RBR Wheelchair Basketball Special with Olympian and Five-Time National Champion Bailey Moody

How many people can claim to have won five national titles…in a row? How about adding two Olympic medals to the mix? And doing it all before graduating college?

History was made last weekend as the Alabama Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team claimed its fifth consecutive championship. We have written before of the Tide’s Adaptive Athletics dynasty, but what the women just pulled off was truly special; one-of-one, as Alabama claimed its fifth straight, and show no sign of slowing down.

It was our distinct pleasure to sit down with Alabama’s Bailey Moody to chew the fat about all things hoops, representing her country, and more. The questions don’t appear on the chat transcript, but I’ve reproduced the entirety below, and you can always listen to the interview instead, which is embedded herein. (That Otter tool is very awesome, I add).

Without further ado, Bailey Moody.

Alabama Adaptive Athletics (C) used with permission

Bailey, thank you for taking some time to speak with us. I wanted to first congratulate you on yet another national title.

This is somewhat a personal story to me, because my little brother had been very active throughout his life before a war injury and a subsequent industrial accident paralyzed him from the waist-down. He spent the rest of his life in “Wheelz” (a custom-painted horror-movie themed chair with devil horns and TruckNutz. LOL). He was never able to overcome his loss of mobility and find healthy means to adjust to his new life. I like to think that had he found an outlet as you did, that he would not have physically and mentally deteriorated so precipitously in his final years.

I know that you were diagnosed with osteosarcoma as a child, and that resulted in several complications, including the loss of your leg. Had you been an athletic kid before the chemotherapy, and had you played organized basketball previously?

Who recommended basketball to you? Or how did you land on that sport, in particular?

BM: Yes, so I was a super athletic child, basically the biggest jock you could ever find before, before cancer, I had basically tried every sport under the sun, my favorites at the time. I was playing basketball, I was playing softball, I was playing tennis. So I was doing a lot of things, but I tried everything. But basketball has always been a love of mine. It was something I did before cancer, actually a really, really big driving force behind me, wanting to choose to amputate my leg. But also, just like getting through cancer and finishing treatment, was wanting to play sports again and wanting to be back to my active life.

So yes, I played organized basketball previously. I was super active, but I played a lot of sports before, before cancer. For question two, who recommended basketball to you, or how did you land on that sport in particular? So basketball is kind of always, always where I was. I loved basketball. I played from like kindergarten, so I played on rec teams for as long as I can remember, and it was it, it was my first love. I think I just like the speed of the game, and I like how physical it is, and I like that there’s a lot going on, and I like that there’s skill involved, but also, you know, strength and agility and you know, you can work hard. But also, there’s a little bit more than just running. I’ve never been one to just do an endurance sport. So just, I love the pace of the game.

I love the team aspect of the game definitely keeps you on your toes all the time

You’ve been accomplished throughout your career, especially at the collegiate level. What is the bigger achievement, to you: Winning all of those national titles as part of the UA Adaptive dynasty? Or being selected as a two-time Olympian, including being tapped as a 17-year-old for the American team?

BM: You know, those are both two really big achievements. I am really, really proud of having meddled at the Paralympics twice, and having been able to play for my country, and I, actually, I made my first USA team as a 16 year old, but traveled to my first USA tournament as a 17 year old. So obviously, that is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. The national titles are are big.

We’ve kind of created this, this dynasty at Bama, both feel incredible. I think I would say that just playing for your country brings a whole nother sense of pride that comes on a small scale with playing for your college. But man, playing for team USA opens up these opportunities to travel the world and see the world.

So I think it’s the same, it’s a similar level of pride and achievement in being able to continue winning, but just the experience of Team USA is incredible as well.

The Gold has just eluded you and Team USA on two prior occasions. Are you hoping to compete again in ‘28 and compete for a Gold Medal? If it never happens, will that be a source of regret? Or does the pride in representing your country outweigh any team award?

Somewhat related: Which did you enjoy more? Tokyo or Paris?

BM: So I, I’ve never been one to be basketball, basketball, basketball all the time, and that doesn’t mean that I’m not committed to basketball. I tell people that all the time I am 100% committed to basketball. I will put my all into that sport. I work so hard, and I outwork most of the people in the world. Like, it is my focus right now. It is what I’m trying to do.

