Ixhelt, also known as “Itzi”, started playing wheelchair basketball around the age of 7. “I got involved because my older brother, who has Cerebral Palsy, was going through rehabilitation in downtown Chicago,” Itzi said. “It was only until then had I found out I had a disability myself and was asked by the former varsity coach to come and try out the sport on a Saturday in October.”

Since then, she has gone on to compete on the world stage as the youngest player ever to make the U.S. Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team. Itzi was only thirteen years old when she was first asked to play with Team USA; playing at both the 2018 World Championships and the Bronze Medal-winning Tokyo 2020/2021 Paralympic games.

Itzi is currently enrolled at the University of Alabama where she plans to major in Architecture and play wheelchair basketball on their women’s team.