By Julia Smith
Tuscaloosa– It was the beginning of her wheelchair basketball career. A farm girl from Alberta, Canada, started playing for a team and her eyes, she sucked. There were only six players at the game and only five could be on the court. A player got hurt during the game and she went in. For 35 minutes, she was dying, flushed in the face unable to finish the game. The coach called a time out and she rushed to the side. “You look pale”, the coach said, and he gave her a “magical” juice. After fueling up, she returned to the game but something had changed. The player had her first high scoring game, saved the team and the magic juice had worked. From that point on she was no longer known as Arinn Young, she was Juice!
“A lot of people think I am scary” Juice said, “but when you get to know me I am a big goof ball”.
From playing for Alabama to representing Canada in the olympics, Juice is known internationally as one of the best players in wheelchair basketball. Not only does her skill make her intimidating on the court, Juice says she gets her toughness form growing up on a farm.
“I may come off intimidating, but the only reason is because I want to keep raising the bar” Juice said.
Juice originally played able body basketball. During her time playing, she shattered her right knee and both her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and meniscus. After returning to the sport a year later, something happened that changed the game.
“After intercepting a ball, I landed on my leg funny and shattered my knee and broke my left leg, so I was pretty much done” Juice said.
“This was a hard time for me knowing I was pretty much done with basketball.” I was really angry, I was not right in my head and asked myself all the time why did this happen to me “Juice said.
Luckily, a family friend of Juice’s knew of a wheel chair basketball team in Canada and showed her a way she could get back to playing a game she loves.
“I was not really into it right away, but one time I apologized to a girl after grabbing her ball and she said, ‘we don’t apologize in this sport'”Juice said.
In 2012, Juice started playing wheelchair basketball and to her she thought “she sucked”.
Juice is in the gym 10 hours more than any other athlete in adapted athletics. She is constantly working on her shooting skills and lifting to make sure she stays on top.
Juice moved from Alberta in 2014 to play for a wheelchair basketball program in Toronto. Shortly after, she received a call from The University of Alabama.
“A lot of Canadians come to Alabama, even the best players come here”Juice said. “My biggest role model went to this school and had such a good experience and I wanted the same thing”.
Juice joined the team in 2016 and jumped right into a leadership role.
“This was a year for all new players, so I kind of just jumped in to be a captain because I knew this was something I wanted to do ” Juice said.
Besides playing for Alabama, Juice is very honored to have represented Canada in the 2016 olympics in Rio, and is representing the country again in this years Olympics.
“When I found out I made the team, I think I was smiling for about half of that year” Juice said.
When she originally got hurt in able body basketball, she always said she would be in the Paralympics, and she could not believe that came true.
Currently, Juice is in an undefeated season with Alabama and is getting ready for this years Olympics.
“I feel really strong”Juice said. “The last time I came to the olympics, I was really young and was caught up in the experience, but this year I want a medal”.
BAMA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ON WHEELS 