Paralyzed below hips, Ciarlo Liples has become La Salle men's basketball team's "brother"
La Salle University was introduced to Ciarlo Liples by Team IMPACT, an organization that pairs children with disabilities with sports teams. Ciarlo has since become an inspirational part of the program and has traveled with the Explorers wherever they go.
Ciarlo was born with spina bifida and is paralyzed below his hips, but nothing can keep him from the game he loves.
"Whenever someone asks me, 'What's my happy place?' I say any basketball court," Ciarlo said. "Anywhere I can get a ball and shoot."
Basketball has helped Ciarlo get through personal tragedy. His older brother, Dominic, died in 2016 after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. That's when Ciarlo joined Katie's Komets, a wheelchair basketball team.
"Being with everyone and playing the sport I love really helped me get through it, and it still helps me to this day," Ciarlo said. "I miss him every day, but he's still with me in here."
The La Salle players know firsthand just how good Ciarlo is.
"Last year, the family asked for a number of our guys to come to the house because they have a basketball court, and three of our guys went up and got in the wheelchairs and played basketball with them," said La Salle coach Fran Dunphy, who's retiring after the season. "Now, Ciarlo kicked all of their butts."
"It was really fun because first, I got to teach them – and then I also got to cook them," Ciarlo said.
"I didn't realize how hard it was," La Salle guard Andres Marrero said. "He taught me a lot of new things that I didn't know."
A couple of weeks ago, Ciarlo was playing at the Mayfair Rec Center at the 27th annual Katie Kirlin Junior Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. And on that Sunday morning, Ciarlo's La Salle family was there.
"He's their brother," Dunphy said. "He's their younger brother, and they want to support him like crazy."
"He's always got a smile on his face," Marrero said. "Us as a team, we have our highs and lows, and he's just always there being positive."
The players were there for the ups and the downs, doing everything they could to support their adoptive little brother, making memories and cementing friendships that will last a lifetime.
"It's pretty special for us to be here supporting him and showing him the same love he gives to us," Marrero said.
"Seeing him out here playing basketball and then him coming to support us, it's motivation for me," La Salle guard Corey McKeithan said. "I can do anything. He can do anything."
Ciarlo plays with one dream in mind.
"To get gold in the Paralympics," Ciarlo said.
