Victim to victor

Martrell Stevens and his three United States teammates collected the bronze medal in men’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games on Sunday, 20 July with a 10-6 victory over Japan. While many athletes in this sport have their own ‘how I got here’ tales, Stevens’ starts tragically.

“I was a victim of gun violence at the age of four. It was a crazy story, crazy sequence of events for how it happened.”

He consequently suffered spinal cord damage, forcing him into a wheelchair and through a rehabilitation process.

Family over everything

The University of Illinois sports management student said his mother’s love and care kept his perspective positive and normalised his childhood as best as possible.

“I think the biggest factor in me not having that aspect of resentment towards my situation, probably was my mom.

“You know, she didn’t treat me any different from the rest of my siblings. I still had to do the dishes. I still had to do chores around the house. I think that was the biggest aspect of me having a normal type of outlook on my situation and just overcoming it. Because everybody in the world has different situations they’re going through, whether it be mental, physical or anything else in their life, but you just got to look past that and keep moving forward.”

Stevens stressed his mom saw him like a regular kid, despite his injury.

“I think that’s very important, especially in the wheelchair basketball sense, you know, you got to look at it as, you know, a regular sport. It’s not different because it’s in a wheelchair, it’s still an elite sport.”

From Chicago to the world

Stevens said he has grown into his story.

“The life I get to live now, I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world, because, you know, I owe my life to wheelchair basketball, and I appreciate the opportunities it’s given me so far, and I know all the opportunities I’ll get in the future as well.”

Representing the USA’s 5-on-5 team, he played in Colombia and then Brazil for the U-23 World Championships in June.

While training with that side, Ryan Martin, his former junior coach who was picked to head the US squad at Rhine-Ruhr 2025, gave him a call about a spot on that roster, which he snatched with two hands.

Full steam ahead

Stevens, an All-American and the top class 1 wheelchair basketballer in the NCAA system, said he’s set big goals for the future.

“My dream is to play professionally and ultimately win a gold medal with the US team on a Paralympic stage. I know the next Games are LA 2028, so I dream of making that team.

“I’m just, you know, hoping to keep playing wheelchair basketball as long as I can, because I’m just so in love with the sport and what it all has done for me. It’s taught me so much. It’s helped me meet so many different lifelong friends. So I’m just forever in debt to the sport of wheelchair basketball.”

The first-ever FISU Games wheelchair basketball tournament concluded on Sunday afternoon with host Germany scoring a 12-11 overtime win over Spain in the women’s final, and the Spaniards beating Great Britain 11-8 in the men’s title match.

The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games take place from 16-27 July. Watch all the competitions live on fisu.tv. Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Coby Moratti, FISU Young Reporter, New Zealand

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.