A Comox youth from the Comox Valley Wheelchair Sports Society helped his Zone 6 mixed youth team bring home silver medals from the 2020 BC Winter Games in Fort St John last weekend.
For 14-year-old Carter McIsaac, the silver was a first, but it was also a first for the Comox Valley.
McIsaac was the only player from Comox chosen for the youth wheelchair basketball team, representing Zone 6, Vancouver Island/Central Coast. The other players were from Nanaimo and Pender Island.
Local CVWSS coach Stephane Roy, who last year won Wheelchair Basketball BC coach of the year, brought his honed coaching skills to act as assistant to team coach Simon Cass of Victoria.
All of the games were close and most were determined by fewer than five points. The gold medal eventually went to Zone 8, Cariboo-North East, a team that went through the entire tournament undefeated.
Roy admits that bringing together young players from different wheelchair basketball clubs “was challenging at first, but after only one practice they gelled together and then improved during each of the games.”
McIsaac scored a couple of nets, which helped propel the team to the finals of the BC Games tournament, he said.
“Carter is a motivated player,” says Roy. “He applies his learned skills well.”
“Going to the BC Games, and coming so close to winning it all, was a great experience for both Carter and me,” he added. “We hope to have more CVWSS players at the next BC games in two years.”
