Hosted and organized by Wheelchair Lacrosse USA (WLUSA) -- the world’s first wheelchair lacrosse league -- the inaugural Adaptive Lacrosse Games take place in Pittsburgh this week, with the event running all day on Friday and Saturday.
Founded in 2010, WLUSA has helped start dozens of wheelchair lacrosse programs across the country and will have 10 teams gathering this weekend to compete for the 2025 wheelchair championship. The annual championship event has been played every year since 2015, although it has a new name and look this year.
The rebranded weekend, formerly known as the Wheelchair Lacrosse National Championship, has now become the Adaptive Lacrosse Games, with a new division added that features limb different men and women playing the standing version of lacrosse.
Here are five things to know about the 2025 event.
1. The weekend now includes more than just wheelchair players.
While the annual wheelchair lacrosse championship remains a core component of the event, the expanded format will now include two days of limb-different games and sessions, open to both youth and adult players. While wheelchair lacrosse is played on a standard box lacrosse or hockey rink with players maneuvering their wheelchairs around the rink, the limb-different sessions will be hosted on outdoor grass fields and on an indoor artificial turf surface.
2. Welcome to the Steel City.
The championship weekend is making its first-ever appearance in the state of Pennsylvania, with both the wheelchair competition and the limb-different sessions being played at Robert Morris University’s Island Sports Center. Located just nine miles from downtown Pittsburgh, the RMU facility features 32-acres of space, including indoor rinks and a sports dome used for multiple events, including softball, soccer, flag football, and lacrosse.
3. Milwaukee is the two-time defending wheelchair champion.
The Eagles claimed their first WLUSA national title in 2023 in Buffalo and successfully defended the crown last year while serving as host for the championship in Milwaukee. Michael Zvara, playing his fourth year with the Eagles, is eager for a third straight title but knows that the chase won’t be easy.
“We’re proud of being the champion, but there’s lots of other teams that want this crown and have been working hard to get it,” Zvara said. “It’s tough to win, and there’s no doubt that many of the other teams will bring the heat this year.”
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WLUSA president Shawn Maloney notes that the level of competition at the championship tournament continues to rise every year, with new teams emerging as top contenders. Last year, Grand Rapids finished as the tournament runner-up for the first time, while Houston also made great strides.
“There’s definitely more parity among the teams than ever before,” Maloney said. “The distance between the number one seed and the number 10 seed is steadily shrinking.”
4. The event is about more than just winning games.
While all the teams want to win and the competition can be fierce, there’s also a level of off-the-rink camaraderie among the participants that you don’t encounter at all events. Whether they are coming from Colorado, Houston, Maryland or one of the other corners of the country, the players are always excited to get together.
“Sometimes, this tournament feels more like a family reunion,” Zvara said. “We spend a lot of time in between the games just catching up with each other. In some cases, we’ve had the opportunity to watch each other’s families grow. Seeing friends from other teams is one of the things we all look forward to the most. The camaraderie is amazing.”
5. There’s a full schedule of competition.
The wheelchair teams begin with pool play games all day on Friday and again on Saturday morning, with each squad playing four games. At the conclusion of pool play, the teams will be seeded into two brackets, with seeds 1-5 placed in the A Division and seeds 6-10 designated as the B Division. Games continue on Saturday afternoon to determine a champion from each division. Admission for spectators is free for all games.
There’s also a wheelchair lacrosse clinic for new players scheduled for Saturday at the conclusion of pool play and before the start of the elimination bracket games.
The limb-different portion of the weekend begins with a youth session on the outdoor grass field on Friday afternoon before moving under the sports dome on Saturday. The line-up on Saturday begins with a combined youth and adult limb-different session, followed by another youth-only session, and concludes with adult games in the Sixes format in the afternoon.
More event info and links for video streaming can be accessed here.
