton said. "But I'm feeling confident and I'm putting the work in so, hopefully, it all goes well. The good news is with Paralympic tryouts, they keep the teams as similar as pos- sible just because you have team chemistry. … So it does give you a bit of a leg up that you have been on previous teams, but it is by no means qualifying you to stay on the team." Off the court, Eaton is excited about completing her graduate degree in social work and, hopefully, returning to Houston. "I chose social work because I love working with people in any way that I can," she said. "I want to work with older adults who are in the hospital and help them through that transition period, or to work at TIRR and give back to an organization that gave so much to me and help other kids find their way through their disability and what is going to bring them to reach their goals."