Alexandra Vanisacker, 8, takes part in a drill Wednesday night during a wheelchair basketball clinic at Doolittle Community Center. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Alexandra Vanisacker always loved playing baseball. But the 8-year-old hasn't played for three years, not since the traffic accident that paralyzed her legs.

She now moves around in a wheelchair. And instead of running around a field chasing a baseball, she wheels around a court chasing a basketball.

"She feels normal out there," her mother, Dana Vanisacker, said as she watched her daughter on the court Wednesday. "She knows her legs don't work, but here she's Alex. ... She's in a world where everyone is in a wheelchair. No one is different."

Alexandra was among the dozens of children at Doolittle Community Center in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening for a wheelchair basketball clinic put on in conjunction with this weekend's NBA All-Star Game.

More than a dozen of the country's best wheelchair basketball players took part in the clinic, which included a scrimmage and drills for both able-bodied and wheelchair-riding kids working side by side.

"It means the world to her," Dana Vanisacker said of the clinic. "They look up to all these guys."

The children look to the players as role models both on and off the court, said Todd Hatfield, executive director of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association.

"They're able to realize what their possibilities are," Hatfield said.

Clinic organizers brought able-bodied children into the event so both sides could feel a little more comfortable together, said Andrea Anzalone, a disability awareness educator with the city of Las Vegas.

As the event wore on, Anzalone called it a success.

"Some of these kids might stare (at the wheelchairs) at school, and I'm looking around and not one kid is getting stared at," she said. "In here, no one is different."

Joe Shifflett watched with pride from the sidelines as the half dozen children in wheelchairs maneuvered around the court, dribbling basketballs and shooting for the hoop.

Shifflett sees the children every week as head coach for BlazeSports, a city of Las Vegas recreation program for physically disabled children. He also coaches able-bodied baseball and football at Legacy High School, where he teaches adaptive physical education.

"In high school, you have 30 percent of the kids who are going to work hard for you," Shifflett said. "Seventy percent of them are just there, which is sad. Here, 90 percent are going to work hard. They're willing to give you all they can."

The BlazeSports program has only about 20 kids enrolled. More than 200 eligible children live throughout the valley, but most don't know about the free program, Shifflett said.

Children who do participate in the weekly athletics, which include basketball, swimming and track and field, improve both their physical and mental fitness, he said. They are able to focus on their goals, not their limitations, he said.

"They're athletes, above anything," Shifflett said.

One of his athletes is Brittney Bergeron, who was paralyzed in a knife attack four years ago. Brittney, now 14, zipped around the basketball court Wednesday, her pony tail bobbing and her toothy smile leading the way.

Bergeron has tried everything since joining BlazeSports more than two years ago but has her sights set on even tougher challenges.

"Maybe rock climbing," she said. "Maybe sky diving. I don't know."

The Vanisackers heard about BlazeSports at the rehabilitation clinic a few months after the crash. They said it has helped Alexandra open up, overcome her shyness and deal with the life-changing accident.

"A lot of people are afraid of wheelchairs," Dana Vanisacker said. "They're afraid to ask what happened. To her it's something that happened. She accepts it, and she moves on. This helps. She knows it doesn't just happen to you."