A Spring Festival of Sport

By Louis Daignault

As the wintery landscape gives way to spring, Canadians in every corner of the land dust off their tennis racquets, water skis and track gear. These days there are few reasons for people with disabilities to miss out on the fun! Often the only barrier is making the first move. That’s where the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (CWSA) plays a role.

Want to play basketball? Compete on the track? Throw a discus? A javelin? Make waves in the local pool? Try a marathon? What about rugby? Tennis? Racquetball? It’s all possible and it really is as close as your telephone.

Take a tip from six Canadians with disabilities who have made the switch from a sedentary to an active way of life. Some dream of gold medals. Others are eager to try as many sports as possible. But all share one motivation – they do sport for the sheer fun of it.

When Jacques Martin crashed his motorcycle nearly 12 years ago, his career as one of Canada’s most promising athletes seemed over. Only 17, Martin already had several Canadian weightlifting records. Now, in the space of a few seconds, Martin was a paraplegic and years of training and dedication appeared lost forever.

Martin describes his recovery period as “excruciating.” Lasting more than two years, it left him “less than thrilled” with his lot in life. It wasn’t until he saw Andre Viger, Canada’s greatest wheelchair athlete, at a meet in 1983 that Martin’s dormant competitive drive revived and he returned to sport, determined to again strive to become the best.

“When you’re disabled, you have to learn to take control of your life,” says Martin, who set the world discus record at the World Games for the disabled in the Netherlands last summer. “So many disabled people seek refuge in alcohol, among other things, after their accidents. You have to set your mind to what you want and then go out and do it.”

First returning to weightlifting, Martin quickly switched to track and field and began throwing the discus, javelin and shot put. It wasn’t long before Martin was climbing the international rankings and making his way around the world.

“I love the travelling,” says Martin, who has competed in every corner of the globe, including the 1984 Paralympics at Los Angeles and again in 1988 at Seoul, South Korea. “And I enjoy working out, going to the gym everyday.”

Coached by Jean Laroche, the man responsible for many world-class wheelchair track and field athletes, Martin is a full-time athlete who trains two to three hours a day, five days a week. For now he concentrates on his chosen sports, hoping to avoid any injury that might get in the way of his dreams.

“I’m really motivated to win medals and set records at the ’92 Paralympics in Barcelona.”

For Tami Saj, sport is serious business. Born with spina bifida, Saj began swimming at the age of four and has catapulted to national and international success. As a 12 year old she represented Canada at the Pan American Games for the Disabled, and at 14 she was in Seoul competing at the Paralympics. She has twice been on Canadian teams to the Stoke Mandeville Games held annually in England. The talented teen holds so many Canadian records in her class that she can’t remember them all.

“The Seoul Paralympics have been the highlight of my career even though I didn’t win any medals,” says Saj, a grade 11 student at Thunder Bay’s Hammarskjold High School. “I try to not look too far ahead, but I am thinking about the Paralympics in Barcelona in 1992.”

Saj, who plans to pursue a social sciences degree at university, has been inspired and encouraged by Tom Hainey of nearby Atikokan, one of the best disabled swimmers in the world.

“Tom is very outgoing and makes you feel comfortable,” she says. “At a regional meet he gave me some tips to improve my time in the 400 metre freestyle. I cut 14 seconds off my personal best time; it was incredible. I try to use his confidence in my own way.”

A versatile swimmer, Saj’s best events are the 200 and 400 metre in both freestyle and backstroke. She is also working on her times in the demanding individual medley, an event in which the swimmer must cover equal distances using all four swimming strokes.

Saj’s dedication and hard work mark her as a potential Paralympic champion.

“I’ve trusted my talents and I’ve always remained confident,” she says. “I know that’s what everyone says to do, but I’ve found out for my self that it’s true.”

A computer operator with New Brunswick’s transportation department, David Durepos was left a paraplegic following a motorcycle accident in the summer of 1988. Only 5 months later he was in a gym shooting hoops. His recovery, he says, was quick, mentally and physically.

“As soon as I had the accident, I realized what I was getting into,” recalls Durepos. “And realize now that there is still a lot out there for me to discover.”

Durepos patterns his life on a simple philosophy. “Go out and try everything. If you don’t like it, try something else. There’s something out there for you.”

Durepos practises what he preaches. He’s had a go at water skiing and enjoys snowmobiling, both generally considered off limits to people with disabilities.

But wheelchair tennis is his sport and today he is one of Canada’s brightest prospects. At last summer’s national championships he finished fourth in doubles partnered with nationally ranked Peter Cameron of Moncton. Now he’s hard at work on his singles game. Spring and summer, the energetic Durepos practises two to three hours every day.

“I love the game,” he says, “and I can’t wait to be out in the sun and play again. I like the travel – tennis has allowed me to travel right across Canada.”

