JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — At the Brook's Family YMCA, wheelchairs crash and tangle for position on the basketball court.
Above the symphony of destruction, a maestro maps out his next move.
"For me when I started it was about putting the ball in the hoop I'm going to score all the points kind of thing," former Brooks Bullshark and Baller, Tim Houston, said.
"But as I've grown as a player it's been more about getting the team involved and just making sure that we take home the win."
Houston has played for Brooks Rehabilitation's two wheelchair basketball teams and helped lead both to a national title.
He has also represented the United States, winning a gold medal this March at the U-23 Americas Championship in Mexico. The win guaranteed Team USA a spot at the World Championships this fall in Thailand.
"You know the opening ceremonies of that tournament I was like wow I can't believe that I'm here and it's been quite the journey," Houston said.
Houston had a blood clot in his leg and had to have it amputated a few days after he was born.
Finding competitive sports was always a challenge, but one day in middle school he decided to walk through the doors at the Brooks YMCA.
"At the end of summer after my seventh grade year and I came out probably about six guys here they needed some extra people so they let me hop in the chair and push around with them and I shot like I would shoot a regular ball standing up and shot it about two feet short. I was like, 'this is kind of different,'" Houston said with a smile.
From that moment, Houston was hooked and discovered his passion for wheelchair basketball.
"He had a desire to grow to learn to get better he would listen to other players he would listen to the coaches and things like that he would listen to the coaches and things like that and he would do what they said instead of just doing what he wanted to do," Brooks Ballers head coach, Randy Pullings, said.
From air balls to leading his team on the national stage, Houston has opened a new door for his future. One that he'll be starting this fall in Tuscaloosa, Alabama as a member of the University of Alabama's wheelchair basketball team.
"I was just over the moon, it's an opportunity to go to college and get an education, play basketball, which is every kids dream, right?" Houston said.
"It inspires because you realize it's just not a recreational thing, there's an opportunity to really see the world," Pullings said.