Megan Nyquist arrived at the University of Illinois in fall 2004 just like any other student-athlete – eager to build new friendships and take her game to the next level. Nyquist, a native of Lee’s Summit, Mo., joined the women’s basketball team as a McDonald’s All-American nominee and as a 2003 Missouri first-team all-state selection.

She worked hard to get the chance to play Division I basketball; a childhood dream turned into the opportunity of a lifetime. Recruited by hall of fame coach Theresa Grentz, Nyquist came in as a reserve guard, hoping to one day earn her spot in the lineup.

Nyquist did eventually get her chance to play, but not nearly in the way she had always imagined.

After suffering from multiple back and knee injuries, a torn ACL and a bad case of pneumonia during her first three seasons with the Illini, Nyquist was told she could no longer play on the team.

“Things happen in your life for a reason,” Nyquist said about her streak of injuries. “When one door opens you might not find another door that’s wide open for you, but you can find a window.”

Last October, Nyquist found her window, and wheelchair basketball was just outside of it.

As a freshman, Nyquist was redshirted after she hurt her back and tore her ACL. In her sophomore year, she played four games at guard averaging 2.3 points per game before re-injuring the same knee. Junior year, Nyquist sat out the entire season to recover from a back injury and went through rehab for the entire season.

The summer before her senior year, the basketball training staff, doctors and coaches decided she should no longer be a part of the team because of her health.

“We decided it was in my best interest not to play, to continue putting the stress on my body and whatnot,” Nyquist said. “At times, it’s very disheartening. You work so hard to get here and do what you want to do, and then it just keeps getting knocked down and knocked down.”

Nyquist’s former teammate and current roommate, senior Stephanie Chelleen, still remembers the day Nyquist had to leave the team.

“For me personally, it was a very rough day,” Chelleen said. “I could tell something was going on, but she couldn’t really say anything until she addressed the team. When she addressed the team I could tell she was really upset. She started crying and then I started crying and it was just a very emotional day for both of us. She’s been through a lot and it was just hard for me to see her not be able to play and do something that she loves so much.”

But for Nyquist the decision was no shocker. She said she was almost expecting it.

“It was probably something I should have said myself, but I would never have said that so I needed someone to tell me,” Nyquist said. “I didn’t want to walk away from it.”

It was not only a loss for Nyquist, but it was a loss for her family as well.

“They were upset,” Nyquist said. “I had worked my whole life to come and play basketball in college. But I don’t think they were as upset only because I wasn’t as upset.”

A whole new ball game

When her senior year began this past fall, Nyquist was distraught when she realized she had nothing left to do after class. She no longer had an outlet for physical activity and did not see her friends on the basketball team every day.

“I don’t think it had set in right when they had told me, only because the whole up and down of trying to come back for the past three seasons,” Nyquist said. “It really didn’t hit me until this year started because I wasn’t with the team. I wasn’t part of anything they were doing.”

Coincidentally – or maybe not from Nyquist’s “everything happens for a reason” perspective – she found out about the Illinois wheelchair basketball team.

“Ironically enough, I had a class this fall with Jen Ruddell who was (able-bodied) too and ended up playing on the (wheelchair) team,” Nyquist said.

Ruddell talked to men’s wheelchair basketball coach Mike Frogley about Nyquist, and Frogley then contacted her. Frogley explained to Nyquist that just because someone is considered able-bodied, it doesn’t mean that they can’t qualify for wheelchair sports. The rule states that if a player is taken out of an able-bodied sport and has a permanent lower limb injury, then he or she is allowed to participate in a wheelchair sport. This includes anything from spinal cord injuries to amputees.

Last October, Nyquist joined the Illinois women’s wheelchair basketball team and hasn’t looked back since.

Finding meaning

At first, Nyquist was a little uneasy about her transition to the new sport. But eventually, she realized that it served a purpose.

“I kind of went into it not really thinking it was unfair but thinking, this could be interesting,” Nyquist said. “I’ve seen a completely different side of the sport that I love that I would have never seen had it not been for this injury.”

Frogley met with Nyquist to have her try playing basketball in a wheelchair and work on specifics, such as how “to post a run” with the ball in the chair.

“I think for any athlete you just want to play,” Frogley said. “I think that’s what happened with Megan.”

When Nyquist joined the wheelchair team, it brought more attention to a sport that was slowly gaining ground. Friends and family who had followed her on the able-bodied team now track her progress with the wheelchair team.

“The transition that I made wasn’t easy and it opens people’s eyes,” Nyquist said. “It helps bring attention to wheelchair sports and it shows that wheelchair sports are just as competitive. Just because they can’t run up and down the floor with you doesn’t mean they haven’t adapted. Different people have to find different ways to do things.”

In fact, wheelchair basketball at the collegiate level is just as competitive as any other sport.

“It’s not a ‘give you a hug’ after the game,” Nyquist said. “It’s a competitive ‘we want to win and we want to show ourselves.'”

‘You have to understand why I’m doing this’

Although Nyquist has played basketball for most of her life, playing the game in a wheelchair is completely different. However, the wheelchair team practices about the same amount of time as the able-bodied team. And it is just as much of a workout; players use more of their upper body, but at the same time they use their legs to stabilize their chairs.

Nyquist said her friends and family still view her the same, but those who don’t know her may give her a second glance when she gets up and walks away from her chair.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover. You have to understand why I’m doing this,” she said.

Nyquist’s transition to the game also led to new friendships and opportunities, such as a chance to play in the Paralympic Games and hopefully a shot at playing in the National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Champaign from Feb. 27-March 1.

Nyquist still suffers long-term effects from her injuries.

“Sometimes if I sit too long or stand too long my back begins to bother me and I squirm a lot,” she said. “I probably couldn’t go out and play soccer; I couldn’t go out and play volleyball or basketball to the extent that the normal person could. I could probably get up and down the floor with you, but I couldn’t do the cutting and things like that.”

Not only does Nyquist continue to play the sport she has always loved, but she also does some coaching on the side. She is the junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach for the basketball team at St. Thomas More in Champaign.

After graduating, Nyquist hopes to stay involved in the basketball world. One option is to become a collegiate coach while another is to stay at the University to continue to play for the team.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll see her someday at a college level coaching because that’s just her passion for the sport,” Chelleen said.

But for now, Nyquist said she has no regrets and cannot be any happier with where she is.

“She’s definitely made me smile,” Frogley said. “She’s just a lot of fun to be around. You never get hurt by adding a quality individual like that to your program.”