December 7, 2022
Photo By Reesi Nesbitt
The MizzouRec dedicated court in honor of the NWBA’s winningest coach Ron Lykins. Holding the record for most wins in program history, Lykins plans to continue coaching at MU after retiring from Paralympic coaching.
Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball head coach Ron Lykins is a coach like no other.
Not only is he the winningest coach in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, but Lykins now has a court dedicated in his honor. “Ron Lykins Court” is now located in Brewer Fieldhouse at MizzouRec, commemorating his accomplishments and impact on the sport — but he will not take the credit.
“The credit goes to our players,” Lykins said in his acceptance speech. “[It is them] who buy into the way we try to represent the university. I’m just really fortunate for the people I have here — [for] the administration that supports us no matter what I do or what our plans are. So even though my name is on [the court], it’s really a Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball honor.”
Lykins, now entering his 14th year at MU, cut the ceremonial ribbon alongside MizzouRec director Stephen Byrd on Friday, officially dedicating the court after Lykins following Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball’s fourth game of the 2022-23 season.
Starting his coaching career with an internship at the University of Kentucky before moving to the intercollegiate and later Paralympic level, Lykins found his passion for wheelchair basketball on the sidelines, stating the most rewarding part of the job is watching his players grow.
In the time he has spent at MU, Lykins coached the team to its first winning season in program history, as well as nine Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball Classic titles and six top-five finishes at the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament.
“It’s surreal,” Lykins said. “I’ve done some good things — I can admit that — but I don’t like looking back because I don’t feel like I’m done yet. I still have things ahead of me. I still got these guys that I need to get ready to play … without them, none of this gets done, and I’m proud of that.”
Lykins says he hopes to set an example for his players when he coaches a team. When coaching Team USA at the Paralympics, that meant representing his country “both on and off the floor.”
Despite coaching two vastly different programs, Lykins always keeps a similar style, stressing the importance of team pride and representation.
“It’s not the same level, but it’s just as important,” Lykins said. “I hope I’ve done a good job. If we’re teaching kids, making the sport better and [focusing on] the benefit of the sport, then I feel like I’ve made a contribution.”
Though Lykins’ contribution to Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball comes partly in the form of winning games and titles, his impact on the program extends far beyond the court.
“Winning games is nice, but what do [the players] get out of the program?” Lykins said. “That’s going to help [them] out later on, so that means a lot to me. It’s really important.”
One of Lykins’ players is Zach Steger, a graduate student in his last year on the team who has played for Lykins throughout his entire tenure with Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball.
Steger was diagnosed with spina bifida, a condition affecting mobility due to an irregularity of the spinal cord. He began playing able-bodied basketball on crutches in fourth grade but eventually had to stop after coaches deemed it too dangerous for other players.
Following the end of his able-bodied basketball career, Steger attended a basketball camp for spina bifida patients, where he fell in love with wheelchair basketball.
Steger began to practice regularly, turning his passion into a reality, and in 2016 — his senior year of high school — he got the opportunity to play for Team USA at the Kitakyushu Champions’ Cup in Japan.
That same year, Lykins earned a gold medal with Team USA’s Paralympic roster in Rio De Janeiro.
Now, years later, Steger aspires to play at the highest level one day.
“I’m striving to become a Paralympian — God willing,” he said. “So I just put in my work and hopefully good things come from that.”
With his goal in mind, Steger’s relationship with Lykins would prove to be crucial. He officially joined Lykins and Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball for the 2017-18 season.
Steger says he wants to find success, despite his condition, and credits his family — especially his two brothers — for being a motivating factor for him.
“My other brother is a sophomore in high school,” Steger added. “He actually just started on varsity for the first time a few weeks ago, and I’m super proud of him. He’s playing AAU and just had his first [college] visit. I just want to inspire him [and] show him that he can do something like I can.”
Last year, Lykins retired from coaching at the international level as the winningest coach in NWBA history, as well as the only coach in Paralympic history to win a gold medal with both men and women’s teams.
Retirement only gave Lykins more time to focus on Steger and the rest of his players at MU, allowing him to build character within his team to prepare them for success during the season and long after.
“I hope they’ve learned something here about themselves,” Lykins said. [When] people say ‘Well, how successful is your team?’, [I’ll tell them] to ask me in about 10 years because I want to see what happens to these guys.”
Steger attested to the character building that occurs within the program as a leader to younger players on the team.
Players like Steger are what Lykins says keeps him coming back. He hopes to continue inspiring players and growing the sport of wheelchair basketball at the intercollegiate level and around the world,encouraging anybody with even a small interest to participate.
“You have to try it,” Lykins said. “You’re gonna have some really bad days when you first start out, but anything that’s worth anything is gonna take time. When you look back on it after a couple of weeks, months, a year … you’re gonna see that growth.”
Lykins was recently inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame because of his international achievement and is also an NWBA hall-of-famer. Though MU’s 18th season is just beginning, Lykins already owns the most wins in program history there as well, with only more to come as he continues coaching, winning and teaching.
Whether it be through the impact he has had on his players or through the record books, Ron Lykins’ name is written all over Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball.
Now, because of the overwhelmingly positive effect he has had on the sport as a whole, there is a court dedicated in his honor, with his name on that too.
Edited by Riley Gearhart and Davis Wilson |
Copy edited by Emily Rutledge
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