Winning bronze at worlds was as good as gold for Tara Feser and the rest of the Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team.
"It was actually exactly what we wanted," said Feser, the team's co-captain. "We would have of course liked the gold but it was part of our goal to get to the podium and we made two jumps higher than what we were in Beijing [fifth place at the 2008 Paralympics] so we're happy with it."
At worlds last month in Birmingham, England the four-time defending champions were denied a trip to the final in the 68-58 loss to the United States in the semifinals. Canada led by two after the first quarter but trailed 31-25 at halftime and 47-37 after three quarters. The United States went on to edge Germany 55-53 for the gold.
"We played really well. We gave it all we could in that game. We had no regrets. They just played a little bit better than we did," said Feser, a national team post player since 2008.
In the battle for the bronze, Canada knocked off Australia 59-49.
"We actually took the energy that we had against the United States and carried that over into the bronze medal game," Feser said. "Our first game against Australia we lost [59-52 in pool play] and we were quite upset about it. We should've won so that gave us a little more fire to come back and beat them."
In the decisive fourth quarter, Canada outscored the Aussies 21-8.
"We were down in the first half [29-19] and at halftime we just said, 'No, this is not how we're going to finish the tournament.' We didn't want to go away with any regrets so we decided to pour it on in the second half and make sure we came away with a bronze medal," Feser said.
Leading up to the medal round, Canada defeated the Brits 54-49, the Netherlands 58-54, Mexico 69-44 and in the quarter-finals Japan 62-39.
"We weren't consistent throughout entire games and that was probably our biggest downfall. All of our games were really tight and some of them shouldn't have been. We kind of made it tough for ourselves. We would have all these little lulls, but they all happened all at once unfortunately so it was more of a struggle to come back out of it," Feser said. "As a team we did really well finishing our shots. Our shooting percentage throughout the entire tournament was great. We had some of the highest shooting percentages individually in the tournament and as a group we were really high up there too."
Heading into the finals the St. Albert Paralympian was shooting 66.7 per cent from beyond the arc, which was tops in the tournament. She was also second only to Janet McLachlan of Vancouver in free-throw shooting percentage at 77.8.
In the playoff for bronze, the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball Canada's female athlete of the year scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds in 8:43 minutes of court time after recording nine points and two rebounds in 6:03 minutes in the loss to the Aussies.
Her best game stats-wise was 13 points and eight rebounds in 26:26 minutes against the Netherlands. She shot 6-for-12 from the floor and was 1-for-2 in free throws.
"I felt really good with my performance at worlds. I didn't get as much playing time as I would've liked but that was because of the different line-ups we used. When I did get out there I gave it all I could," said Feser, who picked up two fouls in 3:57 minutes against the United States and missed a three point shot while going scoreless in the semifinal. "There were some games where I had great shooting percentages so I was happy with that. My defence was as strong as it could've been. I was just really happy with how I peaked at the right moment at worlds."
Semi-pro basketball
Next month Feser will hoop it up with the Trier-Dolphins, a semi-pro co-ed wheelchair basketball club team based in Trier, the oldest city in Germany located on the banks of the Moselle River.
"I'm very excited. I will be there just doing basketball and I'm being paid to do it. I'm looking at not only training hard but also changing my game too while I'm over there," said Feser, who won NCAA women's wheelchair basketball championships with the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in 2009 and 2010. "I want to improve my aggressive inside play. In Alabama I was more of a shooting point guard. In Germany I'm going to have to be more of an inside post aggressive player and that's what they need me for in Canada. It will be a little more fine-tuning those skills of an inside post."
Feser, 30, went online to check out the playing options available in Europe and two weeks after posting her resume was offered a contract by the Dolphins.
"It was basically a win-win situation, not only as a player but also looking into the future when I do have to retire I want to go into the coaching side of the game so it was perfect for me."
Games are played every Saturday in the German-based league. Exhibitions are also scheduled against clubs from other countries. The season wraps up in April. McLachlan, a teammate of Feser with the Crimson Tide and Canada's top scorer at worlds, has also hooked up with the Dolphins. Both are classified as 4.5 players (full mobility while sitting and can bend up and down and side to side) in the point system used in wheelchair basketball. They are also the only two females and Canadians on the team.
"We're going to be playing against a lot of high calibre male athletes. It's going to be a lot more stronger, aggressive game that we'll be playing there so it will be a lot more challenging for me, which is exactly what I need at this level."
The next major international event for Feser with Team Canada is the ParaPanAmerican Games in November 2011 in Mexico. It's the qualifier for the 2012 Paralympics in London.
