Steve Serio
Steven 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 de Janeiro Paralympic Games[1] and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.[2] He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.[3]
![]() Serio in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Steven Serio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Steve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Mineola, New York, U.S. | September 8, 1987||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) (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
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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.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6] In that same year, he played on a USA U-23 Team played at the Australian Junior National Games for the Disabled in Sydney.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11] 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[12] and finished third at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, England.[13]
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.[14]
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
- 2008: National Champion - U.S. Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball
- 2008: MVP - NWBA College Division
US National Team
- 2006: Silver medal - IWBF Gold Cup (World Championships), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2007: Gold medal - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2008: Fourth place - Paralympic Games, Beijing, China
- 2008: First place - North American Cup, Birmingham, Alabama
- 2009: First place - America's Cup, Richmond, BC, Canada
- 2010: Third place - Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, Birmingham, England, UK
- 2012: Bronze Medal - Paralympic Games, London, UK
- 2016: Gold Medal - Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2021: Gold Medal - 2020 Summer Paralympics, Tokyo, Japan
Professional
- 2011: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2011: German Championship
- 2011: IWBF Champions League Silver Medal
- 2012: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2012: German Championship
- 2021: IWBF Champions Cup Champion[15]
Notes
- "Westbury's Serio helps USA to gold medal".
- "USA retain men's wheelchair basketball Paralympic title after dramatic win over Japan".
- "Who will rule the Rollstuhl this year?". FIBA.basketball.
- "U.S. Paralympic Athlete Biography".
- "United States Olympic Committee Article 3/20/06".
- "USOC Athlete Spotlight: Steve Serio".
- "Past NIWBA All-American Teams". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
- "Fighting Illini Men's Wheelchair Basketball Page". Archived from the original on February 21, 2007.
- "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". Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved December 13, 2009.
- "Day Ten - Finals - British Wheelchair Basketball". www.gbwba.org.uk.
- die.interaktiven. "Details - RSV Lahn-Dill". www.rsvlahndill.de.
- "Ascended to the European throne for the seventh time".
External links
- Steve Serio at TeamUSA.org
- Steve Serio at the International Paralympic Committee (2008, 2016)
- Steven Serio at the International Paralympic Committee (2012)
- U.S. Paralympics: Biography at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-08-02)