Spin control

This story is about people who got into a difficult life situation and don't want to give up. They put all the forces to have full lives. Surgeries, periods of rehabilitation, depression and despair made them look for a completely different purpose of life in the new circumstances.

Doing sports is their dedicated desire to overcome this tragic situation, so that's way they've chosen basketball as the most active sports. This is kind of a challenge to fate for those who come to the basketball court to fight and win.

These are the stories of those basketball players, Russian teams athletes, who I met at the all-Russian wheelchair basketball tournament in October 2018.

“I had lost my father six months before that tragedy happened to me.
My mother was always drunk and my fiancée dumped me, so I couldn’t do anything better than to numb my pain with alcohol.
It’s a shameful thing to tell and it’s terrible to remember what kind of life I had. I was going downhill. No one knows what life would it be if I hadn’t had a stab wound to my chest that horrible night. The wound was severe because the knife went extremely close to my heart. By the time I was found and given first aid I had lost almost 65% of blood. I’m glad I stayed alive. And by the way I’m happy now for first time in my life. That’s because I have basketball.”
Sergey, 30 years old

“My team is my second family. The family where every player is priceless, everyone has his own character and gets personal approach. We are all different, but together. We are more than just friends, more than just a team.” Stanislav, 38 years old

“I always enjoy the process more than any result. I find all the happiness and joy in the particular action.
I appreciate every single moment in these new circumstances.
I’m an optimist, but I lost several years of my life after this injury doing nothing. I didn’t start playing basketball immediately and frankly speaking that’s the only one thing I regret.”
Alexey, 42 years old

“I’ve never thought of anything bad, never fallen into depression or despair. What’s the point if you can’t change the thing that has already happened to you. I got my thing that rainy autumn evening when I was hit by the car and lost both legs. I guess there’s no way it occurred randomly. You have to move on, not looking back. You just need to accept that and do all the best in this new situation. Anyway everything depends on a person’s will.”
Vasily, 34 years old

“That accident turned everything upside down. It was psychologically difficult to be bound by the wheelchair, my old life seemed very far away. The most important thing you have to learn in new circumstances is to be independent. It’s impossible to ask for help over and over again. All these difficulties are pretty natural and you are the only person who can deal with them. Once you got self-contained you are back on track! But it’s also extremely important to accustom your family and friends to your independence as well.”
Arseny, 28 years old

“My life became more meaningful and bright after that accident. I’ve met so many interesting and amazing people I could never value in a different situation. Basketball enriched my life, built my character and brought new opportunities to me.” Yuri, 36 years old

“I’ve been playing basketball all my life. So when I was on the table after that accident I asked the doctor to save my leg cause I needed it to keep playing. The worst thing I could ever imagine that time was to realize I won’t be able to play basketball anymore.”
Dmitry, 42 years old

“I went through a hard time. My father got drunk pretty often, my brother got into prison. So I went mad at everything that ever happened to me. I cursed the fate took my legs. I kept my neighbours in fear. Those poor people didn’t know how to get home, cause They were very frightened to bump into me. There was a kid who used to insult me a lot. So once I had a rage stroke and broke that boy’s leg with my own metal prosthesis.”
Nikolay, 37 years old

“Life knows what is good for us even when it hurts. It makes us who we are. Basketball is a great opportunity to express yourself, it’s a struggle with your fears, more than with your opponents. I can say that is certainly trial by fire.”
Andrey, 33 years old

“You can’t fight fate. There gonna be difficulties anyway, so you just need to solve your problems with dignity. We stick together through thick and thin. When a close friend is near there’s nothing to fear. Basketball can live without us, but we can't.”
Evgeny, 38 years old