Alum Finds Success in Wheelchair Tennis

Since he graduated in 2017, Jason Keatseangsilp has turned his focus to his No. 1 passion: wheelchair tennis. In fact, he’s currently ranked 130th in the world in singles play and 58th in doubles competition. He returned from Israel, where he was competing as a member of the USA wheelchair tennis team, earlier this year. The five-man American unit competed in the 44-team, 16-country BNP Paribas World Team Cup, finishing 8th out of 16 squads.

“It was unlike any other tournament I’ve been to,” Keatseangsilp said. “Just seeing all these different countries unite for one tournament, seeing the different cultures, even seeing the different types of disabilities from the other countries, I’ve never had an experience like that.”

The now-24-year-old became paralyzed from the waist down during a rappelling accident in 2011, but went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. His senior year, he was on a design team that created an exoskeleton device to help a fellow Wildcat with cerebral palsy, Jeffrey Bristol, learn to walk. Bristol stood to receive his UA diploma in May 2019, just before Keatseangsilp left for Israel.