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Belleville woman to compete in ParalympicsBy Clara BeldenThe Hutchinson NowhBELLEVILLE - For 21-year-old Jana Stump, the message at Colorado Spring's Craig Hospital became her ticket to Atlanta: “Doors have been closed, but there are windows of opportunity.”Stump has been named to play wheelchair basketball for Team USA, Aug. 15-25 at the Paralympics in Atlanta. She is one of just 12 women chosen from across the nation.“It is the utmost honor,” said Stump, during an interview at her apartment at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where she attends college and is in training.Tm so excited. All morning my stomach has been all queasy. I got my plane ticket in the mail yesterday, so I guess we’re set.”In Stump’s hometown of Belleville, where her father and mother, Jerry and Kathleen Stump, live and teach school, Stump’s father recounted the fateful road his daughter traveled to Atlanta’s Paralympics.“Jana always wanted to be a basketball player,” Jerry Stump said. “During her freshman year (in high school) she played on the 3A team that went to state in Hutchinson. As a junior high athlete she set hurdle records ”On the last day of school her freshman year - May 23,1990 -Stump was riding in a friend’s car when it hit a dirt bank at a railroad crossing and became airborne.Photo courtesy of the Belleville TelescopeJana Stump gives a thumbs-up after a road-race conditioning session in her wheelchairThe landing broke the car seat and Stump’s back. She was paralyzed from the chest down.Stump went to Craig Hospital in Colorado Springs, which specializes in rehabilitation of victims with spinal cord injuries. They directed her to the University of Illinois, a national leader in opportunities for wheelchair-bound students.After graduating from Belleville High School, Jana enrolled at the university.,“She was actually recruited, her father said. “She had scholarship money and they waived out-of-state tuition.”For three years she has been a member of the UI team. Last year, Stump was named most valuable player. She played in the national finals in 1995 in Albuquerque. At the 1996 finals in Orange County, Calif., she was named to the all-tournament team. She scored 21 points, an all-time personal best, and was named most improved player.This week, Stump recounted the selection process and training schedule that led to Atlanta.“The first tryout session was a year ago at Albuquerque. Twenty-eight women were invited. They cut to 20. We had a second tryout in Colorado Springs last summer, followed by a mini-tryout in Minneapolis. The final was in Irvine, Calif., where they cut it to 12 with two alternates”Two of Stump’s IU teammates also made the Paralympic team.The three will complete a final 9-day workout before they join other team members at the Olympic campus in Colorado Springs for one last training session before heading to Atlanta.“We have three humidifiers going in the gym to simulate Atlanta,” she said. “We’ve been training like that all year.” Athletes at the university are required to follow a rigorous, highly demanding personal training schedule throughouttheir college career: swimming, basketball practice, weightlifting and road-racing in a special chair. Jana has added skydiving, scuba diving, jet and monoskiing.“I put in a lot of hard work, but it’s worth every bit of it. As far as practice, the hardest part is just to keep going and going”Not locked into one position on the court, Stump said she plays wing andguard.“I’m pretty diverse.She averages 12 points a game.“I’ve played both able-bodied and wheelchair basketball. Wheelchair is much more aggressive. It adds another level of difficulty.“You really have to know how to manuever the chair. Another disadvantage, you can’t jump. If you set the chair high, you lose manueverability and speed. If you set it low, you gain speed but you lose height. So there is a compromise in the middle where you can be the best at both.As the Paralympic Games get closer, Jana’s competitive spirit goes higher.In the 1992 Barcelona games, Team USA won the silver medal.“Of course we expect to get the gold. We are focusing on the big countries, Australia, Germany and Canada. We think they are going to be very tough.“I’m determined for sure to come home with a gold medal.”
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Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Kansas, US
Thu, Jul 18, 1996
Page 40
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