The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, January 31, 2014 | 16 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Change of plans by Herb Garbutt Sports "Connected to your Community" Melanie Hawtin reaching new heights in new sport For the second straight year, Hawtin had attended the Canadian women's wheelchair Oakville Beaver Staff basketball tryouts. Chris Chandler from the Golden Horseshoe Disabled Sports Association had been trying to convince Hawtin to elanie Hawtin was called into a play basketball since she was 14. meeting that would potentially She followed the sport, often going to have a drastic effect on the path of watch the Burlington Vipers compete in the her athletic career. Now, as the news was be- Spitfire Challenge tournament. As for playing delivered, she could not believe what she ing it herself, Hawtin had filled in on the rare was hearing. How could this be true? occasion a player was needed to fill out the Hawtin sat there in shock. Was this a joke, lineup for a local game, but she had never she wondered. She was offered a Kleenex. trained or even practised with a team. "One isn't going to do it," the 25-year-old With her training for track, there was little Oakville resident said. "I'm going to need time to spare for another sport. the whole box." With track out of the picture, Hawtin finally gave basketball a shot. (Because she Successful on the track Melanie Hawtin had been wheelchair rac- sat more upright in her chair for basketball, ing since she was five years old. She quali- there were fewer complications from the fied for her first national championships surgery). She showed enough natural ability to make a regional team for when she was 10 and won the Ontario Games. two bronze medals the fol"I was so nervous because lowing year. By age 13, she it was my first major tournawas racing against the likes ment," she said. "That was of her role model Chantal very scary but it was such Peticlerc, the Paralympic an awesome experience." track legend. Though her team lost Hawtin was named the in the final, Hawtin made Ontario Wheelchair Sports enough of an impression Association junior female that she was awarded a deathlete of the year four velopment card, which protimes and the senior female vides funding for athletes athlete of the year twice. She with national-team potenearned medals at the 2005 tial. She attended the naand 2009 Canada Games Melanie Hawtin tional team training camp and competed at the world Wheelchair basketball national teamer that year but didn't make a junior championships. veteran team that was preHer abilities took her paring for the Paralympics. around the world. After two "I knew that if I kept doing it, I would get decades of dedicating herself to her sport, Hawtin was preparing for the most impor- better," Hawtin said. "All the ladies (at the tant season of her career, training to earn a national training camp) worked hard, but spot on the Canadian Paralympic team in they worked hard as a team." Coming from an individual sport, that London. Then in April of 2012, Hawtin, who has might have been the biggest adjustment for spina bifida hydrocephalus, was told she Hawtin. But the opportunity she needed to needed surgery. The shunt that drained ex- make up for her inexperience arrived in July cess fluid around her brain had snapped. when Wheelchair Basketball Canada opened The build-up of fluid was creating pressure its academy in Scarborough and Hawtin was one of the players invited to train yearon her brain. The surgery was successful, but it came round. Working with coach Mike Frogley, who coached Canada's men's team to two with a piece of stunning news. "I couldn't get back in my track chair," Paralympic golds, and playing alongside national team members five days a week, HawHawtin said. "Track was my life." tin said her game improved exponentially. Started wheelchair basketball two years ago "My ball handling, dribbling the ball up It was not the inability to participate in the sport she had dedicated her life to that and down the court and just how I see the had Hawtin reaching for the box of Kleenex. court, I've improved so much." It led to the national training camp in Las That came two weeks ago in Las Vegas. Vegas. Hawtin met with the coaches at the M I've already gone above what I ever did in track. Now I see what's possible. Less than two years after a medical condition forced her to retire from wheelchair racing, Melanie Hawtin is now a member of the Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team. | photo courtesy Wheelchair Basketball Canada end of the camp, expecting to hear how she could continue to develop her game to land a spot on the team in the future. Instead, she was told she would be one of the 12 players who would help Canada try to extend a streak that has seen it win a medal (four gold, two bronze) at every worlds since the tournament was founded in 1990. And that's when the tears started. Toronto will host worlds this year Hawtin still finds it hard to believe. Had surgery not ended her track career, she would have never made the switch to basketball. Though she could physically return to track now, it appears her sprinting days are over. "In track, I only ever made the development team. I was never on the final national team. I never went to worlds," she said. "I've already gone above what I ever did in track. Now I see what's possible." "Melanie's very determined and dedicated," said her mom, Marsha. "And now she's fully committed to basketball." It's a big year for the Canadian squad, which will host the world championships in Toronto in June. "It's exciting," Hawtin said, "knowing that everyone will come and see us play." And if the Canadian women end up with a gold medal draped around their necks, it might be a good idea to have a box of Kleenex on hand. -- Herb Garbutt can be followed on Twitter @Herbgarbutt