End of an era
Hometown hero Jennifer Krempien will retire from international competition
after the Paralympic Games in Beijing
(Taken from the September 06, 2008 St. Albert Gazette)    

As her distinguished hall of fame career winds down, one of St. Albert's greatest female athletes of all time has no regrets about retiring from the J Krempien she's got gameCanadian wheelchair basketball team.

"I'm really please with my decision," said Jennifer (Goose) Krempien, the highly decorated, three-time Paralymlpic gold medallist and four-time Gold Cup world champion.

"I'm so excited to get to Beijing and play in the Paralympics, but at the same time I'm really looking forward to the next challenge in my life, whatever that me be."

The Paralympics for disabled athletes opens this weekend in the same venues used for the Beijing Olympics.

KRempien, 33, went public with her retirement plans in an interview with the Gazette last year in September.

"When I read she may not continue with the national program past the the Beijing games I was shocked. I phoned her right away and said, "You can't stop. I have to be on the national team with you," said Tara Feser, a 4.5 post from St. Albert, who will make her Paralympic debut in Beijing. "Her decision gave me a little bit more push to make that team, just knowing this was going to be her last time at the Paralympics. She's been a teammate of mine (with the Edmonton Inferno) since I started, so it means a lot to be on the national team with her. She really inspires me. What she has done in the sport is incredible."

Krempien is a slam-dunk first ballot selection for the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association (CWBA) hall of fame.

"When you win that number of world championships and Paralympic medals, one bronze and the rest are all gold, and you get yourself on an all-star team at worlds (1998 and 2002) I don't think there is any doubt that she is a candidate for the hall of fame," said Tim Frick Team Canada's longtime head coach. "You have to be retired for three years before you're considered and obviously she would come up for induction in her first year of eligibility. She's been either a starter or a key substitute her entire career."

Krempien burst onto the international scene for Canada at the 1982 Paralympics as a 17-year-old, who had just graduated from Paul Kane High School.

Jen KrempienNatural leader
" She was kind of shy and quiet and reserved, yet brought that focus and intensity and physical drive right from day one," Frick said. "What pleasantly surprised us over the years was how she has taken over the natural leadership of the team. She is not someone that was voted in through Miss Congeniality. She is a natural leader. People gravitate towards her. She naturally takes on those leadership tasks and obviously no amount of leadership training weekend courses can do that sort of stuff. It’s just something that is inside her."

Krempien’s first basket playing for Canada is still etched in her mind.

"It was the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. It was the game versus Spain. There were 13,000 spectators in the loudest stadium I have ever played in. I had just been subbed into the game for Marni Abbott and was a bit shocked that I was going into the game," Krempien recalled. "Chantal Benoit had driven the lane on a layup but was double-teamed. I was open at the top of the key and I got the pass from her and scored the hoop. I remembered the crowd cheered. As I was wheeling by the bench to get back on defence, I was grinning ear to ear. I said to Tim, my coach, ‘This is pretty fun. I might have to stick around for a few years.’ Who knew?"

Heart and soul
Krempien would go on to become the heart and soul of the number-one ranked team in the world.

"Every single time she goes on the court — whether it’s for a practice, a game or a demonstration — she comes with focus and intensity that is just unbelievable. She just doesn’t have a bad day. It’s that dogged determination she has," Frick said. "When I’m coaching a game, whether she is on the court or on the bench as a possible person to go back in the game, I don’t have to worry how she is going to play. Often you look down the bench or look out on the court and you go, ‘Geez, I wonder which so and so is going to show up today.’ That’s not the case with Jennifer. I always know which Goose is going to show up."

A spinal cord injury at the age of five left Krempien paralyzed from the waist down. Listed as a 1.0 in the sport’s classification system that ranks players based on their functional trunk mobility, the former Robert Rundle and W.D. Cuts student plays a mean brand of defence while chipping in offensively at the guard position.Jen Krempien

"She is able to check someone or defend somebody who is of a higher classification value and that gives us an advantage obviously elsewhere. She is often used in the role of shutting down the opposing team’s better player. For a class one to be able to do that is tremendous because typically the other team has a 4.5 who is a better player and her job is to shut that person down and she is very reliable at doing that," Frick said. "She also has probably the quickest transition of any player that I’ve seen. When she goes from attack to defence and defence to attack, her mind makes that switch and her body follows instantly."

The Beijing games marks the fifth and last Paralympics for Krempien.

"In other years I’ve worked and gone to school and trained on top of that but the last 18 months it’s been my total focus. I don’t know if I can say I put more time in for these Paralympics but certainly more energy and thought and planning has gone into what I want to accomplish," said the 2007/08 CWBA female athlete of the year.

"As soon as the team gets on the plane to Beijing it will be relief. At that point we’ve done everything we can. It’s just getting there and playing, which is what I’m looking forward to the most."

Canada hopes to rebound from a disappointing bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympics. It ended an unprecedented run of three-straight Paralympic gold medals.

"The reason we’ve done so well is because it’s been mentored into us that one is not enough. There is always something to be better at and to improve at. It’s that constant strive for excellence that has been our philosophy over the years."

Another gold medal would be the icing on the cake for the Richmond-based athlete.

"For me it’s all about being on the podium and knowing that 12 people years ago set a common goal and achieved it together," Krempien said. "But the real topper is hearing our national anthem. You feel such a sense of pride and accomplishment. It’s something that I still, after 16 years, can’t find words for."

Jen Krempien Honour RollLast hurrah
Krempien admitted her final game for Canada will be an emotional roller-coaster.

"Every time I put on that Canada jersey I still get a shiver thinking this is a pretty amazing life that we’ve chosen to live. For me it’s everything. That’s why I’ve played for so long. For someone who hasn’t been on a national team and hasn’t put on that jersey for the first time, it’s really hard to capture the amount of work and pride that goes into that first jersey," Krempien said. "It reminded me when Tara put on her jersey for the first time after she had been named to the team. She was giddy and I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. We do all these crazy things and make these crazy sacrifices for years just for the honour of representing Canada.’ "

Krempien has travelled around the globe playing a winning brand of basketball for Canada. Her journeys have included trips to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Spain, along with just about every province in Canada and nine states in the U.S.

"I’m pretty proud of my career but it’s not really so much what I’ve accomplished but what the teams I’ve been on and what they’ve accomplished. It’s quite amazing," said the product of the Northern Lights junior program. "I’m always looking forward to the next goal and right now our next goal is winning in Beijing. I’m sure on Sept. 17 I can walk away from international experience and competition and feel like there is not a lot left to accomplish. I’m sure that’s when I will reflect on my career and have happy thoughts."

It will be business as usual for Krempien in the final hurrah of her illustrious career.

"I always get into my uniform and chair in the same order. Right before tip-off I find the Canadian flag in the stadium, or the Maple Leaf on my uniform, and think to myself, ‘Play hard. Play smart. Play proud.’ "
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