The 20-year-old was part of the gold medal-winning Team BC at the 2023 Canada Games
Born in Colombia and raised in the U.S. and Korea, it wasn’t until Jeffer Ward moved to Vancouver that he found organized wheelchair basketball as a 13-year-old.
Ward, born with Arthrogryposis, a term used to describe a variety of conditions involving multiple joint contractures or stiffness, was first introduced to wheelchair basketball at week-long summer camps in the U.S., where he also had the opportunity to try wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby, among other para sports.
“My mom found a camp in the States that I would go to when we would visit family,” Ward recalled. “It was a week-long camp. It was one of those camps where you could try many sports, and they had wheelchair basketball. That’s where it started, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is fun’.”
At age six, Ward’s family moved to Korea, where his mother taught at an international school, and his father worked in the school’s IT department.
Without access to organized wheelchair basketball practices or games, Ward taught himself.
“While I was in Korea, my older brother was a multi-sport athlete. He was the big one that made me want to play sports, especially basketball,” said Ward. “Living in Korea, I didn’t get to play wheelchair basketball. I taught myself how to dribble the ball and shoot, but there was nothing really organized for me to compete against.”
After eight years in Korea, the family returned to North America and settled in Vancouver; that’s when Ward’s mother found the BC Wheelchair Basketball Society.
“Once we moved here, that’s where I was able to play and learn more,” Ward said. “That’s where it really started. My mom hooked me up.”
In 2022, Ward’s first season with the provincial junior team, B.C. cruised through the Junior National Championship, winning gold over Quebec in Charlottetown.
The 20-year-old called the experience in P.E.I. a good learning opportunity in his young wheelchair basketball career.
“Being able to reflect on the tournament, it was a lot,” he said. “I had a lot of nerves going in. I was the rookie on the team. It was my first season; I was a baby. I was still learning. I was just able to reflect and appreciate that moment because I love being on a strong team, but I also want to be a player who can hold my own. After the tournament, I was able to reflect on the areas I need to work on, moving forward.”
Last year, Ward was part of the Team BC squad that once again went undefeated, winning gold at the Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown.
“I enjoyed being in that environment, but also with my team because I feel like we got closer during that time,” said Ward. “We’d go out to eat together, we would practice together, and then off the court, we would hang out together as well.
“Also, seeing how everybody else in the country was progressing—everybody’s growing, so seeing the growth from Junior Nationals to Canada Games was a big thing I really enjoyed.”
This season, Ward is embracing a leadership role on his team as BC prepares to head to the Junior West Championship.
“I’m excited, he said. “It’s a new role for me, especially as someone who’s also pretty, fairly new to the team, and just finishing up my first season of being a serious athlete. It’s exciting to look forward to being a vet on the team and being able to help out the newer players, but also realizing that I’m still fairly young, I’m still learning.”
BC will compete against Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan at the Junior West Championship in Regina. The 3-on-3 tournament will feature the top Under-24 talent in Western Canada as provinces prepare to compete at the 2027 Canada Winter Games in Quebec City, Que.
With the roster turnover from the Canada Winter Games team, Ward acknowledges there is work to be done as the new-look Team BC heads to the Junior West Championship.
“We’re a newer team. There’s a few of us that haven’t worked together, so we’re still building up that chemistry,” Ward said. “We still got three years until the next Canada Games so we’ve got plenty of time to continue to build our chemistry and just continue to train with each other to get to a point where I think we’ll be stronger.”
Off the court, Ward is a second-year general studies student at Douglas College in Coquitlam, B.C. – he is in the process of transferring into the therapeutic recreation program.