The 15-year-old is headed to his second Canada Games this month with Team NL
When Gavin Baggs decided to focus on parasport, he didn’t have to look far for inspiration. Fellow Paradise, N.L. native, Liam Hickey, was already excelling in wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey.
Born with sacral agenesis, Baggs is missing bones in his spine, limiting his ability to participate in stand-up sports.
“I got involved in parasports when my parents noticed that Liam Hickey was becoming a big thing in parasport,” Baggs explained. “Liam was on the national team for wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey. With my disability, I couldn’t participate in many stand-up sports. So my parents got me involved in wheelchair basketball, and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
Hickey was part of Team Canada at the 2015 Parapan American Games and the 2016 Paralympics in Rio. He was named WBC’s Junior Athlete of the Year in 2015.
Baggs credits Hickey for his progress in wheelchair basketball.
“I learned a lot from Liam,” Baggs said. “The advice he gave me was that ‘Nothing is easy at first; you can’t be good at something as soon as you start – you have to work your way up. Just take your time, and you’ll get there, you’ll get to the highest competition eventually’.
“I train with him one-on-one in wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey. He thinks I have a bright future in both sports, and I’m just trying to get to the level that he’s at.”
First Canada Games
Baggs first represented Team Newfoundland at the 2019 Canada Games in Red Deer, Alta. It was the first time in more than a decade Newfoundland sent a wheelchair basketball team to the Games.
“To be part of the new chapter of Newfoundland wheelchair basketball was very surreal,” said Baggs. “We hadn’t had a team go in like a decade and just to be there and be like the next generation of Newfoundland wheelchair basketball was insane for me.”
Newfoundland finished eighth at the Red Deer Games with a 1-5 record, but the experience left a lasting impression on the then 11-year-old.
“The Red Deer Canada Games was probably the biggest moment of my life so far – going to Canada Games at such a young age and getting to experience other provinces, how they play, how they are off the court, and just to experience the overall competitiveness of the entire sport was fun.”
2022 Junior Nationals
After the Covid-19 pandemic halted most competitions for nearly two years, Baggs and his teammates finally got back on the court for a major competition at the 2022 Junior Nationals in Charlottetown, P.E.I. last June.
Athletes from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia formed one team and finished seventh at the test event for the upcoming Canada Games
“It was nice to get back on the court because of the pandemic, we couldn’t even practice that much – we had to do shooting on our own at home,” Baggs said. “Covid-19 stunted my athletic growth because I couldn’t practice with my team. So being able to be in a major tournament in Charlottetown right after the pandemic ended, it was exciting.”
Though he couldn’t practice with his teammates during the pandemic, he benefited from having his mother, Raeleen Baggs, the coach for Team NL, under the same roof.
“Having my mom as the coach during Covid-19 helped me see what I needed to work on,” he said. “Shooting was a big thing, but she would also notice that I should probably do some off-hand stuff, some passing against the wall, some dribbling – it was nice having a second opinion of what I should work on.”
2023 Canada Games
As he heads to his second Canada Winter Games, Baggs has more confidence in his game and is hoping to play a bigger role.
“I feel like I’ve progressed a lot in my game style. When I was 11, I would try to pick people off, get the ball, set screens, set seals – disrupt the play overall,” said Baggs. “Now I’m 15, so I’ve started doing more on the ball stuff, I’ve definitely improved pretty much everything on the ball, such as dribbling, passing, and shooting. I’m a lot more comfortable on the ball than I was when I was 11.
“I do think I will have a bigger role in terms of just playing in the overall game. Back when I was 11, I was just trying to disrupt the flow of play, but now I think other teams see me as a scoring threat.”
Baggs also expects bigger things for Team NL that went 1-4 at the Junior Nationals.
“I think the team has improved greatly since Junior Nationals,” Baggs said. “I can see the team has improved a lot in every area of the game. We can read the play better, we know what we need to do, and we have learned from the Junior Nationals experience.”
The Grade 10 student hopes to pursue a nursing degree off the court while remaining involved in sport.