Matt Lesperance

Matthew Lesperance (born May 23, 1987) is an American wheelchair basketball player and a member of the United States men's national wheelchair basketball team. Lesperance has represented the United States at the Paralympic Games twice, finishing in fourth place in 2008, and winning a gold medal in 2020.

Early life Lesperance was born in Marinette, Wisconsin to Tony and Brenda Lesperance. Lesperance attended Coleman high school and had 47 students in his graduating class. In high school, Lesperance joined the Mad City Bombers (now Mad City Badgers), a team in the Junior Division of the NWBA. During the summers, he attended University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's wheelchair basketball camp. At the culmination of the 2006–2007 season, Whitewater won the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament (NIWBT). His sophomore year, the Warhawks went 25-6 and finished second at the NIWBT. That summer, Tracy Chynoweth was succeeded by Jeremy "Opie" Lade as coach of the Warhawks. Lesperance would go on to win two more championships with Lade's Warhawks, in 2009 and 2011.

National team career In 2007, Lesperance attended tryouts for Team USA and was not selected, describing his first tryout as "a big learning experience." In 2008, Lesperance again attended tryouts and was selected to compete in the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, where he was coached by Steve Wilson and assistant coach Tracy Chynoweth.