With no indoor courts in Fredericton, Durepos switches to basketball in the winter, practising once a week and playing in tournaments once a month. He plies his skills as a high-scoring forward with the Fredericton Phantoms, competing in an eight team Maritime league. He also plays for New Brunswick’s provincial wheelchair basketball team.

When not in the gym, Durepos can be found exploring local trails on his snowmobile.

“I really like trying out different things,” he says. “I’ve got plans to go downhill skiing. Last summer I tried water skiing and it was great. Believe it or not, it’s a sport that’s really growing for people with disabilities. Doing sports is certainly better than sitting around.”

An enthusiast for many years, Frances Dodd wishes that more women with disabilities shared her love of sport. “It’s just great to be able to move in your chair,” says Dodd, who became a paraplegic in 1978 after falling from a tree. “It makes you feel good. I admit it’s hard to get going, to get the right equipment, and so on, but the resources are there, and the cost is minimal.”

Dodd isn’t after gold medals; her goal is to stay in shape and have fun doing it, not always an easy task, mainly because not enough women play wheelchair sports. For one thing, there are far fewer women with disabilities than men. But Dodd also believes that women avoid the playing field because they are intimidated by the men.

“I know how they feel,” she says. “I started playing racquetball a couple of years ago. I love the game, but if you play the men, they can get a little aggressive, and I don’t often win when I play them. Now I play only when I am invited. I hope one day there is a women’s division for the sport.”

These days Dodd prefers wheelchair basketball, playing at the Victoria Wheelchair Sports Club.

“It’s fun,” she says enthusiastically. “It’s mostly men, but a couple of able bodied women play too. It’s understood that it’s just for fun.”

Basketball was the first sport Dodd tried after her accident and she continued to play while studying music and English at the University of California at Davis, near Sacramento. Although she played in an old chair which impeded her maneuverability, Dodd was good enough to make the Sacramento women’s wheelchair team.

“I played sports before the accident, but I was by no means a great athlete. I just enjoyed playing.”

It is only four years since Bernice Wong decided to give sport a try.

“Rick Hansen’s Man In Motion Tour inspired me a lot,” says Wong, who was born with spina bifida. “I figure that if a guy could push himself around the world in a wheelchair, there must be some sport I could do.”

One of Wong’s assets as she got ready to try sport was her strong upper body, developed from years of using crutches. On the other hand, the crutches had caused wear and tear to the rest of her body, which suggested to Wong that a wheelchair was perhaps a more comfortable alternative. Once started, Wong has been unstoppable.

“Because I hadn’t been very sports orientated,” she says, “I found myself facing a lot of challenges, and with each challenge, I wanted to work even harder until I could do whatever it was I was trying to accomplish.”

Drawn to the competitive level, Wong has already savoured victory on several levels, but notably as a long distance road racer and a wheelchair tennis player. On the road she has twice won the Victoria Fun Run as well as the United Way Wheelchair Race. She was second women’s D singles at the Pacific Northwest Tennis Grand Prix and has brought home medals in volleyball and basketball.

There’s more to come as Wong plans to try alpine skiing, water skiing and maybe, she says, sky diving.

Wong who works at a wheelchair equipment and repair shop in Victoria, mentions the opportunity to compete against men as one of the reasons for her quick development.

“I have to work twice as hard to beat them,” she says. “I firmly believe no challenge is too small. My message is to never give up until you’ve given your all and been the best you can be.”

Chat with Jordan McEachern and you’d think he’s the luckiest guy in the world. Easy going, enthusiastic and eager for new experiences, McEachern has worked tirelessly since the age of eight to develop his skills as a wheelchair basketball player.

Now recently graduated from high school, he has enjoyed the thrill of a lifetime as a guard on Canada’s team which won the bronze medal at last summer’s Stoke Mandeville Games.

Back home, he plays for the Edmonton Raiders of the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball League where he matches skills with many of the country’s best players. On the side, he’s the wily veteran of the Alberta Northern Lights junior squad. Needless to say, wheelchair basketball is Jordan McEachern’s life.

A double leg amputee since a car accident at the age of two, McEachern says he’s “always looking ahead and I never dwell on the past or on might have been. I’m out there five days a week practising.” He adds that he’s been in basketball so long that his teammates, who are some of the best players in Canada, “seem like family to me.”

Although he jokingly refers to his teammates on the Raiders and the national team program as “ancient,” McEachern admits that he gets a lot out of playing with people much older than himself, especially when they’re of the calibre of Pat Griffin, often described as the Wayne Gretzky of wheelchair basketball.

“Actually, I’m usually subbing for Pat so I rarely play alongside him,” says McEachern. “I’m more of a defensive player, especially with the Raiders. But all of my teammates influence me in one way or the other, and I get a kick out of playing with the older guys.”

Spending so much time in the gym, McEachern sees many youngsters with disabilities lobbing the ball towards the hoop for the first time. Quick to lend a helping hand, he says that their struggles remind him of his own beginnings in organized sport. McEachern knows there is only one way to improve. “Just practise and practise.”