Port High AD is Tokyo bound

Nate Hinze is going for gold one more time.

The two-time Paralympian from Cedar Grove who works as the Port Washington High School athletic director on Saturday night was chosen again for the USA’s Wheelchair Paralympic Basketball team to play in the Tokyo games in early fall.

Hinze already has a gold medal from the Rio de Janeiro games in 2016, a bronze from the 2012 games in London and a silver in the 2014 world championships, but making the team never gets old.

“It’s always an honor and a privilege to represent your country and play basketball,” he said.

This time, Hinze was one of 12 players taken from a 14-member pool, the smallest he has experienced, after it shrunk from 18 members. The year-delay in the games due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused many athletes to drop out, he said.

Once these games are done, Hinze, 33, said so is he. Even before the pandemic hit, Hinze had planned the Tokyo games to be his last.

“This is it,” he said. “I’m very much looking forward to summers home being with my family. My wife has sacrificed a tremendous amount.”

Hinze and his wife Ashley have 6-year-old and 3-year-old daughters and a 2-month-old son. While the oldest understands the concept of the Paralympics, they all know that it means daddy goes away for long periods of time.

“When I leave, it’s hard on them, hard on the family,” he said. “My wife is super supportive. Obviously, without her I wouldn’t be able to do the things I could.”

This time, Hinze won’t be gone as often. The pandemic delayed the professional season overseas, which pushed back the Olympic trials in Dallas by about a month.

Names of those who made the cut were announced in random order. Hinze’s was among the last few.

“It’s definitely a sweeter feeling to make this one knowing this is going to be the last one,” he said.

The team will hold three camps from Thursdays through Sundays at Colorado Springs, Colo., before it heads to Tokyo. Hinze leaves for the first session on June 30.

Hinze said a number of players are back from the Rio games, including one of his former college teammates he has known for 15 years.

“It’s a pretty close-knit group for sure,” Hinze said.

This year’s games will be different. No international fans will be allowed and Covid-19 testing will be regularly done.

These aren’t the first games with a fear of disease. In 2016, Hinze’s family stayed home because the Zika virus, primarily transmitted by mosquitoes, was prevalent in Brazil.

Hinze didn’t grow up dreaming to be in the Paralympics. The multi-sport athlete’s career at Cedar Grove-Belgium High School was cut short after he contracted osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

He missed his junior track and field and baseball seasons, and all of his senior year of sports, including football and basketball.

Hinze ended up having part of his right leg amputated.

“There’s not really a good word besides it sucked,” he said. “I graduated high school thinking I was done (with sports) forever.”

But at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Hinze discovered its well-known wheelchair basketball team. He worked to adjust to this new type of game, which turned into an avenue for his competitiveness. The team won the college championship in 2007 and 2009.

Hinze became such a good player that he was selected for the U.S. Paralympic basketball team as one of the team’s big men.

When he wasn’t a Paralympian, Hinze was a teacher and athletic director in Ripon and then Sheboygan, then taught physical education in Mequon-Thiensville before landing the job at Port last summer.

Hinze said he is grateful to Port Washington-Saukville School Supt. Mike Weber and the Port High administration for their support and allowing him to miss work to train.

After the Paralympics, Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, Hinze will focus on other priorities, such as coaching T-ball, taking his children to swimming lessons and catching up on time with Ashley after being gone for five of their eight wedding anniversaries.

“It’s definitely time to stay home and be dad,” Hinze said.