The National Wheelchair Basketball Association is excited to announce the roster for Team USA for the 2016 Kitakyushu Champions’ Cup on November 18-20, 2016 in Kitakyushu, Japan. This is the 14th Kitakyushu Champions Cup, a men’s wheelchair basketball tournament which commemorates the 2002 Gold Cup World Wheelchair Basketball Championships. Team USA will be one of four international teams in attendance for this event, the other teams include: Japan, Great Britian and Australia.

Team USA will be led by head coach Doug Dixon, who is the 2016 NWBA Junior Division Coach of the Year and, as head coach, two time winner of the NWBA Junior Division Varsity National Championships. Doug has 20 years of coaching experience and currently is the head coach of the Courage Kenny Jr. Rolling Timberwolves. Team USA’s assistant coach is AJ Messmer. AJ served on the coaching staff of University of Missouri from 2012-14 and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from 2015-16. AJ helped coach the UW-Whitewater Warhawks to winners of two NWBA Men’s Intercollegiate National Championships.

Team USA consists of some excellent young athletes of the Junior Division and a few athletes from various levels of play from the Adult Division. The player roster of Team USA includes: Zach Steger, Holden Kowalke, Grady Gordon, Thomas Duffy, Jon Fagre, Robert Doyle, Matt Bollig and Dustin Casey.                                        

The preliminary round of competition will start on Friday, November 18, with the bronze and gold medal games on Sunday, November 20. Please check the NWBA website and social media pages to receive team updates for Team USA at the 2016 Kitakyushu Champions’ Cup.

Thank you in advance to all fans and supporters that will make this opportunity possible for these athletes and coaches.