They may have to use the bridge more often, but the wheelchair-bound players sank pool shots at the New England Paralyzed Veterans of America (NEPVA) Pool Tournament as easily as their basketball team sinks baskets.

Organized by Thomas Dodd, who plays point guard on the basketball team, the 8-ball, partners tournament brought pool sharks both in wheelchairs and on their feet to the The Fan Club on Saturday, raising around $1,000 for the NEPVA  wheelchair basketball team the Celtics.

Dodd has played on the NEPVA team for around 20 years, beginning a few years after a motorcycle accident at age 17 left him a T-10 paraplegic.

"It was one of the first outlets I found after being injured," said Dodd, who participated in many sports before his injury but had never competed in basketball.  "It was another way to do rehab and get 'back into the game.'"

The most recent basketball season was "bittersweet," Dodd said, as the Celtics lost in the Northeast Conference finals to their biggest rivals, Connecticut. The game was close all the way to the end, when the absence of a full-time coach really impacted the team.

"We played really tight against Connecticut," Dodd said. "It came down to the last few minutes, and we don't have a coach.  But in the last minutes, we have too many coaches."

The billiard shots were tight as well.  The third-annual event for the organization attracted some ringers...both players with spinal-cord injuries and without.

Players competed for cash prizes - $200 for each member of the winning team, $100 for each member of the second-place team - as well as other prizes that were donated by the NEPVA and a local Budweiser distributor.

After a first-round loss - the tournament was double elimination - Ducky Miskinis and Matt Lapine defeated all their subsequent opponents including Ray Beers, of Bourne, who also plays on the Celtics wheelchair team, and partner Jimi Mitchell in the finals.

"At least we moved up; we're in the money this year," Beers said after the match, explaining that the team had come in third last year.

But the most important result of the tournament was demonstrating that having paralyzed limbs doesn't limit anything when it comes to athletics.

According to chapter Vice President Debora Freed, who was there to cheer on her friends just as they cheer her on when she competes on the NEPVA bowling team, the organization has over 1,040 members in all six New England states and 80 members from New York.  Many are involved in one or more sports.

"I can't think of a sport we don't do," said NEPVA Sports Director Brad Carlson.

Carlson will be traveling to Denver in July to compete in sprinting events for this year's National Veterans Wheelchair Games, an event he joked was "the largest wheelchair fiasco you've ever seen."

Last year he, his wife Kathryn, and former Patriots Quarterback Steve Grogan helped organize a wheelchair-football clinic in the parking lot at Gillette Stadium.

"The program has expanded incredibly," said Carlson. "Tennis, skiing, hockey, swimming...the opportunities are endless."