From her first trip on an escalator to her first trip to the podium, wheelchair basketball athlete Puisand Lai continues to celebrate a string of first milestones both on and off the court since making her debut with Team Canada.

The youngest player on the Canadian women’s national team, Lai made the cut to represent Canada at the world championships in 2018 as an 18-year-old. Her sophomore year was even more impressive, as she captured her first gold medal during her very first multi-sport Games experience at the 2019 Parapan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

“Basketball has definitely given me the chance to see the world and travel to all of these different places that I didn’t know a lot about,” said Lai. “I’ve enjoyed every single experience. I’ve tried so many things for the first time on these trips.”

Another great first for Lai was likely the impression she made on her Team Canada teammates after pulling off a slick prank as a rookie while going completely undetected.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a really big prankster or anything, but there was just one time I had the idea to hide one of my teammates jerseys on top of a basketball net. And honestly, I felt so bad about it afterwards! Everyone suspected everyone else but nobody suspected me, which was the fun part. I don’t know if I’d be able to get away with it again.”

Not likely. All joking aside, the 20-year-old Toronto native is keen to get back to business on the court after a long hiatus over the summer – a time when Team Canada would have typically centralized in preparation for the Paralympics.

“I’ve missed basketball so much, especially as the months have gone by because it’s been such a long time since I’ve played with teammates. Whenever I’ve watched game video, I’m like ‘I want to be doing that right now!’. I’m just eager to get on court with everyone again.”

That reunion is finally getting underway. Lai was one of the first high-performance athletes to return to the National Training Centre in Toronto, although things look quite a bit different than they used to amidst the pandemic.

Athletes have just entered stage four of the Wheelchair Basketball Canada return to training plan, which involves individual training in small groups with physical distancing. Although players can’t share the same basketball or compete against one another quite yet, it’s another step in the right direction and a welcome opportunity for teammates and staff to get reacquainted.

Despite the challenges of the past few months and those that likely lie ahead, Lai remains dedicated to improving her skills to make her mark on the game.

“It’s definitely a work in progress. I’m still pretty new on the national team, but over the last couple of years I think I’ve improved so much. Playing at this level every day and having my teammates push me every day, I definitely see a big difference.

“With this COVID situation, it’s also given me a lot more time to focus on individual skills that I otherwise would have less time with – like shooting and ballhandling – which I think will really help my game. I’m definitely feeling more confident in those areas.”

While basketball starts to ramp up again, the other main focus for Lai is school. She’s studying mechanical engineering along with a minor in sustainability at McMaster University, while trying to pace herself with the delicate balancing act between academics and athletics. Like many this semester, she’s taking all of her classes online.

“It’s definitely been tough to do classes and also train at the same time. It’s been hard to juggle the two and there’s been a lot of planning ahead to see when I should take certain courses. But the online courses could definitely be a good thing, since I’d be able to take courses that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to and it just makes the commuting element so much easier.”

Clearly Lai is no stranger to hard work, as evidenced by her ascension in the sport. She is holding out hope that her run of firsts will continue on the biggest stage yet – the Paralympic Games in Tokyo next summer.

“It would mean so much to me to go to the Paralympics. I’ve been training so hard these last few years. With our team, we’ve gone through so much and really grown together. I think it will be so great to finally be able to compete at the Paralympics, play our game and show the world what we can do.”

Be sure to follow Puisand on Instagram @pppuisand and Team Canada’s journey on the road to Tokyo:

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