July 19, 2023
Oakland University Professor Kathryn Rougeau has been selected as the team leader for the 2023 USA Women’s U25 World Championship team for wheelchair basketball.
Over the next few months, Dr. Rougeau will be traveling to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center (USOPC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). She will also be involved in all team processes and activities from now through October when the team travels to Thailand for the world championships.
“I am honored to have been selected as team leader for the 2023 USA Women’s U25 World Championship Team,” said Rougeau, an assistant professor in the School of Health Sciences. “I’m most looking forward to representing the USA as we embark on a journey toward defending our gold medal performance in 2019.”
Rougeau is a 2007 Oakland University graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in wellness, health promotion and injury prevention. She earned a master’s in kinesiology in 2015 and a Ph.D. in kinesiology in 2017 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In addition to her role as team leader, Rougeau has been a member of the NWBA since 2009, serving as the assistant coach for the University of Illinois men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball programs (2010 – 2017) and secretary for the Intercollegiate Division since 2014.
“My current role is to assist in the planning for and organization of the team training and travel events ahead of the IWBF U25 World Championships,” she said.
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The 2023 IWBF Women’s U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship is set to be the largest yet. It will take place in the city of Bangkok between October 3 and October 9, and will feature 10 women’s teams from across the world, including South Africa, USA, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Spain, and Great Britain.
“Our focus is to offer a clear pathway to support the development of women playing our sport which includes an elite junior platform to provide competitive opportunities,” said IWBF President Ulf Mehrens “To see the growth of the women’s game across our zones is really inspiring.”
Tryouts will be held July 25-30 at the Colorado Springs Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, followed by a training camp from August 6-13 and a send-off camp from September 26-30. The team will depart for Bangkok on October 1.
“We are looking forward to returning to Thailand and to continue to see the growth of the women’s game flourish,” Mehrens said.
More information about the competition can be found at https://iwbf.org/womens-u25-world-championships.
To learn more about the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, visit www.nwba.org.