I would love to compete in LA 2028 and the ultimate goal is to win gold. I’d love to win gold like, hopefully that’ll happen in LA. I’m training for that to happen in LA. I want to put everything into training for that in LA, however, I also understand that my identity is not wrapped up in my sport. Like, if basketball were to suddenly end today, that is, that’s okay. Like, I would be okay. I wouldn’t regret anything if I don’t ever win gold, I’m not going to regret that, because I’m going to be really thankful. For the opportunity to play, and I’m going to be really thankful for the opportunity to do it at all, but also, just like the experiences that I had while doing it, it’s not everything, and a lot of people put all of their worth into how well they do in sport, and I don’t do that, and that’s not me.

My faith is a really big piece of who I am, and it’s where my identity is found, and it’s not found in my sport, but I do my sport as an opportunity to then bring glory to the Lord and also use those talents and skills that I’ve been given and work hard In those things, but definitely, definitely, just proud and thankful for where I’m at. If I hadn’t, if I hadn’t gone through what I did, if I hadn’t had cancer, if I hadn’t lost my leg, I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I wouldn’t have these opportunities, and I wouldn’t be playing in a collegiate setting, and I in wheelchair basketball. I wouldn’t have won all these national championships. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play for my country and win medals and travel the world and do all these things. So I am immensely grateful for that, and I recognize that not a lot of people get to do that.

And obviously I would love to win gold, and that’s a goal of mine, but just where I am, kind of, I stand in awe of where I am and what I’ve already gotten to experience, and that’s enough for me for

Which did you enjoy more Tokyo or Paris? Great question. I would say Paris, because Tokyo was still COVID. So Tokyo, we had a lot of restrictions that I didn’t recognize were restrictions until I got to Paris. I think a lot of just the world being in a pandemic took away from that full Paralympic experience that we ended up getting to have in Paris, and so like getting to have fans at games and getting to really interact with athletes in the village, not having all of those distancing restrictions, and having to worry about, like the idea of getting COVID and not being able to compete, kind of looming over your head was nice. And Paris was like a full games, and that was incredible. And I really didn’t realize what I missed in Tokyo. But absolutely, Paris, Paris, Paris, it was so fun. Both were fun, but I just didn’t realize how much COVID took from the Tokyo experience.

Turning back to your college career, I think many people are fascinated by the inner workings of the sport and simply are afraid to ask. So, I’ll be their mouthpiece. It’s not a “scholarship sport’ per se, but does the University help provide financial support to its adaptive athletes? And are there sponsorship opportunities available to the players?

BM: So yes, there are scholarship opportunities available to us. We have. This is true for programs across the country, but like, I’m on a full athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama, and I was recruited with the purpose of getting a full athletic scholarship. Obviously, that’s not true for everybody, and based on the donors that you have for your program and the support that you have, it’s different for every, every everywhere, every school, there are other scholarship opportunities available for athletes based on disability.

So I know there’s a there’s a scholarship for people with spinal cord injuries, and then also there’s academic scholarships available. So, so there’s opportunity for scholarship money, even though, I guess in the NCAA traditional sense, since we aren’t NCAA, since we aren’t NCAA sport, that it looks a little bit different.

This season, as new Alabama basketball fans have been jumping on the bandwagon, we’ve tried to bring them along with some Cliff Notes versions of schemes and styles of play. What kind of offense does Alabama Adaptive run, and how is it similar to what fans of UA hoops might be familiar with? What is the biggest difference? What would you want to tell casual viewers about adaptive athletics?

BM: So wheelchair basketball, in a sense, is the same game as stand up basketball. As in, all of the major rules are the same. So we play on the same size hoop, the goal of the game is the same. We play on the same size court, same size ball, all of those things are the same, very, very similar game.

There’s an element to para sport in general that involves a disability classification system. So this is true for all para sports. But your disability, you’re given basically a classification based on your level of function. So in basketball, you’re given like a point value, so based on like if you have less function. So I guess culturally deemed more disabled versus having more function and ability to, like, activate certain muscles depends on, like, the number of points you’re assigned.

So you’re assigned a higher number of points, like, based on how much function you have. So it ranges on a scale of one to 4.5 and it goes in point five increments. So a class one player would be somebody with a really high spinal cord injury, versus a 4.5 would be somebody that’s very minimally disabled. So me being a amputee, it puts me at a class 4.0 based on just my muscular function and the amount of leg that I have. And then after all, the players are assigned a classification, like a level of points, then when you put it the when you put your five players on the floor, you can only have a total of 14 points on the court at a time. So there’s an element of kind of picking and choosing lineups based on what kind of lineups you want, based on the makeup of your lineup, that is a little different for stand than stand up basketball, just because you’re working with this, like point system that you you have to work within.

