Basketball season is fast approaching, but one South Bend team has already started rolling.

The River City Rollers are a local wheelchair basketball team that is now partnered with Indiana University South Bend.

Many gathering to play the most popular adaptive sport, wheelchair basketball.

This sport offers members of the disabled community a way to engage in athletics.

Joey McTigue helps run the Rollers and says this team is like a family.

“You start to feel a whole sense of purpose and community and it’s important for others in the disabled community to see that you can be active and independent and get out there and there’s opportunities.” said River City Roller’s coach Joey McTigue.

IU South Bend is allowing the rollers to store their chairs and practice weekly.

McTigue says, finding an affordable gym with storage space has been a struggle.

But now this will help the team but also benefit the university.

The students can come whenever they want come in get a chair come, try it out, but also from his PT and OT perspective how can the students come and get credit to be involved and participate and get real world experience. From a marketing and fundraising perspective.” said River City Roller’s coach Joey McTigue.

Andrew Doyle is the IUSB Program Director of Health Sciences.

He helped start this partnership and was also out playing for the first time.

Doyle says this can help students get real life experience in adaptive sports.

Sports and Exercise Science and Rehabilitation Science, and those are just 2 concentrations. With those concentrations, we feel that this is a great partnership our marriage is well working with adaptive sports.” said IUSB Program Director of Helath Sciences Andrew Doyle.

The team was founded in 1977 by Jim Milliken, who served in the U.S. Army with the 11th brigade in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart.

He is a double amputee who is a member of the SB Hall of Fame.

He’s a national champion Paralympic swimmer, who swam for the US Paralympic team in Seoul.

More information for the River City Rollers can be found here.