The Canadian Paralympic Committee is pleased to profile Canadian Paralympic team members leading up to the September 17-28 Games. Today we profile Danielle Peers, wheelchair basketball, from Edmonton.

September 7, 2004

Danielle Peers dedicated to being the best

This is a typical start to the day for Danielle Peers: she arrives at the gym around 5 a.m., and trains for 2 1/2 hours. Then she heads to work where she solves problems for investors.

"Intensity is what it's all about. I don't want to lead my life without being intense," says the 26-year-old Paralympic rookie who is very motivated to help the Canadian squad win a fourth straight gold medal at the Games in women's wheelchair basketball.

Peers' determination is hardly surprising. She overcame a tragic and unexpected situation but found strength through her lifelong commitment to sport, and in particular basketball. As a teenager, Peers was a star player and eventually played for nationally-ranked Grant MacEwen College in Edmonton where she was an academic All-Canadian.

But during that period, she started to experience pain in her legs. She restricted her practice time while playing for the top-ranked team in the hopes the pain would dissipate. Then, medical sources told her she might have petula tendinitis and that she shouldn't slack off on her rehab exercises. However, she eventually learned she had muscular dystrophy.

"Right now my upper body is unaffected, but I have to be careful because that (upper body deterioration) could happen by tomorrow," she says of weight training that focuses on lower weights and higher reps. Peers also found inspiration through her brother Marc Peers, who competed at the 1996 Olympics in sailing.

Peers began playing wheelchair basketball in 1999 with the Edmonton Inferno, and helped the team win the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball League title this year. Peers led the Inferno with 23 points and 11 rebounds in the championship game victory over the Calgary Rollers.

She is confident Canada can win the Paralympic gold for a fourth straight Games. The team had successful showings at back-to-back international tournaments in Toronto this past August.

"Those tournaments were ideal preparation for Athens," said Peers, who was the tounament MVP at the CWBL Invitational which Canada won with a 57-43 victory over Germany in the final. "Playing 17 games in two weeks, we showed a lot of depth, fitness and focus. Now we just need to use what we learned to have a peak performance in Athens."

Wheelchair basketball has been a Paralympic sport since the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. Wheelchair basketball is played by athletes using wheelchairs and whose disabilities may include paraplegia, lower limb amputations, cerebral palsy and polio. In general, any individual who is unable to participate in stand-up basketball as a result of a disabling condition, injury, etc. is eligible to play wheelchair basketball. Not all athletes who compete in wheelchair basketball will use a wheelchair for
daily living.

The Paralympic Games are the largest multi-sport event for athletes with a physical disability. The 2004 Paralympic Summer Games run from September 17-28 in Athens, Greece. The Canadian team numbers 144 athletes from all 10 provinces who will compete in 13 of the 19 sports on the Games program.

reprinted with permission