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MyStory: A Higher Level
by Carolyn Woodall
Team. The word has special significance to two-time gold medalist Sabrina Pettinicchi. Pettinicchi will represent Canada in Athens this year, and she'll do it all sitting down - in her wheelchair.
Meet Sabrina Pettinicchi, team spokesperson and one of twelve elite athletes selected to participate in the wheelchair basketball event for the upcoming Paralympic Games.
"Wheelchair basketball is about team dynamics and cohesion. It's about all being on the same page at once. You've got to know when to sacrifice and when to rise."
Pettinicchi definitely knows about teamwork, sacrificing and rising to the occasion.
At the age of 17, Pettinicchi was involved in a serious car accident that sent her into a ditch and left her paralyzed below the waist. An avid sports enthusiast before her accident, Pettinicchi didn't let her paralysis slow her down.
A member of the Wheelchair Basketball Association visited her in the hospital and invited her to a game of wheelchair basketball. Her decision to attend proved to be a major turning point in her life.
"It was two hours before I got my first hoop, but from then on I was hooked."
She soon began playing for a women's team in Quebec and moved her way up to playing for the women's national team.
The pace wasn't easy but it was worthwhile. There were sacrifices - missed family gatherings, social events with friends, and little time to relax.
"I was very passionate about basketball. It was about being able to do something I really loved and take it to a higher level," says Pettinicchi.
That higher level came in the form of a spot on the Paralympics team. Pettinicchi attended the Paralympics in Atlanta and Sydney first as a rookie and then as an experienced player. It was the realization of a dream.
"My friends are on my team. I'll think about a specific play that I did with my team mates and that's what I remember more than the games themselves. It's a lot of fun and it's exhausting." And those are memories Pettinicchi most cherishes from her previous trips to the Games.
"These moments are once in a lifetime opportunities. I live every moment as it's the last and cherish each one."
Like many of her team mates Pettinicchi trains 20 to 30 hours per week. A typical day for her starts at 6:15am when she attends weight training. Then usually it's off to work where she melds with a different team, as an office space designer. With the quickly approaching Paralympics Games, Pettinicchi has taken a five month leave of absence to concentrate on a stepped-up training schedule. After work she spends several hours practicing with her team members, and completing video analysis and mental training. Mental training acts as a grounding technique, using visualization to make athletes aware of their form and it teachs them to focus.
"You have to make mental notes so you're not overwhelmed," explains Pettinicchi, "you have to be able to control your feelings and be able to be in that perfect state of mind."
Sabrina Pettinicchi has worked hard to get where she is today, and there's one thing she feels people should know and take heart from. "Yeah I'm a person with a disability, but I'm an athlete first."
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