Second-year Camosun Visual Arts student Ben Hagkull is spending his time these days training at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence and at UVic’s CARSA facility hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris. The sports sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic; the wheelchair-basketball player is among many athletes who have been able to train partially as a result of Canadian Tire Jumpstart charity’s Sport Relief Fund, which has aided 668 Canadian organizations with a total of $8 million to help cover gym time, cleaning supplies, and PPE. Among the recipients is the B.C. Wheelchair Basketball Society, of which Hagkull is a member.
Born with spina bifida—which essentially means, says Hagkull, there aren’t enough muscles in his legs to allow him to walk—he always did as many things as possible to live a normal life, he says, despite having a severed spine as a result of the condition.
“Growing up in the school systems, I never felt that I was being bullied or I was different from other people,” he says, “but I just always had that desire to do what others did.”
As a kid, he tried wheelchair tennis, sledge hockey, and whatever else caught his eye. But basketball—a sport that was always present in his house growing up—really captured him.
“Seeing how high-level [Paralympic basketball players] can get, and how much more intense they can get, it really made me want to pursue it,” says Hagkull. “That’s the thing that I wanted to do, and I wanted to be able to play for my country.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed Hagkull’s training process—he’s only been able to book one day a week in the gym, but he’s been making the best of going to the track near PISE, which he says is better training in some ways. For example, the resistance of the track beneath his chair wheels means he has to push harder, so when he gets back into the gym where there’s less resistance, it seems a little easier.
“I’ve had to adapt a lot of things that I would do on the court, in the gym, to be done outside,” he says. “It’s been tough for a lot of high-level athletes.”
But he’s on the track rain or shine. Waking up at 7 am and looking outside into the pouring rain can be tough, but he always goes out; he even says with a chuckle that he’s looking forward to training in the snow. The push of envisioning a gold metal around his neck gets him out to the track, even on the most miserable winter day.
“I want to make a Paralympic team,” he says. “I want to wear a gold metal around my neck.”
On top of his usual training, using outside facilities means that he also has to spend more time on chair maintenance.
“You’ve got to change tubes and tires; you’ve got to clean out your front casters—the little wheels in the front—because they get a lot of hair in them,” he says. “You want to make sure you’re pushing without any gunk in your wheels so it’s as smooth as it can be.”
Throughout all his training, he doesn’t take his eyes off the prize. And the feeling of putting on a Canada jersey wouldn’t be new for Hagkull, as he’s travelled internationally with the Men’s U23 National Team.
“[It’s] such an amazing feeling knowing that you have the whole country on your back, basically,” he says. “It comes with an immense source of pride.”
Hagkull’s parents were always supportive of whatever he wanted to do; coming from an athletic family meant that sports were never far from his mind.
“They tried to give me the most normal childhood, and I think they succeeded in that,” says Hagkull. “Wanting to lead a more normal life is what I wanted, and what I still strive to do.”