Media Portrayal - August 9, 2023

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From AMI Central.

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Now circling in the neutral zone.

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36 yards for the win.

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The Neutral Zone.

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This is as good as it gets.

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Now, here's your host, two-time Paralympian, Brock Richardson.

Brock Richardson:
What's going on? It's time for another edition of The Neutral Zone. I am indeed your host, Brock Richardson, and we have another jam-packed show for you today. Let me tell you what's coming up on said program. We release yet another Canadian Paralympic Committee Summit interview, today we speak to wheelchair basketball athlete from North Vancouver, Tara Llanes. Plus, we are going to chat about the idea of how the media portrays parasports. I'm joined by Claire Buchanan, and Cam Jenkins. Let's get into our headlines.

Speaker 14:
Neutral Zone headlines.

Speaker 15:
Headlines.

Speaker 16:
Headlines.

Claire Buchanan:
The 2023 Para Swimming World Championships have concluded in Manchester, England. Canada finished with a total of 19 medals, with nine gold, four silver and six bronze. This marks Canada's second-highest medal count at the World Championship since the nation won 21 total medals in 2010.

Cam Jenkins:
The 2023 National Bank Open Tennis Tournament has begun this week in Toronto and Montreal, and this is a great event where you can see tennis at its finest. For event details, please go to nationalbankopen.ca.

Brock Richardson:
The Toronto Blue Jays' shortstop, Bo Bichette, has suffered a recent injury in a recent game against the Baltimore Orioles since we have last joined you. We know he has some right knee discomfort and swelling in his patellar tendon and has been placed on the injured list. This is never good when you see an injury like this. I watched it on replay more times than one, and it looked pretty nasty, so the fact that there's really no significant structural damage is a benefit. As we also are doing this program, we know that Hyun-jin Ryu took a ball off the inside of his knee in a recent game as well, so far, all that is, is a deep bone bruise. The Blue Jays have seemingly dodged a bunch of bullets regarding long-term injury. Hopefully, we can keep that trend going.

Claire Buchanan:
I agree, we're in the stretch right into the playoffs soon. The Canadian Paralympic Committee announced that in 2026 they would be adding yet another sport to the roster for the Winter Games, curling mix doubles. CEO Karen O'Neill says that this edition plays to the country's strength in the sport.

Brock Richardson:
Those are your headlines for this week. Sometimes when I write the scripts for our shows, I get caught. Let's call a spade a spade. I get caught in suggesting that a team is struggling, and then all of a sudden they turn it around, and today that was the case. When I wrote the script, the Blue Jays were struggling, and almost unbearable to watch when they lost three or four against the Baltimore Orioles. Then they came back and swept the Boston Red Sox, which they pretty much had to do if you ask me, and then they brought up Davis Schneider who hit three home ... two home runs, and nine total hits in his first three games.
My question for you guys today is, when you get a player, whether it's a trade deadline or from the Minor Leagues, can the player really make that kind of an impact just by appearing in the clubhouse, forgetting the fact that they might actually produce something, or is Davis Schneider kind of a unicorn, if you will, in what we've seen is just kind of circumstance versus what he's actually done just by his presence? Cameron, start with you.

Cam Jenkins:
It happens. I think you can look at every trade deadline that happens in Major League Baseball, and there's usually always one player that ends up being phenomenal, and really helping their team get to the playoffs, and even do damage in the playoffs. For the Jays, hopefully, Schneider can keep it up, and hopefully, he's the one to kind of get them into the playoffs, and the World Series, shall I say, and go from there. I can't give you any examples off the top of my head, but of the Blue Jays in the past, I remember Mookie Wilson coming on and him kind of making an impact, and I'm sure there are lots of others that have happened as well. So yeah, absolutely, I think that they can make an impact.

