Paralympics support tour makes stop at U of A
by Michael Brown
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Alberta Paralympics shot put and discus athlete Kris Vriend (left), along with wheelchair cagers Ross Norton and Tara Scade, stopped by the U of A on May 14 during a cross-country tour designed to salute the athletes representing Canada at the Paralympics | |
Alberta Paralympic athletes Ross Norton, two-time paralympic gold medallist in wheelchair basketball and Canadian Paralympics Committee athlete ambassador, Tara Scade, wheelchair basketball athlete, and Kris Vriend, women's shot put and discus athlete, were all on hand to bring awareness to the Paralympics movement during the Alberta stop on the cross-country tour, designed to salute Alberta athletes. The Paralympics Games are a biannual event that follow each of the summer and winter Olympic Games and are geared towards athletes with a disability.
Although the Canadian wheelchair basketball team has never lost a major championship, the gap between teams is closing, which Norton-who makes his home in Edmonton-says speaks volumes about how seriously the world takes the sport.
"We were doing things that no countries were doing 10 years ago, but then they started to emulate us," said Norton. "Nations train full time for this competition; it means a lot."
Although the Paralympics have been around for nearly 50 years, Bob Steadward, founding father of both the International Paralympics Committee and Steadward Centre, says it wasn't until the Paralympics Games in Seoul in 1988 that the momentum for athletic competition really grabbed hold of the collective consciousness.
"That's when we really had the transition from one type of sporting culture to another," said Steadward. "That's when participants moved from being considered a patient to being considered an athlete. That's when the games changed from being a rehabilitation model to a sports model."
In 1989, Steadward founded the International Paralympics Committee, which he says has grown from a disability organization with 40 nations as members to a sporting organization with 175 countries participating. He also says that Paralympics sport has had a significant impact on how society views disabled athletes.
"The reason why there are changes that have taken place in society, rules, regulations and laws that govern us, and why we have more educational and employment opportunities for people with a disability, is because of the profile and image high-performance sport-and in particular Paralympics sport-has had on our society," said Steadward.
Steadward also called for the development of more regional facilities for Canadian Paralympics athletes to help chase their sporting dreams. This sentiment was shared by Gary McPherson, president of the Steadward Centre's board of governors, who credited the U of A with being a pioneer in supporting Paralympics athletes.
"It all really started here at the University of Alberta with the first national wheelchair games in 1968," said McPherson. "Today, people with disabilities can lead a more active and healthier life, thanks in part to the role models who have been participants in the Paralympics."
Members of the team brought a super-sized banner to the U of A where they collected goodwill messages for the athletes. The banner will travel with the athletes to Beijing and will be hung in the Athletes' Village there.
Tara Scade, who graduated from the U of A in 2002 with a degree in adaptive sport, will be representing Canada at her first games on a women's wheelchair basketball team that is looking to avenge their bronze-medal finish in Athens, Greece, four years ago
"That's where the fire is going to be lit under all of our athletes," said Scade. "In the past we've never had anything less than a gold medal, so our challenge is to come back to the podium."
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