So it adds a layer of technicality to the game, but then it changes how our offense is run as well. So like, because you have players with different levels of function, they’re based on kind of your classification system is how you run your offense. So players of a lower classification tend to be more pickers and sealers and ball handlers. They do a lot of like getting the higher classification players to the basket.

It’s really a lot of the dirty work, and I feel like they deserve so much more recognition just because they do all the hard work to get their the bigs, per se, to the basket to score. So you see a lot of your higher classification players doing a lot more of the scoring, and then you see your lower classification players doing a lot more of the picking and sealing, with kind of an even spread on who handles the ball. So it changes the way that our offense is run a little bit.

Also, it’s not run as much around the three point line, but it when you watch it, it looks very, very, very, very similar to when you’re watching stand up basketball, and it is not hard to follow at all.

But what I would tell casual viewers about adaptive athletics, about wheelchair basketball specifically is that it is physical. It is sometimes more physical than stand up basketball, and it is fast, and it’s fun to watch. And a lot of people, I think, have this idea of what wheelchair basketball looks like in their heads, of it being kind of slower, it’s fast. People fall on the floor. People are all over the floor. People hit each other really hard with their chairs. There’s a lot of crashing and banging.

You can smell the tire rubber burning as as their people are pushing up and down the court like it’s a fun game to watch, regardless of whether you you are familiar with it or not familiar with it.

For the decade that I’ve covered this, it seems like there is a quartet of oligarchs that dominate the sport: UW-Whitewater, UT-Arlington, and Illinois (alongside ‘Bama, of course). Are the national powerhouses your primary rivals? Or are the old SEC standards still the teams that you most want to beat (Auburn, Tennessee, etc?)

BM: There truly aren’t enough teams to have different divisions, so we’re just one division, the College Division, and so Auburn only has a men’s team, so we don’t ever play Auburn because they don’t have a women’s team, but our guys play Auburn, so we do get to have, like, an Alabama Auburn iron bowl type situation, but it’s only with the guys Tennessee, like, tried to start up a team a while ago, and it kind of fell through. So we’re still growing as a division.

So yeah, the National powerhouses tend to primarily be like UT-Arlington and Illinois are very, very dominant. Normally, they just have a history of being dominant. Bama, of course, has a history of being dominant, but we’re growing and we’re making progress. And you know, it’s we don’t have a whole SEC division, which is sad, but we do have our rivals, and we do get get fired up about those as well.

Who have you modeled your game after or who’s your biggest source of inspiration?

BM: I wouldn’t say that I’ve necessarily modeled my game after anybody, but I am super blessed to have gotten to train under some of the greats.

So with having made Team USA at such a young age, I’ve had so much opportunity to learn from from players that have more experience than me at a national team level before I even stepped foot on a college court, which is a really cool experience and not a lot of people get to have. So I got to play with Becca Murray. I’ve gotten to play with Rose Hollerman. I’ve gotten to learn from them who they’re some of the biggest names of the game on the women’s division side. And I’ve gotten to play with them as my teammates and learn from them. I’ve gotten to play with Natalie Schneider, Courtney, Ryan, just a bunch of people that are legends of the game and have made a really big impact on the game, and have been able to really be patient with me and with me learning and just teach me, you know, their little skills and tips and tricks.

So definitely a blessing to get to play under the legends of the game and play with as teammates the legends of the game just is, is super cool to have experience as a high schooler and have continued to experience as I’ve as I’ve gotten into college

Alabama Adaptive (C) used with permission

“Never waste a failure,” Nick Saban was fond of saying. What was the lowest moment in your career and how did you learn or grow from it?

BM: Okay, this is a hard question to answer, because I have had a lot of success, and I also but like sport, ebbs and flows, and there’s ups and downs in your career, and it’s hard to overcome things, and it’s a lot of like learning to grow and overcome,

I think, not necessarily a low moment, but something that I did have to work through is learning how to my mental game is a big part of me. It’s also one of has been one of my greatest downfalls in the past, of like, learning how to not freak out on the floor, and how to consistently be able to come into the game and be ready to go and not, like, psyching myself out because I would kind of like, stress spiral for a while. And like, I think having a strong mental game and being able to remain in the present is a huge obstacle to overcome. But also, like, if you can hone in on how to consistently be mentally strong and consistently, like, stay out of your head and perform in a way that keeps you from living in the past and puts you in the present moment and as close to the flow state as you can get. That’s a huge skill to have in any sport, and something I’ve had to work really hard on. But also, like, have failed a lot in the past, and in those failures, and then struggling to, like, get back in it.

