The WNBA All-Star game doesn't have the same level of hype as its masculine counterpart, but for one teenager, the game couldn't mean more.
Matthew Walzer is a 19-year-old who has spent the past three years working with Nike to develop a shoe that would make it easier for people with disabilites to tie their shoes.
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Chicago Sky All-Star Elena Delle Donne heard about Walzer's shoe and immediately felt a connection as her sister, Lizzie, has cerebral palsy and is both blind and deaf.
The journey started three years earlier when Walzer wanted a shoe that could fit both form and fashion. He soon began working with Nike designers, eventually coming up with the Nike Zoom Soldier LeBron Flyeasy.
Delle Donne sent Walzer a congratulatory video on the shoe launch.
Just got to meet @matthewwalzer24 what an awesome guy! pic.twitter.com/ppQJXz6rud
— Elena Delle Donne (@De11eDonne) July 24, 2015“With my sister I know just how difficult it is to get her shoe on and just to tie her shoe," Delle Donne told USA Today's For The Win. "Right now she wears a Velcro shoe that doesn’t look that great."
Little did she know, she'd won a fan for life.
“I knew about Elena I’d seen highlights on SportsCenter and stuff, but I’d never heard about her whole story until Nike explained it in Los Angeles,” Walzer said. “So to see her whole story it’s just really touching that she followed this whole thing and she actually sent me a really nice message when I was in Los Angeles … so now I’m a huge Elena Delle Donne fan.”
Delle Donne decided to wear Walzer's shoes in her first-ever All-Star Game on Saturday.
“I just want him to be able to witness his shoe being worn on the court,” she said.
And that's just what she did. Delle Donne scored 16 points in Saturday's All-Star Game, but her Eastern Conference team lost as Minnesota's Maya Moore scored a game-high 30 points to lead the Western Conference to 117-112 victory.