Elisha Williams has dribbled her way to her childhood dream.
When she was a little girl Williams told her parents, Norm and Nadine, she would compete in the Olympics one day, but multiple knee injuries during her university basketball career posed a threat to her dream.
"It's tough as an athlete, and depending on how serious it is, it could be really life-changing and all of a sudden you have to redefine yourself," said the 1996-graduate of Duchess Park secondary school. "But it also gives you good self perspective in that maybe being an athlete was a huge part of who you are but it's not only who you are. If you love sports there's still other ways you can be involved."
Williams found another way to fulfill her dream in 2005 when she started playing wheelchair basketball for coach Pat Harris and the Prince George Titans. By 2008 she had made inroads into the Canadian wheelchair basketball program and secured a spot as an alternate on the women's team at the Paraylmpics in Beijing.
Two years later she earned a starting position on the team. Williams received her official notification in June from the Canadian wheelchair women's team that she will compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.
"I still have to kind of remind myself that it's actually happening in a couple of months and not a year from now or two years from now," said the 34 year old, during a July week-long visit to her home town. "I'm just really trying to enjoy the moment and focus on the process. It's unbelievable to have one of your childhood dreams come true."
For her dad seeing his daughter's dream come to fruition makes him smile.
"It's full-circle," said Norm. "It will allow her to complete and close the basketball part of her life because it wasn't finished when her knees gave out."
The able-bodied Williams is classified as a 4.5 disability in wheelchair basketball. The disability scale ranges from zero to five based on the range of mobility an athlete has. A team cannot have more than two 4.5 classified athletes on the floor at one time. The height of an athlete's chair is usually an indication of what her classification is since less mobile athletes need to sit lower for stability, while Williams has her chair at the 58 centimetre maximum height.
Williams said when she first hopped into a chair she went from being in charge of the court to being a raw rookie.
"I'd always joke around when I first started playing that I was more disabled than the women who have to be in a chair all the time," said Williams. "When you run and when you walk you don't think about your feet they just go where you tell them to go. It takes a long time to get the chair skills up and you can go where your head needs to go because you can't just make a cut or someone will stop you. It was quite a while before I was fast and agile enough to move around on the court."
Before embarking on the journey to the Canadian wheelchair team, Williams was tearing up the DPSS floor in Prince George high school basketball before she headed to San Jose State on a full scholarship where she earned rookie of the year honours in 1996-97.
"I was very fortunate as a young athlete in not having any major injuries and not having to miss any major competitions," said Williams, who played point guard but is a post in the wheelchair game. "When I first tore my [right] ACL, you have a real sense of loss because your whole identity is around you being an athlete. So when you can't be an athlete and you can't be out practicing it was a real learning experience, trying to reevaluate who you are and what you want to do because you think, oh my god my life is over I can't play anymore."
After two injury-plagued seasons at San Jose, Williams transferred to the University of Alberta where she planned to play for the Pandas, but after a couple of years warming the bench she decided to return home and play for the UNBC Timberwolves.
Unfortunately for Williams she never had the chance to wear green and gold. She tore up her left ACL during a coaching clinic prior to the season.
"I've had two surgeries on my right knee and one on my left knee," said Williams, adding the cartilage in her knees is gone. "It was after my third one that the doctor said that I really needed to think about doing something else if I want to walk when I'm 35."
Williams occupied her time coaching and studying. She has accumulated three degrees - a bachelor of arts in physical education from San Jose State University; a bachelor of science in occupational therapy from Alberta; and a masters in disability management from UNBC. After the Paralympics she'll return for her final year at the University of Alabama where she's working on her PhD. in exercise physiology.
Since Williams wheeled her way onto the Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team she's accumulated several medals in international competition. In 2010 the team won bronze at the world championship in Birmingham, England and won gold at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England. The team also won gold at the Good Luck Beijing International in 2008 (at the 2008 Paralympics the women's team finished fifth).
At the national level, Williams won silver at the CWBL Open finals with Prince George and then won gold in 2009 and 2010 with the Douglas College Lions. Also in 2010 she played on the BC Breakers team who were the CWBL Women's National Champions.
There will be 10 teams battling for gold in women's competition at the 2012 Paralympics. Williams said she expects the games will be tight after the pre-Olympic tournament they just had in Alabama where Canada ended up with bronze while the Germans took gold and the United States earned silver.
It's not how Williams imagined her Olympic dream when she was a child but the journey to fulfilling it has allowed her to travel around the world and has taught her valuable life lessons.
"I've learned a lot about myself," said Williams. "I'm strong. I've got courage. I'm not afraid to go after my dreams and to change my life."
