Tamara chronicles her journey from growing up in Mississauga to finding wheelchair basketball and earning a spot on the Senior Women’s National Team in this month’s Athlete Spotlight presented by Toyota.
I grew up in Mississauga – a decent size city – with my seven brothers and sisters. I’m the youngest girl, and I have a younger brother. It was fun. You had to fight for what you wanted, so it could be a grind sometimes, but I think our family is a big, loving family – we shared beds all the time, and stuff like that.
You had to fight for what you wanted food-wise. My mom would only make so much food, so if you wanted to eat, you had to be quick. There wasn’t too much fighting among us; we got along pretty well.
Growing up with my disability in Mississauga was a lot tougher on my parents and my school – my school was not very accessible.
While I was there, they made an effort to make it more accessible by adding ramps and lifts to the stairs and things like that. I think my attending the school helped them better understand what was needed to make the building more accessible. So now the school has a better understanding of what people need and what works well in terms of being more accessible for students.
Growing up with scoliosis
I was born with scoliosis; however, the doctors didn’t realize I had the back condition until they discovered I had a benign tumour in my back when I was 10. The tumour stopped the scoliosis from progressing. When they removed the tumour, they discovered I had scoliosis.
Scoliosis is a curvature of the spin, and the correction for it is they surgically insert Harrington rods in your back – which I have in my back right now – from the top of my neck to my lower pelvis. It’s supposed to help straighten me out.
Finding wheelchair basketball
I went to ErinoakKids as a child for rehabilitation, and one of the programs they offered was an independent living program where you learn to live with your disability and learn how to do all this stuff such as cook for yourself.
One of the activities at ErinoakKids was wheelchair basketball, and we got to try out wheelchairs and learn how to shoot. I went home after that, and I was like, ‘Mom, can we find a club near me?’ We found one right away and I’ve been playing wheelchair basketball ever since.
As soon as I fell in love with the sport, I wanted to work up to the national team.
In 2011, I was invited to try out for the women’s Under-25 team. It was a great experience. I was new to the sport since I only started in 2009. But I figured I might as well try; I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Then they told me I made the team, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t even know the sport very well at that point – I got to learn from some of the veterans like Cindy Ouellet and Maude Jacques – there were some experienced athletes on the team, so it was good to get to learn from them.
First Paralympic Games
I was a nervous wreck going to my first Paralympic Games in London in 2012. In 2011, I made the Under-25 roster, and at that point, I never thought I’d be going to the Paralympics a year later. It was such a whirlwind. I got to take in everything – again, I had an opportunity to learn from the veterans on the team. I was just soaking it all in.
My sister also got to come with me to London, which was nice, and she’s been coming to every Paralympic Games since. Getting the opportunity to experience the 2012 Games with her and getting to travel around London – I hadn’t travelled much before that. Having the chance to explore London was cool to experience with her.
Wheelchair basketball was just a sport I fell in love with, and I thought I could be good at it. I just kept working on my game and got invited to various camps – I’m pretty competitive, especially growing up in a big family with seven siblings. I think getting the opportunity to experience a team sport like wheelchair basketball was unbelievable and I’m still shocked sometimes that I get to travel the world.
London was my favourite city to visit. It was my first Paralympic Games, and getting the chance to experience it with my sister and play basketball – the sport I love – was amazing.
Advice for new athletes
I think just come out and try it – you never know what will happen – you could fall in love with the game.