Taking it to the hoop, wheelchair-style

Katie's Komets guard Natalie Kolander, 16, strong-armed her hot pink, tiger-striped sports wheelchair up and down the basketball court at the School of the Future in West Philadelphia, while her long ponytail, which she'd dip-dyed in red Kool-Aid, flapped behind her like a banner on a Jersey Shore plane.

Unsmiling and laser-focused, she dribbled, passed, and spun around to block the wheelchairs of her Bennett Blazers opponents with game-face intensity that hid the pure joy she feels whenever she and her Katie's Komets teammates play.

"I started when I was eight and I was not really feeling it," Kolander, who lives in Collegeville, said afterward. "I was scared, afraid of jamming my fingers. But my mom wouldn't let me quit. My dad wouldn't let me quit. Nobody would let me quit. So I got over the fear. And as I played, I got much more aggressive."

Hosted by Katie's Komets, the 19th Annual Katie Kirlin Junior Wheelchair Basketball Tournament ended Sunday for four teams in the Prep Division (ages 13 and under) and five teams in the Varsity Division (14 through high school graduation). The teams are coed and hailed from Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Katie's Komets finished fourth; the tournament winner was the Brooklyn/New Jersey Nets.

The Katie Kirlin Fund was established by Joe and Roseann Kirlin, of South Philadelphia, to keep alive the memory of their daughter, Katie, who loved wheelchair sports and died of cancer in 1989 at the age of 12. The charity makes donations for Katie's Komets sports wheelchairs (approximately $2,000 to $2,500, each) and for tournament travel to New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Kentucky.

Joe Kirlin said he wishes more kids with disabilities would discover the sport. "I've heard there's something like 2,500 kids with disabilities in the area who could be playing wheelchair basketball," he said. "We have 35 kids in [the two divisions of] Katie's Komets. Where's the other 2,400? I'd like to get the word out that there's money here for this and that a lot of our kids go to college."

Komets assistant coach Shawn Devault, of Easton, played for eight years with the team, went on to earn a bachelor's degree in adaptive recreation at, and play for, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where the wheelchair basketball team won national championships in 2012 and 2013.

"When you're a kid with a disability, you grow up in circumstances where you're the kid who sticks out, you're the kid that's different," Devault said. "It's not like you go to a community center or a Walmart and see a person who looks like you. So wheelchair basketball is a chance to be with people who experience what you experience."

Komets head coach Keith Newerla, of Valley Forge, a lifelong wheelchair user, said, "Some of our kids are mainstreamed, so they may be the only kid with a disability in school. Here, they have a chance to become friends with people who are in a similar situation and understand what you're going through."

Newerla said he's seen Katie's Komets players become more independent as they spend more time around their peers. "Rather than ask their mom to help with something, they may ask a teammate or do it themselves. If a kid wants to meet up with his friends, and his dad's not moving fast enough, he may put his own shoes on so he can go be with the rest of the kids. It's about more than basketball. We spend time in practice on how to take care of your chair."

Aaron Cox, 17, from South Philadelphia, said playing for Katie's Komets was all about the chemistry with his teammates and living his lifelong basketball dream, fueled by years of watching NBA games.

His dad, Paul Cox, said Aaron "understands the game technically. He's got a coaching mind. He can tell who played on what NBA team in what year, and what his statistics were. I can't remember which day the trash goes out."

Cox laughed, then grew serious. "This is his thing," Cox said, watching his basketball-loving son. "This is what he lives for."

geringd@phillynews.com

267-443-3540 @DanGeringer