- Ugh!

- Oh!

That was a good one!

(Amanda gasping) I know, I know.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Inspired by the film "Home Court", we asked sports leaders to tell us their stories while they put us through increasingly difficult challenges.

- Today we have an incredible guest.

Brian Bell is a three-time gold medal Paralympian.

Like Ashley Chea in the Independent Lens film "Home Court", Brian knows exactly what it's like to be under pressure.

(audience cheering) Let's go inside and meet him.

(upbeat music) So I understand that you are a Paralympian, but you've also played in European leagues.

- Yep, that's correct.

- In the film "Home Court", Ashley and her coach, Jayme, have a very unique bond.

- Mm-hmm.

- Tell me a little bit about your coaches and mentors.

- My very, very first coach, Miles Thompson, piqued my interest with the sport of wheelchair basketball.

And then my second coach in college at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, he put me through the ringer with like all the extra chest skills, conditionings.

And then after that, it's my national team head coach, Ron Lykins.

And he was able to further help my game along because a lot of the times before that it was like, "We don't think you'll guard some of the bigger guys."

But he saw what I can do, and like the skillset that I had, and he nurtured that.

- So what are we getting into today?

- So we're playing everyone's favorite game, HORSE.

Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- All right.

- Let's do this.

- Cool!

(upbeat music) Right here, little distant shot, like right outside the layup line, and nice and easy straight on.

(basketball swishing) - Ooh!

(basketball bouncing) All swished.

- [Brian] Nice and easy, straight down the middle.

(buzzer buzzing) That looks like an "H" - What is it like to be mentoring and coaching folks that are younger than you?

- Yeah, it's something I always wanted to do.

I love giving back to the next generation of wheelchair basketball players.

I just love to talk to kids, their excitement, their joy, especially starting off.

I want the next generation of ballers to succeed more than I did.

(upbeat music) So that shot is just gonna be right outside the key here.

(upbeat music) (ball swishing) - Ooh!

(ball bouncing) (rim rattling) - Oh, there you go.

- Ooh!

- Oh, guess you don't get a letter this time.

(Amanda chuckling) Way to survive that one.

(Amanda chuckling) (ball bouncing) - So tell me about some of your struggles and some of the advice that you got that helped you get through that.

- Some of the struggles I dealt with, like, early on was just getting to the gym 'cause my mom was a single parent, so a lot of the times I relied on family, friends.

I even utilized the gym's bus service.

That's kind of the biggest challenge I would say in our sport is that we don't have a lot of facilities that have wheelchair basketball just readily available.

And also I like to tell them that like, make sure you have a strong network of people that push you and wanna help you succeed.

And that's the biggest thing in our wheelchair community.

(upbeat music) Next one is gonna be a floater.

So it's pretty typical, especially in NBA.

In our sport, a lot of people don't really do it very often, but for some reason I love kinda incorporating unrealistic shots into my game.

(Amanda chuckling) So I like to practice it, especially before games.

- All right, let's see.

You always make it look so easy, but... (ball bouncing) (upbeat music) (ball bouncing) (buzzer buzzing) - Oh, wow, that was close!

(ball bouncing) (upbeat music) - Oh!

- Oh, look at that.

Now you got it, there you go.

- Got it.

So Brian, what are some sports lessons that have become life lessons?

- I love working with other people, it being a team sport, a lot of collaboration.

And then another one is just kind of the work ethic, just the drive to constantly get better with whatever things that you wanna do or exceed, outside of sport.

(upbeat music) You have to shoot backwards.

(ball bouncing) - Let's see, let's see.

- There you go.

- This literally feels... - (chuckling) I know.

There you go.

- Oh!

- Look at that.

(Amanda chuckling) Look at that.

See!

- (chuckling) I cannot believe (Brian chuckling) I just did that.

(Amanda chuckling) - I told you.

- Put me in the league, I'm ready, (chuckling) I told you.

- There you go.

Hey, sign her up, Coach!

- I told you.

(chuckling) Thank you so much for such an awesome afternoon.

- Yeah, it was fun, but- - Wait a second.

- We have one more little thing that I want you to try and do.

(Amanda sighing) (upbeat music) - What is this?

Where are we?

- I told you, I had a surprise for you.

(upbeat music) This is the type of things that athletes use, basketball players use to get a lot of shots up.

(ball bouncing) - Oh!

- Ooh!

That was a close one.

- So close.

- That was a close one.

- So close.

- Practice your form, get a little better.

- What!

- Oh, little (mumbling) - Oh!

- Almost.

(Amanda chuckling) There it is, yeah.

- Yeah.

(applauding) Thanks for watching.

If you wanna see the story of a rising basketball star and her hoop dreams, check out "Home Court" on the PBS app.

(intense music)