By Cheryl Jahn

Joel Ewert heads to Paris

Jul 17, 2024 | 2:55 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Mid-June. That’s when the Ewert family found out Joel had been chosen to be part of Team Canada in Paralympic rugby. But he had to keep it under wraps.

“So it was a tough, tough couple of weeks kind of skirting around the question when you when you’re asked, but then, you know, and think maybe because of that, it didn’t really hit me until the public announced.”

But rugby wasn’t the sport he began with years ago. He first love was basketball. One of the few sports he could be part of in Prince George.

“His brother played hockey. His dad played hockey and he wanted a team thing, but he was only five and he was too young,” explains his mother Bonita. “And we found wheelchair basketball. Pat Harris had the program running back then, so we got him involved in that and he just went from there.”

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Since beginning basketball, he has been part of the U23 Worlds, the Canada Summer Games. But then his heart took another direction.

“When I was about 13 or 14, some people suggested that I try wheelchair rugby as well, and I did. And immediately I was hooked. There are a lot of similarities between the sports, even though they look a little different.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. He says he has been training with his Team Canada teammates for months and they’ve built a camaraderie.

So the tickets are booked, with the Ewert family is Paris-bound. “We’re very proud of him.”

by Cheryl Jahn

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Joel Ewert heads to Paris

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