Inferno small bannerKrempien ready to hoop it up

Team Canada vet
(taken from the September 04, 2004 St. Albert Gazette)
By Jeff Hansen
Staff Writer		    

In the sport of international wheelchair basketball, Canada's unprecedented three-straight Paralympic gold medals is ancient history for national team veteran Jennifer Krempien.Jennifer Krempien

"I'm forgetting about our history of success right now. I'm just worrying about having a peak performance at Athens," the St. Albert athlete told the Gazette last week, prior to her departure for Greece. "The one thing this team does really well is focus on how we can get better each game and each training session. We're not looking at the past as much as looking forward."

The Paralympic Games for disabled athletes opens Sept. 17 in the same venues used for the Olympics.

The reigning Paralympic champions spent a week in Athens in June as a tournament preview.

"It was jour chance to get used to the city and get acclimatized to the travel and see the venues and the village. We wanted to become real familiar with what we were going to experience when we're back there in September for the Games," Krempien said. "It was a real good experience. The village is awesome. We weren't actually able to get into the venue because of security, but it was nice to see it was up and structurally sound. All those worries have been put out of our minds after watching a bit of the Olympic coverage."

"I've never felt this good going into a games. "I'm strong and ready and prepared. Ii's time to get over there and start playing. We're all a little bit anxious but we all feel good. We've been building throughout the summer for the Games."

Krempien is among six players remaining from Canada's first Paralympics' victory at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain.

"There hasn't been a lot of turnover, which is helpful in building a winner," said the tenacious guard, who helped Canada capture Gold Cup world titles in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

"We have a lot of experience, which is probably our strong point. We know what it's like to be in pressure situations and to play well in those situations."

The national team's roster includes a pair of Edmonton residents: Karla Tritten and Danielle Peers, who played high school hoops for the Paul Kane blues in the mid-1990s. the 26-year-old was forced to quit stand-up basket ball six years ago when she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.

"They both bring a new dimension to the team which will help match up against some of the taller teams like the U.S.".

The americans shocked the Canucks this summer during a series of three wins over four games.

At the Roosevelt cup in Georgia, Canada was routed 63-44 by the home country in the final. The team was 5-1 in the tournament.

"We're putting all those games in perspective. We were coming off a pretty hard month with the selection camp and then the pre-Paralympics tournament in Greece. We just didn't have any recovery time in between those tournaments," said the Paul Kane High School alumnus. "It was great to get good scouting on the U.S. women and see what worked and didn't work."

In the eight-team draw at the Paralympics, Canada is pooled with German, Japan and Mexico.

"Each game is going to be a good battle, which is always great to help prepare for the (playoffs)," Krempien said. "We're expecting to play Australia in the semifinal and the U.S. in the final. The U.S. is ranked second in the world. The third ranking I would put it between Germany and Australia right now."

At last month's Canada Cup in Toronto, the number-one ranked team in the world played Germany and Japan in another Paralympics tuneup.

"Germany has really improved. They're a physical team that plays good, solid fundamental basketball. They have lots of good outside shooting," Krempien said. "You never really know what to expect from Japan, but we can't take them lightly. Actually, we'll have to play all teams like it's the gold-medal game."

jhansen@stalbert.greatwest.ca

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