Fifth place for city's Paralympians
(Taken from the October 01, 2008 St. Albert Gazette)
By Jeff Hansen
Staff Writer		    

The basketball didn’t bounce the way St. Albert’s Paralympians had hoped at the recent Beijing games.J Krempien Beijing 2008

After an unprecedented run of Paralympic and Gold Cup world championship medals (two bronze and seven gold since 1990), the Canadian national women’s wheelchair basketball team failed to make the podium for the first time in 19 years.

"It’s disappointing but the way the team is trying to look at it is we’ve lost only three games internationally at worlds or the Paralympics," said Tara Feser, a 4.5 post who competed in her first Paralympics for disabled athletes.

"We could’ve played better. However, the rest of the world has come up to our standards now and we have to take it one step farther. We’re not at the top any more and we have to start realizing that and start working to be back at that top. It’s different when our standard is not the highest anymore."

A 53-49 loss to Australia in the quarter-finals relegated the number-one ranked team in the world into the fifth through eighth playoff system. Canada would go to finish fifth overall with a 5-2 record after beating China 53-46 and the Netherlands 61-32.

"It was unbelievably challenging to know that we hadn’t reached our goal, at least making it to the medal round, and then to know that we had to still play through with some pride and show that we’re a team that didn’t belong in fifth through eighth round, or whatever it was called. I’ve never been in that before," said co-captain Jennifer Krempien.

The 1.0 guard called it a career internationally after the fifth-place playoff with the Dutch.

"I didn’t really think about it until I was getting undressed and being rushed off for doping, which was a very fitting way to end my little career," said Krempien, a three-time Paralympic gold medallist and four-time Gold Cup winner since her Team Canada debut at the 1992 Paralympics.

"I thought I would be a lot more emotional during the whole event — thinking that this is going to be my last practice, my last ride to the venue, my last game — but it really wasn’t. Once I was in the tournament and at the venue I was savouring every moment but I wasn’t really nostalgic and emotional like I thought I would be. That was good. It just reinforced that I made the right decision to retire and I’m thrilled for it."

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

"Even in the little wrap up meeting when they were all talking about what had happened and what was to come I was excited for our team and our program and still proud of what we had accomplished and how we responded after losing in the quarter-final. But sad? No," said the 2007/08 Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association female athlete of the year.

The writing was on the wall for Canada after dropping a 55-52 decision to the surprising Japanese team in the round robin. The shocking loss left Canada at 1-1 with two games to go before the crossover playoffs.

"It basically put us in that Australia game situation. If we had won the round robin game we would’ve crossed over to play Great Britain, which would’ve been a much better quarter-final," Krempien said. "It just showed that we weren’t tactically ready for five people to be involved in offence and defence at the same time. I think that was our weakness for both of those games, Japan and Australia."

The Paul Kane High School alumna had mixed emotions over her performance in Beijing.

"It’s a team sport and if 12 people aren’t ready to play great then it doesn’t really matter how well you do," said the Richmond-based athlete.

"Even though the basketball was a bit disappointing because of our performance, the games themselves were probably the best I’ve ever been to. Everything was thought of and planned for with the athlete in mind and it really showed. The venues were awesome. The volunteers especially were plentiful and so willing to help with everything. It made a huge difference with the games."

Feser, 28, described the Paralympic experience as amazing.

"My favourite part was the opening ceremonies. It was really neat. Jen was trying to explain to me how I would feel as we’re going through the tunnel. She made sure I was up front so that I could wheel beside her. And then as we were about to get in there she said, ‘Wait for it. Wait for it.’ And then there were 91,000 people cheering for you. The goose bumps just started. It’s hard to describe. I didn’t think it would hit me that hard but it did."

Feser’s role was to give Canada a lift coming off the bench.

"I was relieving the starters when they needed to be and I really tried to be aggressive out there. I think I did exactly what I needed to do to help out the team any way that I could when I was out on the court," said the recreation manager for the City of Edmonton. "It was a different role than the other people played. It was my first time and I was quite excited about it and they were happy to see that excitement."

Her best game ironically was against the Aussies.

"I came out as strong as I could. I only had maybe five minutes out on the court but within those five minutes I picked up a foul and got six points. As soon as I hit my first basket, the Australians had to triple team me, which is a totally different role than I’m used to but it created a lot more opportunities for everybody else on the court. Everyone else was open but they saw me as a big threat out there and had to really look at that and basically zone in on me," Feser said. "Unfortunately, it didn’t help in the end but I will also cherish that game and the entire Paralympics experience for the rest of my life."

jhansen@stalbert.greatwest.ca

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