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By Isabella Disley
Abilities Ottawa and John McCrae Secondary School’s athletic leadership class hosted the fifth annual National Capital High School Wheelchair Basketball Tournament on May 9 at Carleton University.
The day ended with West Carleton taking down Brookfield to claim the championship, and Canterbury placing third, but the bigger picture was the tournament’s impact.
Held the day before Abilities Ottawa’s giant Ottawa Inclusive and Para Sports Expo at the same site, the event allowed students to try something new and fun, while simultaneously providing awareness and exposure to para sport and the community around it.
“I think what’s wonderful is that this is showing all students that wheelchair basketball is an awesome sport,” highlighted Abilities Ottawa executive director Emily Glossop. “Anyone can play. That’s what this is all about – creating awareness around new opportunities.”
Camilla Anderson, a Grade 10 student-athlete for the runner-up Brookfield Blues, believes that many participants likely came away with new perspectives.
“It’s all really fun. I feel like everyone’s complimenting each other and we’re all playing as a team, and it’s just really energetic,” Anderson signalled. “It’s about trying new things. I don’t think a lot of people know how to play wheelchair basketball, so it’s cool to see how different sports are played.
“It’s to bring awareness about disabilities and that they can still play sports, just like anybody else.”
Wheelchair basketball was the third of four Abilities Ottawa-powered high school para sports events to be held this year.
With help from West Carleton Secondary School’s athletic leadership class and Paralympic medallist Jolan Wong to get things started, the first-ever Ottawa high school sitting volleyball tournament took place in March. Carleton Place High School became the first champions, topping the host Wolves in the final.
A pair of para ice hockey tournaments were held in November and February. Canterbury topped the first Sled ‘N Ed event, while the Wolves won the second. That title added another tiny piece of success in the sport to the collection for Glossop’s family (she is married to five-time Paralympian Todd Nicholson, and their kids are West Carleton students).
Abilities Ottawa will also be co-host of a goalball tournament coming up on May 29, with eight teams from four school boards ready to try out the sport for athletes with visual impairments.
The tournaments provide an opportunity for student-athletes of all abilities to play on teams together. There isn’t a classification points system like in Paralympic competition for the high school events, and there are players of all ages, genders and abilities on each team.
“This day is about ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate in sports at their school,” Glossop underlined. “Sometimes, it’s the first time a student with a disability has an opportunity to pull on their high school jersey and compete for their school.
“It’s also about inclusion. We have athletes with and without disabilities, competing together, playing together, learning from each other and building relationships – whether it is with friends they’ve known already, or whether it is new relationships that are being formed.”
Brookfield wheelchair basketball player Asma Kenshil fully embraced the bigger-picture lessons the tournament offered.
“It’s to show that people who don’t have the capability like others can also still have fun and play sports together with us. It shows that everyone can have fun, and it’s just a bunch of people with a bunch of different abilities, and it’s just really fun for everyone to be together,” Kenshil indicated. “In the future, you never know, you can always have something happen to you, and it causes you to have a disability. It’s good to know that there’s still stuff you can do with a disability or not.”
Kenshil’s Brookfield classmate Leona Klecka added that it was an enlightening experience to see what it’s like to use a wheelchair.
“I think it’s important, so we can see their perspective, how they play and how they get the chance to play – that’s important to spread,” she said. “It wasn’t really aggressive or competitive. People were just having fun and playing. Everybody was being nice and complimenting each other, so it was really fun.”
While chasing trophies wasn’t the name of the game for the high school tourney, organizers also sought to bring attention to competitive avenues available in wheelchair basketball.
West Carleton grad Desmond O’Shaughnessy helped Team Ontario won the men’s gold medal at the Wheelchair Basketball Canada National Championships the next weekend in Richmond, B.C.
And the Ottawa 2026 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships are coming to town this fall, with the official draw taking place June 11. Glossop hopes that all of the high school tournament participants will either volunteer or attend from Sept. 9-19.
“They now know what the opportunities are; develop the skills and they can choose whatever pathway they want,” Glossop outlined. “If you don’t have kids in the playground, you don’t have athletes on the podium. We are creating hope, creating that playground for people to be introduced to a variety of different sports.”
This article is part of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Inclusion in Sport series. Read more about local sport inclusion initiatives at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-Sports-Pages-Inclusion-In-Sport-Series/.