It was a weekend filled with good sportsmanship in the Fritz Sick Gymnasium at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization, as the Alberta B Wheelchair Basketball Tournament took place.
The tournament happened over Saturday and Sunday as teams from Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Calgary and Edmonton competed for first place.
The Lethbridge Wheelchair Basketball Association hosted the event and they say the league is fully integrated, with both male and female players.
Athletes with and without a disability played together in the spirit of competition and camaraderie. Admission to the event was free.
John Banman, a ball-handler for the Lethbridge Steamers, has been playing wheelchair basketball for 16 years now. He says it’s great to come out and play with the community as he gets the chance to get in some good exercise.
Banman is one of the players that has a disability and he adds it’s good to see everybody come out and play the sport.
“We do need able-bodies to come out, you know, especially in the smaller cities like Lethbridge, there’s not enough people in chairs to create a team,” Banman said.
He says the players are out on the court to have fun, although they do get very competitive.
- Posters promoting ‘Steal From Loblaws Day’ are circulating. How did we get here?
- Video shows Ontario police sharing Trudeau’s location with protester, investigation launched
- Canadian food banks are on the brink: ‘This is not a sustainable situation’
- Solar eclipse eye damage: More than 160 cases reported in Ontario, Quebec
“That just brings everybody’s energy up and it’s good to see, of course everybody just wants to win,” Banman said.
Shontia Black Plume, who plays forward for the Lethbridge Steamers, had her leg amputated, but that hasn’t stopped her from playing the sport she loves.
Black Plume has been playing for three weeks now and she says she intends on playing the sport as long as she possibly can.
She points out the new set of unique challenges she comes up against when playing basketball in a wheelchair, such as needing better upper body strength in or order to shoot into the net, which is now higher up.
Black Plume says prior to losing her leg, she was always quite active.
“I think I’ll just keep going to make them proud, so they’ll see I’m still active.”
Black Plume says as she becomes more accustomed to her prosthetic leg, she’d like to play more sports and perhaps even play in the Paralympics one day.
At the end of the tournament, the Lethbridge Steamers came in second place. Medicine Hat Mustangs came in first, with a score of 35-32.
Comments