Small-town Saskatchewan athlete training to compete in next year’s Paralympics | 24CA News
To compete and produce residence a medal from the Paralympics is Keely Shaw’s purpose. If she makes it to the video games in Paris subsequent yr, that can make it Shaw’s second expertise on a global degree competing in paracycling.
“That’s the hope, that our team (is named) for the Paralympics until June of next year,” she mentioned. “But I think with my recent performances of Worlds, it puts me in a good spot.”
Shaw from Midale, Sask., has been athletic all her life. She fell in love with the game of hockey and hoped to play skilled sooner or later, till a horse-riding incident left her with a mind damage.
“That led to complete paralysis on the left side of my body through various rehab time exercises,” she mentioned. “I gained quite a lot of my function back, but I … still do still have that left side decrement. I’m probably 60 to 70 per cent function on the left side of my body.”
Her sporting pursuits modified from hockey to parasports when she was in college.
“When I found my bike, it provided me an opportunity to feel strong again, to feel coordinated, to feel powerful,” mentioned Shaw.
Her newfound ardour landed her in Tokyo for the Paralympic video games in 2020, the place she introduced residence a bronze medal.
“I experienced every single emotion across the full spectrum that day,” she mentioned. “It was show up, have the race of a lifetime and win a medal or go home empty-handed … any time you win a medal at the Paralympics or the Olympics, it’s special.”
Shaw joined 5 elite athletes throughout Canada who joined ‘Team Toyota’ the place they share their tales as they put together for the worldwide stage. The vice-president of gross sales and advertising for Toyota Canada mentioned the athletes in ‘Team Toyota’ broke boundaries and uplifted their communities.
“Our Team Toyota athletes are remarkable examples of what’s possible through the power of human movement,” acknowledged Cyril Dimitris in a launch.
“By sharing their personal stories about what has helped shape them, beyond sport, we hope to encourage and inspire more Canadians to start their own ‘impossible’.”
The full roster of the athletes of ‘Team Toyota’ together with Shaw’s private story might be seen on the Toyota web site.
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