The Long Beach Flying Wheels wheelchair basketball team came to Venice High on April 15. They spoke to gym classes about their organization and gave students a chance to try wheelchair basketball.

The Long Beach Flying Wheels is a non-profit organization that gives paralyzed veterans a chance to play competitive basketball.

One member of the team is Angela Madsen who is also part of the mentoring program Ready! Set! Gold! In the mentoring program, Olympians and Paralympians are assigned a public school to motivate and teach students about health and fitness as long-term goals.

Madsen has won five medals, four of them gold. After having a surgery go wrong for an accident that happened while she was in the Marines, Madsen used her skills to join wheelchair basketball as well as rowing.

In addition to Madsen, some members of the team who came to show the students how wheelchair basketball works were Coach Robert Soto, Robert Lew, and Jimmy Sutandar.