Claire Buchanan:
We're talking about team sports, so when you take away the ... say we're not talking about a specific sport, and we're just talking about athletes and humans who like to play sports, where it comes down to personalities and how they mesh, and how they don't mesh, so I absolutely believe that whether we're talking baseball or any other sport, that having one new personality can change everything. That's what general managers and coaches ... That's kind of the dream, right? You go out there and you want to have not only the skill there, but the meshing of personalities that just work out perfectly, and turn something into somewhat of a happy accident sometimes.
When you trade players and stuff, yes, you know the surface of their personalities and their skills, but you don't really know who that person is until you're spending everyday training with them, and that's what you hope to come out of bringing new players on, and bringing new players up from other divisions, is that it works well and that it clicks, and this guy is clicking and clicking quick. With us, just kind of, just missing that injury bug, like you said, Brock, it's a huge spark to have in the clubhouse, and in the dugout, and of course, the fans are going to love it too. So with having the Jays back home eventually playing a series, it's going to be exciting baseball going into the playoffs. I

Brock Richardson:
I think the other thing is that sometimes in situations when you're going through a slump, as I said, they lost three or four against the division leaders in the American League, East Baltimore Orioles, and everyone was kind of, "Whoa, what are the Blue Jays?" Sometimes all you need is that change and that different something, and in this case it was a different face. Coaches in my career, when you were struggling, would try to change your mindset, try to get you to do something outside of the sport, try to get you to do something that made you not think about the slump, and made you not do things that would normally be that. Just change it up in some way. We didn't have Minor Leagues or anything like that, where you could call somebody up and say, "Let's see if you get interjected in this way or that way," but just changing it up and doing something different is sometimes all it takes.
This is where I'm going to be a little critical of manager John Schneider. I do understand when you have days off that are scheduled for Whit Merrifield, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and George Springer, whatever the case is, I understand that people have to fill those holes. What I don't agree with is the fact that you put Davis Schneider in the lead-off position because of that scheduled day off. I think, and really subscribe to the fact that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and I think he kind of over-managed, and he kind of rolled the dice a bit too much and said, "Well, Davis Schneider's doing very well here, so let's see if we can plug him in up here." I think that's where John Schneider kind of outmanaged himself, and I just don't think it was necessary. Quick comments from both of you on that before we wrap this segment. Claire, start with you.

Claire Buchanan:
I agree with you, sometimes coaches, and he's ... Let's be real, he's only been in this role for a season and a half maybe, so he's just kind of settling in still, I think. So yeah, I think he ... I agree with you, he kind of went a little overboard with that, but hey, people, we make mistakes.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah. I'm going to disagree with you both. I think Schneider needed to go up there. Look at how many hits that he's getting, and you want your lead-off hitter in order to be able to get on base to get the hits, and Schneider has been getting the hits, so why not put him in the number one slot?

Brock Richardson:
Because he's 23, and already doing more than he should have.

Cam Jenkins:
Who cares?

Brock Richardson:
And then you're putting him in the lead-off position.

Cam Jenkins:
Who cares if he's 23? Why do you got to pigeonhole him in that he's 23? Who cares? He's been the best hitter, arguably, of the Blue Jays over the past week or so, so put him in the number one spot, let him ... How many hits did he get when he was in the number one spot? Does anyone know?

Brock Richardson:
Well, he didn't lead-off the game with a hit. I feel like he might've only got one in that game against Cleveland. I'd have to fact-check that to be sure.

Cam Jenkins:
So you still got one more, and the lead-off hitter to get on base, usually it's only the first stop out of the game, it's usually ... it doesn't necessarily happen, but you want your top of the order getting on base in order to score some runs, and the Jays, especially in that Orioles series, haven't been getting many runs, so it was nice to see them get them against Boston, especially that last game. So put him in the number one spot, see how he reacts, it's only going to be for a few games that he does it until some of the people come back. George Springer, who I know has been criticized, he's been getting some hits lately now too.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, I subscribed to the theory if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and I think he kind of over-managed himself in that position. What else isn't broke, and we're not going to fix it is to tell you at this point in the program how to get a hold of us on social media.

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And we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Brock Richardson's Twitter account @neutralzonebr.

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First pitch, strike, and hey, gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Claire Buchanan for The Neutral Zone, find her @NeutralZoneCB. There's a swing and a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base.

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Brock Richardson:
We release another Canadian Paralympic Committee Summit interview. This time we speak with wheelchair basketball athlete from North Vancouver, Tara Llanes. This interview I did back in March. Please enjoy the interview. Tara, can we start by talking about something that I thought was really cool, in that you were once a wheelchair tennis champion. Can you tell us more about that?