And also, I think learning to come off of the bench strong. I think it’s a really hard position to be in to to come off the bench and jump into the flow of the game without being in your head for being on the bench, or being in your head for how much playing time you’ve been getting, or whatever. Like, being able to come into the game and hit the ground running is something that I’ve really worked on trying to be very good at, because it takes a skilled athlete to learn how to do that well, and to learn how to do that effectively. And so that’s something I’ve really, really, really been focusing on over the years is like, how do I make an impact on the game from wherever I am on the floor, whether that’s on the bench the whole time, on the floor the whole time, or even just coming in off the bench at some point.

Like, how do I make an impact wherever I am? How do I be the best teammate wherever I am? How do I be okay with where I am and still be able to contribute to the whole of the team and the success of the team.

When your career is over, what lies on the horizon? Do you plan on coaching? What do you want people to say about you as a player and a teammate?

BM: I think so. I think I would like people to say that as a teammate and a player, that I was really hard working, that I that they they felt that I believed in them wholeheartedly, that I want them to see me as a supportive teammate that believes in them, in anything that they do, and I want my teammates to feel that support from wherever I am, and I want them to know how wholeheartedly I know that they can be successful, and how excited I get for them when they are successful.

I want to be that kind of teammate that gets excited for for my teammates when they do the things well and when I see improvement in them, and when when they play a good game, or when they don’t play a good game. Like, I want to be that teammate that’s supportive of them regardless, and gets maybe even more excited for them than I would get for myself. Like I want them to see me as that kind of teammate.

I want my my coaches to see me as a hard worker and a coachable athlete. I want them to see me as somebody that’s going to do the dirty work and the nitty gritty and get down into it in order to be better and work on the little things and be able to hone in on my skills and continue to improve regardless of how long I’ve been playing the sport. I want to seek to get better in everything that I do, as far as when my career is over.

So I’m currently pursuing a graduate degree, a master’s degree in counseling, and I’d love to do, to do counseling, work with athletes. So I’d like to be it’s different, a little different than sports psychology, not really, but it is sports psychology in a sense of I’d like to counsel athletes. So I’d like to deal with the athlete holistically, understand that they’re a whole human being that is struggling through real life things. So it’s not just sport all the time like I want to do. I want to be able to address more complex mental health issues. I want to be present in people’s lives, and I just want to be able to to help athletes. The idea is to do counseling and then for my demographic to be athletes if that makes sense.

How can our readers catch a game or otherwise support the team? This is a tremendous accomplishment: five nattys in a row. Those are heights we’ve only seen with Red Auerbach and John Wooden. Alabama fans are notorious frontrunners too, so how do I help get butts in seats for the teams?

So Alabama adapted has a live stream, so whenever we’re in season, they’ll live stream our game, so you can go on the Alabama adapted website and watch the streams right there with announcers and everything that are explaining the game.

And then how do I help get butts in the seats for the teams? Great question.

We post our schedules everywhere, like we people can come to our games. We have our own Arena on Alabama’s campus. We normally pack that stadium out, but just encouraging people to come and watch and see what it’s all about, because it is, I can guarantee you, if you have had no experience with wheelchair basketball, it is not what you were expecting. It’s way better. So just come out and see what we’re about and support. But also come like, Come like you’re coming to watch a sporting event.

Be ready to cheer, be ready to be loud, and be ready to just see what we do.

Finally two unrelated questions: 1. Jordan, LeBron or Kobe and why? 2. Dog person or cat person?

I’m not picking any of those. I’m picking Becca Murray. She’s a legend of women’s wheelchair basketball. She’s a legend of the game. She’s a sharpshooter. She is humble in her success. She is dominant in the sport. She’s been around for so long, she’s had so much experience. She’s a multiple time gold medalist, and she’s a legend of the game.

And I like to pick, when people ask me about legends of the game, I always pick wheelchair basketball athletes, like we got your Steve Serios and your Matt Scott and your people on the men’s side, as well as like man Becca Murray, the legend of the game. And people just don’t know wheelchair basketball enough to really understand that. So I’m not picking Jordan, LeBron or COVID. I’m going Becca Murray [Edit: touché, Bailey. Touché].

Dog person all the way not a cat person. I love dogs so much. No cats. Thank you very much.

Our very special thanks to Bailey for taking time to really get granular with us, sharing her experiences, the sport, and so much more insight. And I would extend my personal thanks as well to Amy Chastain at Grit PR, without whom this simply would not have been possible.

Our very best to both, and again congratulations to the Tide on their record-breaking fifth straight natty.

We hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Roll Tide

Alabama Adaptive (C) used with permission