Two wheelchair basketball players from Regina hope their years of teamwork will help Team Canada reach the podium at the 2024 Paralympic Games.

This is the second time that Nik Goncin, 32, and Garrett Ostepchuk, 24, have been teammates representing Canada at the Paralympics. Goncin made his Paralympic debut with Team Canada in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and was joined by Ostepchuk at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

But their history in wheelchair basketball goes back much further.

Goncin discovered the sport through a clinic at his high school after losing his left leg to cancer at age 15. He said it opened his eyes to a new community.

“I didn’t think there were that many people with disabilities in the Regina area,” said Goncin, who is co-captain of the Canadian national team. “I remember (we went) to my first tournament and I was just blown away — there’s legs everywhere, there’s chairs everywhere.

“These guys are hitting chairs at 15 miles an hour. It’s an adrenaline-fueled sport.”

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Goncin first met Ostepchuk — who was born with muscular dystrophy — at a wheelchair basketball practice in Regina when Ostepchuk was just a teenager.

“The first time I met G (Garrett), he came into the gym on his hands with kind of a halo configuration around his legs,” said Goncin, who explained that Ostepchuk was recovering from surgery.

“If you had told me that you and this boy were going to be on the Paralympic team, two Paralympic Games in a row, I would have told you to kick stones.”

‘Known for its spiciness’

Ostepchuk says wheelchair basketball has changed his life.

“It just opens up my world to not feel so limited,” he said. “In my everyday wheelchair, I can’t do the same things that I can do in my sports chair.”

Ostepchuk earned a spot on the senior national team in 2017. He also plays professionally in Spain, where he has more opportunities to compete against top talent. That’s harder in Canada because the country is so big and the best players are more spread out, he says.

“It’s a little bit harder to play those consistent games,” he said. “Every game counts in the pro league and you work all season to finish it well.”

Goncin said it has been satisfying to watch Ostepchuk develop into a top-level player and be an inspiration to the next generation of wheelchair basketball players from Saskatchewan.

“G is known for his feistiness that borders on nastiness,” Goncin said. “But I was in the same role when I was his age and on the team.

“Sometimes I feel like he’s like a mini version of myself when he loses his mind over there.”

Ostepchuk joked that he learned all his tricks from Goncin.

Ostepchuk said he is happy that his family will be able to see him from the stands in Paris, as they were unable to attend the Tokyo Games due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“The first time they saw me play internationally was in 2017, and they haven’t come since,” he said.

Looking for results

Although the Canadian national team dominated in the early 2000s, winning three golds and one silver between 2000 and 2012, they have struggled recently, finishing eighth in Tokyo.

Regina hoopers said the team’s goal in Paris is to improve on their sixth-place finish at the 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship.

Goncin and Ostepchuk aren’t the only players with Saskatchewan ties looking to turn the tide for Team Canada. Chad Jassman was born in Alberta but grew up in Burstall, Sask.

“Having three of us in the team has never happened before,” said Goncin.

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He hopes this will inspire children in their home province to try para-sports.

“I wish just one person would say, ‘Hey, I’m going to try wheelchair basketball, or better yet, I’m going to try a para sport and then figure out which one I like and go into it,’” he said.

“Your limitations depend on the boundaries you set for yourself.”

Canada’s wheelchair basketball team kicks off its Paralympic campaign against host nation France on Friday, with tip-off at 10:15 a.m. CST.