Tara Llanes:
Yeah. I started to play wheelchair tennis somewhere around 2013, 2014, actually maybe a little sooner than that, anyway, and I just started to work through the ranks, and played Canadian Nationals and won Canadian. The last time I played, I won singles and doubles.

Brock Richardson:
The thing for me when I look at wheelchair tennis, is I can never understand how exactly you can push a wheelchair with a tennis racket, and yet get to the ball and have lovely volleys. Can you help break this down for me, and for us, the audience? Because I don't get how that's possible.

Tara Llanes:
I don't think I got how it was possible half the time, that's probably why I'm a basketball player now. You know what? It's really, really tricky. That was one of the hardest things for me to figure out right in the beginning, was how to push my chair while holding onto a racket, and also to anticipate where the other player is going to hit the ball, so that I would be already going in that direction. It is one of the hardest, probably the hardest wheelchair sport that I've ever played. It's just one of those things where it's like practice makes perfect, and it just takes some time to really just practice pushing around the court with the racket in your hands.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah. I guess, that's fair. I think what I'm curious about is how do you not give away what direction you think they're going to go? Because you kind of have to anticipate it, but anticipate it without giving it to your opponent where they go, "Thank you, I'll just put it the opposite way," which happens in conventional tennis, and I'm sure it happens in wheelchair tennis as well. But how do you not give away where you think they're going so that they don't go, "Ha! Got you, we're going the other way?"

Tara Llanes:
Yeah. Well, I think it's kind of trying to stay more midline, in right up the middle of the court and just sort of peering over your shoulder to see, you're trying to watch them to see what their racket looks like, and to see where their chair is facing so that you can have an idea of where they're going to hit the ball, and then that way you can already sort of anticipate, but you're almost in the middle of the court so that way you have to cover less ground in either direction.

Brock Richardson:
Is it fair to say that it's 50% mental, 50% physical then, or is it one lean more towards the other?

Tara Llanes:
Oh, god, with tennis I feel like it was 90% mental and 10% physical. I'm probably over over-exaggerating, but in some of the matches that I played, that's what it felt like. I felt like all of it was just so mental, and you're out there on your own. You can't have a conversation with your coach, or you can't talk to anybody about it, you just have to figure out what's happening, what's going wrong, and then how you're going to fix it.

Brock Richardson:
Wow, that's crazy. I've played individual sports, and you do kind of feel like you're on an island sometimes, but just to understand that, even though you said it's probably a little high, but to understand that it's 90-10, it's like wow, in a game where you have to move your chair, that's pretty fascinating. Let's switch over to your wheelchair basketball career. Can you talk about some of the similarities, but differences in what's different about the men's program and the women's program?

Tara Llanes:
I feel like the women's and men's programs are similar in a lot of ways, but we do play different tournaments a lot of the time. We have camps at different times in different places, so it's not like when the women's team has a camp, the men's team also has a camp in that same place. I think that's only happened maybe one time since I've been part of the team in 2018, maybe more than once, but not much. For instance, we might have an opportunity to go play a tournament in Osaka, but the men don't have that same opportunity because different teams around the world have different budgets, and they have, maybe slightly different goals, and they might have different teams. So the Japanese men's team might be a better team than the Japanese women's team, so maybe for us on the women's team, we might want to try to go play a different team so it's pushing us a little bit more. So that's where, I think, our programs probably differ a little bit.

Brock Richardson:
From an athlete's perspective, do you think Wheelchair Basketball Canada has done a good job in balancing the men's and the women's program? Yeah. Do you just think they've done a good job in balancing, and being as fair as possible, if I can put it that way?

Tara Llanes:
Yeah. I think when it comes to who we play, where we travel to, why we're travelling there, I think a lot of that also is based on our head coach, and is based on what they think is best for us. From there, it goes to the high-performance director in terms of, I believe, budgeting, and so if the head coach says, "Hey, we want to go here to play this team on this time of this month," then the high-performance director then gives the okay for the budget or not. But I do believe that it's fair between the men's and the women's program where we get to travel to and who we play.

Brock Richardson:
The women's program is fifth in the world currently as we sit here, that's a pretty good world ranking. Obviously, there's always room for improvement. What do you see as your team having done well? Where's the room for growth?

