KW connection to Paralympic Games
Posted Sep 14, 2012 10:53:20 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s Paralympian’s have returned home. Some of them to Waterloo Region and surrounding area.
The gold medal winning Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team has a few local connections, including Kitchener’s Tyler Miller.
Miller told 570 News the fact that few other guys on the team are from this area was part of Team Canada’s success, “It’s always nice when you have that kind of family feel, so I think it definitely helps us having that home-town connection between a bunch of us.”
The other local connections to Team Canada are Abdi Fatah Dini, who once lived in Cambridge; Brandon Wagner was born in Kitchener; and Patrick Anderson, from Fergus.
“For example talking to your teammates on the phone, I can say, ‘I was just at Fairview Mall,’ and they’ve been there, they known where it is, and they know the way the city works,”
Miller plays Guard and said Team Canada went into the games with one goal, “the one goal was to win a gold medal, and having succeed in that quest, I know I feel great, and I know the rest of the team … we’re ecstatic about the way things went.”
Miller gives kudos to his coaches who have helped him get to this level, Twin City Spinners coach, Bruce Russell, and former wheelchair basketball player on Canada’s Men’s National team Jeff Penner.
“Bruce Russell, he was one of the people who have been with me since the beginning of basketball journey. He is still a huge part, he runs pretty much single-handedly the whole Twin City Spinners organization, which is the grass roots program I came up through, so I always have to give it up to him.” said Miller.
“As well, I had another coach, Jeff Penner. He had a knack for the game and the for the little things. He showed me all kinds of things about more the offensive side.”
Going forward, Miller’s eyes are on 2016 in Rio. “I’m still only 28, and the prime age for a Paralympian is 34 … Rio would be the prime of my career. I’m definitely not closing the door on that, and look forward to building towards it.”
