Tara Feser is on a major roll in women’s wheelchair basketball.
Not only was the St. Albert hoopster honoured as Team Canada’s co-captain for the 2010 Gold Cup world championship, she recently celebrated her second-straight NCAA championship with the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
“This is the best I’ve ever been so far as a player and it feels great,” Feser said Saturday during tournament action with the Edmonton Inferno at Servus Credit Union Place. “I’m getting to that top level but I still have a little more to push. I’ve been training for two years strong and hopefully in a couple of years I will be at the top level.”
In the NCAA final in Denver, Feser tossed in 10 points as Alabama beat the University of Illinois 66-36 to finish 37-3 overall.
“It was actually an amazing feeling because the university had never done that,” said Feser, who joined the Crimson Tide in 2008 on a two-year scholarship.
For the second season in a row with the 2008 Paralympian in the line-up, the Crimson Tide finished undefeated against women’s teams while extending their winning streak to 57 games. Their five losses over that span were against men’s teams. The last time Alabama lost to a women’s team was the 2008 final against Illinois by one point.
“Going into the national championship we knew we were a dominating team but we didn’t have our best game until that very last game. It felt great to finish off the season that way as a team,” Feser said. “Personally, I felt good knowing that I left it all on the court in my last year. I played as hard as I could and that was exactly what I wanted to do.”
Alabama is one of 12 universities in the United States that sponsors wheelchair athletics and the only program in the southeast.
“After nationals the university welcomed us back and made us T-shirts that said back to back national champions,” Feser said. “They actually honoured us as a national sport. Before they just saw us as a club team.”
Feser, 30, was joined on the Alabama roster by Team Canada players Janet McLachlan (top scorer and MVP at nationals) of Vancouver, Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City, and Katie Harnock of Elmira, Ont.
The recreation program manager for the City of Edmonton is one of the few athletes to win national championships in the United States and Canada. She is the only active Team Canada player with the Inferno, as the six-time reigning Canadian women’s league champions defend their coveted crown next month in Saskatoon. Several current and former Team Canada members also compete at the club level with various teams.
“We’re all kind of scattered around [the country]. It’s good. It evens out the playing field rather than having one team stacked,” Feser said. “The difference with the college teams and club teams is we train every single day for two hours a day [at Alabama] so it’s a lot faster paced. I also find there is more physical contact in the States than there is here.
“Canada is slowly moving our club teams up to that level but we don’t have the numbers yet. That’s why a lot of people go to the States to get that high-intensity training.”
Prior to the Canadian championships, the 12-player Team Canada delegation will continue preparations for worlds with a tournament in Warm Springs, Ga. and the North American Cup, in Birmingham, Ala. They close out the month of May at the Paralympic Cup, a warm-up tournament prior to worlds, in Manchester, England. “That will give us a good idea as to the people we’ll be going up against,” said Feser, one of eight returning Canadian players who competed at the last Paralympics for the fifth-place finishers.
Worlds are July 5 to 17 in Birmingham. Canada is the four-time defending champion. Worlds are held every four years.
In the classification point system used in wheelchair basketball, the five-foot-11 Feser is listed as a 4.5 post because she has full mobility while sitting and can bend up and down as well as side to side. Her standup career was derailed by a dislocating kneecap. She has one leg shorter than the other by an inch and a half.
The point system ranges from 1.0 to 4.5 based on level of ability. The five players on the floor must not exceed 14 points.
“I’m considered a big player so I have to be more of an inside threat,” said Feser, who has seen her court time increase dramatically since coming on board as the team’s 12th player in 2008.
