The 21-year-old convinced his parents the move was necessary to pursue his dream
Growing up, Josh Brown was always open to trying a variety of different sports, but it wasn’t until he met Mike Frogley that Brown got serious about playing Wheelchair Basketball.
Born with cerebral palsy, Brown played everything from stand-up basketball to golf, soccer, and volleyball as a child.
“When I was younger, my parents didn’t want me to have sort of excuses for myself,” Brown explained. “They were like, ‘You know you got a disability, but if you really want to do something, just go and do it,’ and I did. I was like, ‘screw it’ I’ll go out and play whatever sports I want, and I did.”
His first venture into adaptive sports was sledge hockey, but Brown quickly realized the game wasn’t for him. However, it was his sledge hockey coach who told him about wheelchair basketball.
“He kind of mentioned to me that they were looking for people to try out wheelchair basketball. I tried it, loved it, and then ever since then kind of stuck with it,” said Brown. “I didn’t really get serious until I talked to Frog. I didn’t really know about the potential you could get to with wheelchair basketball, but after talking to Frog, it was full go—let’s try hard, let’s do everything we can to be the best we can be.”
Brown also tried wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby, but by age 13 was sold on wheelchair basketball.
“I always say, wheelchair basketball is like a chess game—everybody has to do their part. All the little details matter. It’s so much more complicated, and that’s what I kind of love,” he said. “It is like a chess game every game. It really challenges you. I really like that.”
Moving to Toronto
Once he completed high school, the East St. Paul, Man. native convinced his parents that moving to Toronto was necessary to further his wheelchair basketball career.
Brown admits he was anticipating a difficult conversation.
“I had just come back from carding camp; I didn’t think I was going to move
because I had it in my head that they were not going to want to help me live in Toronto,” Brown recalled. “It’s a lot of money, it’s expensive, I wasn’t carded. I just said to myself, ‘If you can work hard enough and get carded next year, they can’t say no.’
The 21-year-old laid out his plan for his parents, and they were more than receptive to the idea.
“Essentially what I did is I went home, and I said, ‘Hey, mom, dad, I have this opportunity to go to Toronto play basketball and, potentially get carded in a couple of years, maybe make the National Team in three, four or five years down the line,’ Brown said of the conversation. “They said, ‘go for it.’
“They wanted to help me in any way they could to help me pursue my dreams, and I appreciate it. They’ve helped me more than a man could really ask, so I’m very happy, very grateful.”
Back on the court
After the pandemic postponed most competitions for the better part of two years, Brown has had a busy 2022 season.
He was part of the Under-23 men’s team, which won a bronze medal at the IWBF Americas Championship.
“It was a lot of pressure, but honestly, that’s what we wanted,” Brown said of the tournament. “That’s what I wanted for sure. It’s what we need essentially to make us better. We needed some real competitive fields.”
In April, Brown and a group of athletes from Manitoba teamed up with New Brunswick to win the Division 2 gold medal at the CWBL Nationals in Montreal.
“It was a great time,” he said. “Meeting new people; we ended up getting first which was great. Austin MacLellan and I created that bond that we need, we’re both 3.0s, and he’s on the U-23 team too. Great experience and I was happy to be there, honestly.”
Brown also represented Manitoba at the Junior Nationals in P.E.I. in June but was more impressed with the up-and-coming talent on display at the NextGen Camp, which also took place in Charlottetown.
“After that camp, I have a very good feeling that the future’s bright in Canada for wheelchair basketball,” said Brown. “I think we have a lot of potentially great players coming up, and I’m excited to see it.”
With three tournaments under his belt, Brown now has a better idea of what he needs to work on as he prepares to represent Canada at the men’s Under-23 World Championship in September.
“I think specifically for me personally, there’s a lot I’m just working on my chair skills and my speed,” he said. “I got a lot of work still to do, and I’m really happy that I get the opportunity to train in Toronto to really work on those things. Honestly, there’s no better place than Toronto to work on it. We’ve got the senior men’s coaches, we’ve got a ton of senior guys out here, a ton of young guys, it’s great.”