The journey of a lifetime for wheelchair basketball player Arinn Young is competing for Canada at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.
Young, nicknamed Juice, is the only Albertan and one of six Paralympic newcomers on the 12-player roster for Rio.
Read more: http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/Young-rolls-to-Rio-20160608
A disappointing week for Canada ended with a 56-53 loss against the United States on Sunday at the 2016 Canada Cup international wheelchair rugby tournament.
The loss left Canada in fourth place with a 3-3 record. It’s the first time the top-ranked Canadians have failed to win a medal in the 12-year history of the Canada Cup tournament.
The second-ranked U.S. finished 6-0 to win the gold. Australia (5-1) claimed silver while Japan (4-2) was third.
Canada struggled to maintain intensity against the aggressive Americans. The Canadians were quickly down by two and finished the half trailing 31-27.
Read more at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/paralympics/canada-cup-wheelchair-rugby-canucks-fourth-loss-us-1.3653747
Wishing our athletes best of luck as they compete in Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby in the upcoming Paralympic Games.
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Zak Madell (Okotoks, Alberta)
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL
Arinn Young (Legal, Alta.)
Ben Moronchuk (Edmonton, Alta.)
Chad Jassman (Calgary, Alta.)
Peter Won (Blackfalds, Alta.)
Assistant Coach – Darrell Nordell (Edmonton, Alta.)
Starting today, 14 athletes will be relaying a dream catcher 363 kilometres across Saskatchewan.
The group is travelling from Prince Albert to Regina in 10 days and stopping at communities along the way to raise awareness about ParaSports and how people can get involved.
The Saskatchewan ParaSport Tour Dream Relay was started by Paralympic cross-country skier Colette Bourgonje.
“We have visually impaired athletes, amputee athletes and people in wheelchairs making their way to Regina,” said Bourgonje.
Read more at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-dream-tour-relay-1.3622711
Darrell Nordell, one of our coaches for Wheelchair Basketball from Alberta had a great time giving an introduction to Syrian Refugees. Here are a few pictures to show how much fun they had in Nova Scotia this past weekend. Glad to see them enjoying the sport!
Huge congratulations to the following athletes nominated to the Canadian Paralympic Team!
TEAM CANADA MEN
Ben Moronchuk (Edmonton, Alta.)
Chad Jassman (Calgary, Alta.)
Peter Won (Blackfalds, Alta.)
Assistant Coach – Darrell Nordell (Edmonton, Alta.)
TEAM CANADA WOMEN
Arinn Young (Legal, Alta.)
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games take place September 7 to 18. The wheelchair basketball competition features 12 nations on the men’s side and 10 nations in the women’s division. The hard-hitting action will start for Canada on September 8, when the women open the competition against Great Britain and the men face Spain. Let’s cheer our athletes on – Go Canada!
“With 100 days to go to the Games, it is very exciting to be celebrating our first teams to be nominated today,” said Team Canada’s Chef de Mission, Chantal Petitclerc. “I admire the commitment to excellence of our wheelchair basketball teams and I know they will be up for the challenge as they compete against a strong field of nations in Rio. I have great confidence in their ability to deliver outstanding performances.”
“Canada’s Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair Basketball teams are poised to make another push for the podium in Rio in September – with the entire country watching and cheering their every basket,” said Canada’s Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, Carla Qualtrough. “On behalf of Team Canada – 35 million strong – congratulations to all the athletes named today to represent our country and I commend Wheelchair Basketball Canada on their outstanding work in preparing our athletes to shine bright in front of the world.”
Wheelchair tennis crowned two new Grand Slam champions on Saturday when Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina and Marjolein Buis of Netherlands delivered winning performances at Roland Garros.
For the 22-year-old Fernandez it was three times lucky in hoisting the trophy after defeating reigning Australian Open champion Gordon Reid of Great Britain 76(4) 61. Fernandez had previously been in two Grand Slam finals – at the 2014 Australian and US Opens – but lost both times to Shingo Kunieda of Japan.
Read more at http://www.itftennis.com/news/231012.aspx#bdqIAIfwDp3uJWOx.99
Hyderabad, India will be the first to host this IWBF initiative from June 22-26, 2016.
Thanks in part to the financial support of the AGITOS Foundation, the IWBF and The Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI) the initiative will work to deliver four modules covering coaching/player development, classification, officiating and governance.
IWBF is pleased to be working with the WBFI to organize the first course. Madhavi Latha, President of WBFI has been working very hard to prepare for a successful event and we expect to see more than 150 participants over 5 days.
Congratulations to the Alberta Roughnecks and the Alberta Bighorns for claiming Division 1 and Division 2 Bronze Medals at the 2016 Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships this past weekend in Montreal, Quebec.
Division 2:
Rob MacIsaac- best 0.5 and rookie of the year
Ken Hicks – best 2.0 Denam Stephens- best 3.0
Div 1
Zak Madell- best 3.5
Way to represent Alberta!
Congratulations Team Alberta for being the 1st ever Canadian Sledge Hockey Champions!!!
Results:
1st – Team Alberta
2nd – Team Ontario
3rd – Team Quebec
4th – Team BC
