The team is now on its way to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete in the North American Cup, which is a part of the "The Americas Series." This event, as arranged by US Paralympics, pits national teams from both sides of the border up against each other in a world-class setting in two sports: wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball. The winner of each game gets 1 point for their country, and whichever country escapes with two points unders its collective belt, will win $10,000. American!

We have team practices scheduled for Wednesday, June 11th from 11:30–2:30 and again from 6:00–7:30, and on Thursday, from 2:00–5:00. Our first practice game against one of the US teams will be held on Friday, with the Nordiques running into US#1 @ 9am and Canada Ice taking on US#2 at 11:00. The Canadian and US teams then swap opponents, seeing the #1 team of one country lined up against that country's #2 team. Those games are scheduled to start at 1:00 and 3:00. These games will be used, among other activities, to help select the US National Team.

The key day to watch out for is Saturday, June 14th, where the schedule of games looks like this:

Men’s Wheelchair Basketball  –  12:00 noon
Women’s Wheelchair Basketball –  2:30 p.m.
Wheelchair Rugby  –  5:00 p.m

The Canadian Rugby Team, and the Canadian Women's Basketball Team are the defending world champions. The Canadian Men's Basketball team are fresh off a victory at the Roosevelt Invitational (June 3-8, 2003), which was an international tournament with teams from Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Australia, Germany and the USA.

The 2003 Canadian National Wheelchair Rugby Team was selected at a selection camp which was held after the National Championships. The latest edition of our National Team consists of:

0.5 - Daniel Paradis (Quebec Impact) *
0.5 - Jared Funk (Manitoba)
1.0 - Mike Bacon (Sasksquash) *
1.5 - Patrice Simard (Quebec Impact) *
2.0 - David Willsie (Ontario Thunder) *
2.0 - Al Semeniuk (Sasksquash) *
2.0 - Allan Chartrand (Alberta Steel Wheels) *
2.0 - Sue McRae (Ontario Thunder) *
3.0 - Mike Whitehead (Ontario Thunder) *
3.0 - Ian Chan (BC Bandits) *
3.0 - Fabien Lavoie (Quebec Impact) *
3.5 - Garett Hickling (BC Bandits) *

Selected to the National Squad were:

0.5 - Martin Mainguy (Quebec Impact) *
1.0 - Kirby Kranabetter (Ottawa Stingers)
1.5 - Dave Gagne (Quebec Impact)
2.0 - Trevor Robinson (Manitoba) *
2.0 - Daryl Stubel (Sasksquash)
2.5 - Say Luangkhamdeng (BC Bandits) *
3.0 - Steven Dunn (Quebec Impact) *

Those listed with a * will be in attendance at The North American Cup. Jared Funk would have been there, but he is a brand new daddy. A photo of Mackenzie Lea Funk is available on the front page of the CWSA web site.

Sue's selection to the National Team makes her the only woman on a top-10 internationally ranked team, and the first woman on the Canadian National Team since Judy Zelman in 1996.

Some future stars were seen at the selection camp. Keep up the good work ethic, and we'll see you next year!