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Friday, February 21, 2014
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Zip into spring at Uptown Christine van Reeuwyk News staff
Spectrum community school student Alyshia Joinson, who has spina bifida, will compete in wheelchair basketball at the BC Winter Games in Mission this weekend. Christine van Reeuwyk/ News staff
GAME FACES
Christine van Reeuwyk News staff
Four young women from Victoria will roll through the B.C. Winter Games this weekend – literally. Athletes Ashley Griffith, Alyshia Joinson, Kelly Law and Ryleigh Bissenden, who all play out of the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence, make up two-thirds of the wheelchair basketball team that will represent Vancouver Island-Central Coast at the Games in Mission, which opened yesterday (Feb. 20) and run until Sunday. At PISE Tuesday night, coach Simon Cass put the foursome through a couple
of games of knockout, and had them thundering up and down the gym floor practising off-hand dribbling as the players warmed up for their final practice befprovincial competition. “So many of our players are really new. So (the B.C. Games are) a really great development opportunity, in basketball skills and meeting other people their age with different disabilities,” Cass said. Griffith, who at 14 is the youngest member of the foursome, is also the newest team member to the sport, with just two months’ experience. Griffith suffered multiple severe injuries in a fall in 2011. The Reynolds secondary student has endured
Wheelchair sports about competition, camaraderie at B.C. Winter Games two major spinal surgeries and discovered wheelchair basketball during rehab. “I just got out of GF Strong (Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver) and they have wheelchair sports there once a week,” she said. “When I got hurt, I didn’t have a way to exercise. (Wheelchair basketball) is a great activity.” Now living with complex chronic pain and confined to the chair, she finds the activity and socialization inspiring. She looks forward to “meeting other teenagers in chairs” at the B.C. Games.
PLEASE SEE:
B.C. Games provides opportunities, Page A4
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Thrill-seekers can zip over the heads of shoppers at Uptown next month. The centre will build a double zipline to carry thrill-seekers 90 metres, from Uptown’s upper level to the edge of the centre plaza. “We are so thrilled to be bringing the Island’s first urban ziplining experience to our community,” said Roberta Ferguson, Uptown general manager. “It will be similar to Vancouver’s zipline from the Olympic Games in 2010.” Kristy Lowes, marketing director for Uptown, said Adrena LINE Zipline Adventure Tours in Sooke approached them last year with the concept, and now the “ducks are in a row” for the spring event. “There isn’t a lot that we’ve noticed going on in the city (over spring break). We wanted to provide some family activities that are local and different,” Lowes said. “We do like to be unique.” Adrena LINE will construct a tower on the top level of Uptown, near Blanshard Street, and connect the lines to another tower next to Uptown Boulevard. Construction will begin early next month, with the opening planned for March 7. The line will be open daily from 1 to 7 p.m. until March 23. Cost will be $10, with half going to a yet-to-be-determined local charity. Visit shopuptown.ca for more details. reporter@saanichnews.com
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