Tara Llanes:
There's definitely room for improvement, yeah. I think for us, we have a really talented team. I feel like in our classification system especially too, we have a lot of depth in who we have on our team, and I think right now it's sort of little tweaks for us. I think we know what we need to do and how to do it, I think we just need to be more consistent with those things, and play an entire tournament at that same level, and sometimes an entire game. For us, one of our main sticking points is the third quarter. For some reason we could be playing incredible for the first half, and then we will get a few minutes into the third and all of a sudden it's like something goes a little awry. So I think for us, really being strong in that third, and playing a full 40 minutes, that's, I think, what we need to do consistently to be able to go to Paris and be a medal team.

Brock Richardson:
I'm going to ask you to put a coach's hat on for a minute, and I'm going to ask you why the third quarter? In every sport, we all have that moment in a game where it's like, "Man, things just didn't go well," but for you, as you tell it to me you're saying, "Brock, it's consistently the third quarter." Why?

Tara Llanes:
My personal opinion is that we go to the half, we have halftime, we have time to start thinking, and that's not always a great thing. I think, for us, when we're in the moment, and we're not thinking and we're just doing, and we're vibing off of each other, and we're making the right reads, and things are sort of clicking, that's when everything is perfect, and then you have halftime. So in that time I think people start thinking, and I think people start wondering, "Are the other 11 players on the team going to be in the same mind frame as I am when we start the third?" So I think there's just some questions that we have, and maybe questioning what's happening instead of just like ... If we could just not have a halftime, I think it would be amazing.

Brock Richardson:
Right. I mean, people would say, "It's the same game, it's just a different quarter. Why not just play the same way?" I think it's harder than people make it out to be from the outside to just say, "Well, it's the same game. So what? You had a 10, 15-minute break." How hard is it to keep yourself on a consistent plane all game long?

Tara Llanes:
It's hard. It's really, really hard to do. I totally understand what you mean too. If you're on the outside looking in, if I'm watching a game of some sort and I see this happening, I ... [inaudible 00:22:42] think the same thing, I'm like, "Just keep doing what you were doing." It's so much easier said than done, because when you get inside your own head, the wheels can kind of fall off a little bit, so it's just about just staying in that moment, and I think that that takes a lot of mental prep. It's definitely something that we're working on with both the men's and the women's teams, is the mental side of things.

Brock Richardson:
That is something in my experience through para-sports, that that phrase drives coaches insane, it's easier said than done. Whenever I would say that in my career, my coaches would just roll their eyes, turn and walk away. Is that a buzz phrase or is it actually easier said than done?

Tara Llanes:
Oh, it's a 100% I think it's easier said than done. I know from both watching sport and then competing in sport, because I've been in that place where I've been ... I've been part of definitely having a great first half, and then going into the third, and then I'm second-guessing what I'm doing, just because maybe two or three plays in a row didn't work, so then all of a sudden you're like, "Well, maybe we should be doing something different." No, we're doing the right things, we just need to keep doing those things, and don't panic about what's happening. I think sometimes you get in that mode like, "Oh, my gosh, we've missed a few baskets, we haven't converted. Why is that?" Then all of a sudden it's like this switch happens.

Brock Richardson:
We've seen the Toronto Raptors recently get into situations with referees, where we know the name of the referee in a game because of their decisions to inject themselves into basketball games. Is that a similar thing in wheelchair basketball? Is there a referee, and I'm not asking you for names, is there a referee where you go, "If it's this person we know we're going to get a consistent game, if it's that person, maybe not?"

Tara Llanes:
I think probably in the back of our minds there's some ... There's definitely some refs that feel like they're just more consistent, like consistently calling both ways, but I don't know. I have to be honest, anytime I go into a game, it doesn't really matter who the ref is, especially refs that I've never seen before, I have very low expectations. I don't ever go ... I rarely go into a game expecting that a ref is going to get it right, because they're just not going to get it right. I mean, because if they make too many calls against you, they're absolutely wrong, even if their call was right, and then on the flip side, if they're making calls against the other team, you're like, "Oh, that's a great ref. He did a great job." Well, did he? Refs have kind of the short end of the stick every time, they're never going to make everybody happy. So for me, I just would rather focus on what I'm doing on court, what my teammates are doing on court, and whatever the ref is going to do, the ref is going to do.

Brock Richardson:
What has parasport done for you in your career?

