The Prince George native is juggling basketball and rugby while also completing his second degree at UNBC
Joel Ewert is mixing his love for wheelchair basketball with his passion for education as he pursues his goal of becoming a cardiologist.
The Prince George, B.C. native, who already completed his first degree in biomedical studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, is currently working on his second degree in First Nations studies as he tries to get into medical school.
“I’d love to be a physician, but cardiology is the side of medicine that has always interested me,” Ewert explained. “I come from a medical family: my grandpa was a surgeon, and my great grandpa was a doctor. My dad is a pharmacist in Prince George, so it runs in the family. I’ve always had a passion for science and medicine.”
What drew the 22-year-old to cardiology?
“It’s always been an area that interested me,” said Ewert. “The heart has always been interesting to me and something that I’ve been good at throughout anatomy classes.”
Ewert is balancing his studies while competing in wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. Ewert was a part of the Canadian Men’s Under-23 team at the IWBF Men’s U23 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Phuket, Thailand, in August.
Despite the busy schedule between school, basketball and rugby, Ewert says he’s managed to find the right balance.
“If you have a bad day on the court, you can hit the books,” he said. “If you’ve had a bad day at school, you can go and release some steam with sport. I’ve always found that balance to be pretty awesome.”
Born with cerebral palsy, Ewert was first introduced to wheelchair basketball by the Harris family in Prince George as a 5-year-old. Ewert met Pat, Avril and Nancy Harris at an event, and the family encouraged him to give wheelchair basketball a try.
“I vividly remember my first practice. I was going up and down the court and I was huffing and puffing a little bit, and I went over to the sideline to get some water – my mom was like, ‘Joel, you need water,’ and I was like, ‘No mom, I got to get back on defence,’” Ewert recalled. “I just kept going up and down, fell in love with the game and been in love with it ever since.”
After nearly two years without meaningful competition due to the pandemic, Ewert had plenty of meaningful competition on the schedule this year. In addition to the U23 Worlds, Ewert also represented Canada at the U23 Americas Zone qualifier and was part of Team BC’s gold medal victory at the Junior National Championship in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
“You don’t really miss it till it’s gone. I just thought basketball and rugby would be there forever; I’d always be busy every weekend, and then it kind of all shutdown,” said Ewert of the pandemic cancelling competitions. “You really miss it, and you miss competing, winning, and learning.
“It’s nice to be able to get out there and play some teams you haven’t seen before and people you haven’t played against. There’s always something cool about playing a team where it’s like, ‘We have no clue what this is going to be like.’ You don’t know any of the team’s tendencies – it takes you back to when you were a kid when you don’t really think; you just go out there and play.”
While school, basketball and rugby keep Ewert busy, he enjoys retreating to the family cabin at Ness Lake during his downtime. Just 25 minutes from his home, time on the lake is Ewert’s preferred method for unwinding.
“Fishing, ice fishing, pontoon boating – just having fun and enjoying the outdoors,” he said. “That’s one of the things I love about living in Prince George, even though it’s north and sometimes it seems like there’s not much to do, just having the ability to enjoy the outdoors 25 minutes from my home is awesome and a unique part of living in this region.”