By Dorian Geiger

Being told you’d never walk again would be a devastating piece of news to cope with.

Chad Jassman of Burstall lost the use of his legs after vehicle accident in 2006. As a means of transitioning into a new way of life Jassman zeroed in on wheelchair basketball.

When local athletes hit the national or international sporting stage it is typically hockey they excel in. Rarely does one hear of a local individual making waves within the basketball world.

But when the entire spectrum of the sporting world encompasses one’s life like Jassman’s – whether it was work or leisure – it was only a matter of time before he began channeling his newfound perception on life into another avenue of athletics.

At the time of his accident, Jassman was employed as a snowboard instructor in Elkwater, Atla. and also served as the mascot for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. Aside from his tenure as a snowboarding instructor and stint as a mascot of a prominent hockey franchise, Jassman was also the named the athlete of the year of his highschool class when he graduated in 2002.

Sports were Jassman’s life – so it may not come as much of a surprise to most that knew Jassman that athletics have continued to be a major part of his life despite his condition.

Playing the role of ‘Roary,’ the mascot of the Tigers,’ Jassman used to backflip up and down the aisles at the Medicine Hat Arena. Simply put, this sporty job embodied the type of unique character Jassman is — the smiles he etched on people’s faces in the process of his mascot stint were in excess.

Less than year after the disaster that rendered him paralyzed from the waist down, Jassman was introduced to wheelchair basketball and he hasn’t looked back since. Trying out for the national team in both 2007 and 2008, he finally was named to the Canadian line-up in 2009. Jassman also owns a commercial pilot’s license. Along with his hunger for athletics, he has evidently developed an appetite for adrenaline as well.

Since, Jassman has competed in Americas World Cup in Richmond, B.C. and in Sydney, Australlia’s Rollers World Challenge, earning silver medals in both. Jassman was also named an all-star for his club team, the Calgary Grizzlies at the CWBL championships.

The Badger recently caught up with Jassman at the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan. Playing with the Alberta team, Jassman racked up a pile of court time but was unable lead his squad past his mother-province Saskatchewan, who earlier eliminated Alberta from tournament play.

Impressively however, Jassman was the only Team Alberta athlete at the tournament who plays for the national team.

As The Badger spoke with Jassman in the hallways outside the Physical Activity Complex’s gym, following British Columbia’s gold medal victory over Ontario, a tournament official rushed into to notify Jassman that he’d been named to the all-star team. Clearly, Jassman is on the fast-track to national acclaim in wheelchair basketball circles.

Promptly returning to the hallway, Jazzy, as people have called him since childhood, unwrapped his prize for being named to the all-star list.

“This has nothing to do with basketball,” Jassman slyly remarked after identifying the object – a picture frame.

He then grins and tosses the still partially unraveled award aside like an unwanted birthday gift – evidence Jassman hasn’t lost his sense of humour either.

Flying to Manheim, Germany the following day to compete in the men’s and women’s World Paralympic Cup, Jassman answered a few questions about the technicalities of wheelchair basketball, his days as a Tigers’ mascot and very real potential of playing in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.