The Foundation They Built: How Team USA Wheelchair Rugby Is Evolving Its Legacy — And Its Competitive Edge — To LA28

When Joe Delagrave first rolled into a wheelchair rugby practice nearly two decades ago, he wasn't just learning a new sport. He was learning a new way to live.

The Minnesota native had recently sustained a spinal cord injury and arrived without knowing what to expect. What he found wasn't a room full of Paralympians or decorated champions. Instead, he found a community.

“I'd see them coming in their vehicle, getting their chair out by themselves, going to the bathroom by themselves,” Delagrave said. “I was this 19-, 20-year-old kid who was super intrigued because I didn't think I was able to do that.”

Those teammates became his first mentors, showing him that independence was possible long before they taught him how to play wheelchair rugby.

Today, the two-time Paralympian and medalist, 41, leads the U.S. Paralympic wheelchair rugby team as its head coach, carrying forward the same lessons that shaped him. His journey reflects something larger than one athlete's career. Every generation of Team USA wheelchair rugby players has built upon the last, creating a culture where experience is passed down, innovation is embraced and the next athlete is always being prepared to go even further.

As the countdown to the Paralympic Games Los Angeles 2028 continues, that legacy has never mattered more.

"It's 100 percent a responsibility," Delagrave said of mentoring younger athletes. "When you've been in the sport a long time ... it's great to have that wing out and say, 'I'm going to help that next generation.'"

Few understand that responsibility better than Chuck Aoki.

Now entering his 18th year with Team USA, the four-time Paralympic medalist still remembers discovering wheelchair rugby after watching Murderball. But one of the biggest influences on his career wasn't a movie star — it was Delagrave, who had begun playing just one year earlier.

"He was one of those first people who said to me, 'You could really do something,'" Aoki noted. "He brought that truly elite athlete mindset to the sport."

That mindset became contagious.

Both athletes left Minnesota for Arizona in pursuit of bigger dreams, betting on themselves to become elite competitors. Along the way, they learned that success wasn't measured solely in medals, but in creating opportunities for those who would come after them.

"We owe an immense amount to foster the next generation of Paralympic athletes," Aoki said. "Teaching them where to go, inspiring them, telling our stories, and ensuring that the gains we've made stay and grow."

That investment is already paying dividends.

Delagrave points to athletes like 16-year-old Zayne Hammoudeh and 21-year-old Hank Allen as examples of where the sport is headed. 

Just two years ago, Hank relied heavily on his mother while traveling to training camps. Today, he flies across the country independently.

"I want to win the gold medal," Delagrave said. "But seeing Hank go from where he was two years ago to saying, 'I can go anywhere in the world by myself' — those are gold medals in and of themselves."

Those moments capture the unique impact of adaptive sport. While medals remain the ultimate competitive goal, wheelchair rugby has always been about something bigger: building confidence, independence and community that extends far beyond the court.

That same philosophy now extends to the equipment athletes compete in.

As the rest of the world continues to raise the standard, Team USA is doing the same — not just through training, but through innovation.

In 2025, the Lakeshore Foundation, the National Governing Body for wheelchair rugby, received a Performance Innovation Fund grant to advance wheelchair fitting and optimization. Made possible by the generosity of Team USA fans who support the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, the multi-year initiative focuses on improving chair design, materials and customization to help create a competitive advantage heading into LA28.

For a sport where fractions of a second can determine the outcome, even small gains matter.

"Our equipment is really important for getting to that next level," Delagrave said. "Sometimes, it can even be a five percent gain. The athletes still have to show up and do the work, but that's the one percent we're looking for."

The project allows Team USA to explore innovations ranging from bucket-seat technology to lighter, more durable components and new chair configurations tailored to individual athletes.

"We've had tons of ideas over the years," Delagrave said. "But now, with the backing of this grant, you can actually dream, experiment, and come up with something that truly changes an athlete's game."

Aoki sees the investment as more than improved equipment.

Because wheelchair rugby relies on highly specialized chairs that aren't commercially produced at scale, innovation depends on collaboration between engineers, coaches, athletes and supporters willing to invest in what's possible.

"We have to be the innovators," said Aoki. "We have to be the ones saying, 'How can we do wheelchairs differently? How can we do seats differently?'"

Those investments don't simply help Team USA keep pace.

They help position the United States to lead.

The timing couldn't be more significant.

With the summer Paralympics returning to American soil for the first time since the Paralympic Games Atlanta 1996, wheelchair rugby has an unprecedented opportunity in LA to inspire a new generation of athletes.

For Delagrave, that means building grassroots programs capable of welcoming every young athlete who discovers the sport after LA28, just as he once did.

"I think there's going to be a lot of people like Zayne and like Hank and like I was when I was 19 or 20 years old looking for a sport to play," he said. "Hopefully we'll be ready to accept them."

For Aoki, the moment is almost impossible to imagine.

"I've never had a stadium cheering for me," he said. "To have home soil, everyone cheering for you, family and friends there — it literally gives me chills."

Those cheers will celebrate more than the athletes competing on the court.

They will celebrate decades of mentors who taught independence before competition. Coaches who invested in people before podiums. Innovators who refused to stop asking how equipment could be better. And supporters whose generosity transformed ideas into reality.

Every generation has helped leave the sport stronger than they found it.

Now, as Team USA looks toward LA28 and beyond, the next generation is preparing to do the same — better equipped, better supported and ready to build the future on the foundation that came before.

To learn more about the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, visit TeamUSA.com/Foundation.