The 20-year-old recently represented Team Ontario in wheelchair basketball at the Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown
Nasif Chowdhury was reluctant when he was initially introduced to parasport.
The Toronto native grew up playing everything from stand-up basketball and volleyball to badminton and cricket.
“I knew a little bit about parasport, but just like anybody first getting into parasport, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do it.’ I was a little reluctant just because I was a kid playing every able-bodied sport I could,” Chowdhury explained. “I didn’t see a reason why I needed to play parasport.
“In the end, I just I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll go to one session, I’ll try it out,’ and I just enjoyed it a lot. enjoyed it, and the level I could get to in parasport excited me enough to keep me going.”
While he was representing Harbord Collegiate Institute in volleyball at the year-end Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association tournament, an official approached him about parasport.
Chowdhury, a prosthetic user, was born with a limb differential in his left leg – missing seven inches in his femur and an inch on his tibia. It was suggested that he would be a good fit for sitting volleyball.
“A ref came up to me, noticed I had a prosthetic and that I was starting on my high school team – he was like, ‘Hey, let’s get you into para volleyball.’ So that’s how I got started in para volleyball,” Chowdhury recalled.
Through playing sitting volleyball, Chowdhury was introduced to wheelchair basketball.
“Darek Symonowicz, who was on the national volleyball team, told me he was an ex-pro in wheelchair basketball and was like, ‘Hey, this sport is cool, you should try it and that I could be on Team Ontario–things like that,” Chowdhury said. “It was through Darek that I learned about wheelchair basketball, and then I ended up in the wheelchair basketball scene and started playing at the club level.”
Chowdhury reached out to Josée Matte, the high performance manager at ONPARA then, and eventually joined the Brampton Cruisers to try wheelchair basketball at the end of 2021.
After graduating high school, Chowdhury moved to attend the University of Waterloo, but it didn’t take him long to find a new wheelchair basketball club.
Senior Men’s National Team member Tyler Miller is the President of the Twin City Spinners and quickly recruited Chowdhury to the club.
“When Tyler heard I was going to school in Waterloo, and I was living here full-time, he was like, ‘Okay, we need to hit this kid up,’” Chowdhury said. “Tyler recruited me to the Spinners, and I’ve been with them ever since. He’s taken my game to another level. He’s been teaching me everything he can to try and get me at the level I can be.”
With a little over 12 months of wheelchair basketball experience under his belt, Chowdhury admits he still has plenty to learn to better his game.
“Tyler’s done a good job at pushing me enough to where I can be as fast as I can,” he said. “There’s some fundamental things that I’m missing and things like that. Tyler and I practice Tuesday mornings at the University of Waterloo campus, and we do Wednesday night Spinners’ practice – he’s doing everything he can to help this Waterloo kid out.
“He’s teaching me all the tricks: where to be aggressive, stay composed. Getting me game reps at practice.”
Last month the 20-year-old represented Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games, averaging nearly nine points a game in Charlottetown.
“The Games was awesome. Being on Team Ontario was great,” said Chowdhury. “You get to make some good friends. In wheelchair basketball itself, I can say I’ve made so many great friends, from athletes who are developmental players with National Team to people who are just 16-year-old kids on my team. The Canada Games experience was really great.”
Now Chowdhury has his sights set on a roster spot with Team Canada’s Under-23 men’s team.
“It’s something I would love to do,” he said. “The U23 team is definitely a huge goal, and I would love to be on it.”
Off the court, Chowdhury is now in his second year at the University of Waterloo in the Recreation and Sport Business program. As for career possibilities, he’s keeping his options open.
“There are so many possibilities,” Chowdhury said. “You could go from Event Management in sports to working with NSOs directly to managing NSOs. I can even be a recreation leader in a children’s hospital working with kids with disability.”