A knee injury forced the Calgary native to step away from gymnastics
Anikka Cassidy realized she could no longer be a gymnast when she was 15. Cassidy was undergoing reconstructive surgery on the medial patella-femoral ligament in her right knee when her perineal nerve was accidentally severed, causing Cassidy to develop drop foot.
The Calgary native, who was involved in dance and gymnastics from age two, was told she could no longer be a gymnast.
“I kind of got told, ‘You’re not going to be able to be a gymnast anymore’, and that was heartbreaking,” Cassidy recalled. “In my senior year of high school, I got into wheelchair track because they said, ‘Hey, we know you’re in a wheelchair; why don’t you try this?’ And I fell in love. I loved it.”
Wheelchair track opened the door for Cassidy to try other adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball.
“Danny Brinton is our close family friend, and he said, ‘Hey, she likes to track; why doesn’t she try wheelchair basketball?’ So he got me in with the Calgary club,” said Cassidy. “I walked in one day, and it just stuck. Two and a half years later, still here.”
Cassidy credits Nik Goncin and Chad Jassman for helping develop her game. The three train in Calgary and played together for Calgary at the CWBL Nationals.
“Nik and Jazzy are really the reasons why I’ve developed so fast, and the reason why I’ve become so competitive was because they would push me hard and I was like, ‘Oh, I like this’,” she said. “I just kept pushing back, and those guys are really the reason why I’ve gotten to the level I am currently.”
After two years without competition, Cassidy had a chance to see where how far her game had developed when she participated in the Women’s National Championship Festival in Richmond, B.C., in April.
In addition to representing Calgary at the CWBL Nationals in Montreal, the 20-year-old also played for Team Alberta in June in the Junior Nationals in Charlottetown, PEI.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster for me,” Cassidy admitted. “At the end of March, I got asked to go to the development camp. After development camp, Marc Antoine Ducharme pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, I really want you to come to carding camp.’
“Carding camp was right after Women’s Nationals, which was nuts. We went from competing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to carding camp, and then we flew from carding camp to CWBL Nationals. We got to play with a great team at CWBL Nationals. Team Calgary was awesome this year. We got to play for a bronze medal. By the bronze medal game, we said, ‘You know what? Let’s just go out there and have some fun.’”
At Junior Nationals, a test event for the 2023 Canada Winter Games, Cassidy took on more leadership with Team Alberta, who finished fourth at the tournament.
“It’s definitely interesting falling into the mentor role while also just trying to keep the team in one piece and realizing that if I’m on the floor, calling the shots, I have to look out what’s best for my teammates,” Cassidy explained. “That’s definitely a change going from a role player to a leader. With the national team, I’m not going to be the one shooting threes, but with the junior team, I’m the one that’s shooting outside the screen, ball carrying and getting in there, and it’s definitely a different vibe.”
Off the court, Cassidy keeps busy with her four dogs: Curly, Tinkerbell, Lilo and Stitch. She’s also hoping to try sledge hockey and sit skiing as she continues to explore adaptive sports.
Cassidy is currently taking time off from school but has aspirations to play basketball and study psychology at a school in the U.S. beginning in the fall of 2023.