Tara Llanes:
Parasport gave me another career. I didn't really know much about parasport at all until I was hurt, and even then I really didn't know a ton about it until years after. It gave me the opportunity to play high-level sport again when I never thought that that was going to happen again, and to be playing at the highest stage in parasport is pretty amazing. I feel really fortunate to have sort of found my way back.

Brock Richardson:
Not every day in wheelchair basketball or any sport is sunshine and rainbows, how do you, when you're having those days where it just seems like nothing's going right, whether it's training, whether it's game, how do you say, "You know what? I'm going to just do this?" How do you overcome those days that you just go, "I just want to crawl back in my bed and go back to bed, and start over again?"

Tara Llanes:
There's a fair amount of those days, and I think, honestly, that's probably more because the training that I do is in Vancouver, and I'm the only national team athlete in Vancouver, in BC really. It's difficult because I don't really have a solid training group on court to play with, especially on a consistent basis. So most of my practices are by myself, which is really hard because the reason I got into basketball was to be a part of a team, and in a team sport, and on court with other people, so to not have that has made the training really, really hard, much harder mentally than what I think it should be. There's a fair amount of days, but I think, I don't know, for me, I just try to have sort of that carrot dangling in front of me, which is Paris, and knowing the things that I need to do to be a better player and better teammate, so I'll watch a lot of game film and try to do a lot of learning that way.

Brock Richardson:
Is there moments where it's hard to keep yourself motivated at practice because you maybe not are able to hold yourself as accountable as if you were all together?

Tara Llanes:
Oh, a 100%, I think ... I've always been a pretty motivated person, but this has really tested my, well, it's really just tested me. It really has. Getting up, driving 45 minutes to the gym, and knowing that, "Okay, well, today I am going to be practicing my passing off the backboard, again." I'll do some shooting practice, and then I'm doing chair skills, and pushing drills, and it's always different when you have your team around you because it becomes competitive, and it becomes ... and you're laughing with each other, and you're pushing each other. I pretty much get up in the morning knowing that I'm going to have to get on court, and just push myself to do all these sprints, and try to get off court and be a better player than I was before I got on court.

Brock Richardson:
Fair enough. Thank you so much for taking the time and stopping by, and doing this for us. We greatly appreciate it.

Tara Llanes:
Awesome. Thanks, Brock.

Brock Richardson:
That was Tara Llanes talking to us about her career in wheelchair basketball. Again, that interview was done in March, and she's from North Vancouver. If you like what you heard in this interview, or anything else we've done on the program, here's how you can get a hold of us by phone.

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If you want to leave a message for The Neutral Zone, call now, 1-866-509-4545, and don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Brock Richardson:
So we called this episode Media Portrayal, and here's why. Ryan Straschnitzki of the Humboldt Broncos, who ... he played for the Humboldt Broncos when we had that bus crash a number of years ago, he has decided to look at some other sports that he wants to investigate in. Let's take a listen to this clip.

Ryan Straschnitzki:
You know, with dealing with Hockey Canada, go to camps, and being on and off the radar consistently, I think it's time to maybe try other sports as well. Obviously, hockey I'm not giving up with, but I'm going to continue to work hard, and again, see where that takes me, but in the midst of that, I'm going to be playing golf, and basketball, and any other sport I put my mind to.

Brock Richardson:
Ryan already has a plan to begin his journey in wheelchair basketball. Let's hear more about that.

Ryan Straschnitzki:
There's a Calgary intermediate stage, which I'll begin there, and then if things are going well and I'm playing well, hopefully I can go up to the Team Canada development level, and hopefully before 2028 can make the jump to the Team Canada.

Brock Richardson:
The Humboldt Broncos bus crash took place in April of 2018, during his rehab in the many months that took, we started hearing through the conventional media that Ryan would be a high-level athlete in parasports. They thought this would be an easy transition when you think about hockey, and the fact that he already played, and switching over to para ice hockey that there was going to be minimal challenges with transitioning, which as he pointed out in this clip, there has been a bit of challenge. Before I ask you the real deep questions in all this, what's your thoughts on what you heard in those snippets from Ryan? What's your first takeaway before we dive deeply into this conversation? Cameron, start with you.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah. If he's not able to make the para ice hockey team, which I think is kind of what's happening there, why not try another sport to see if he can go to the Paralympics? That's would be ... A lot of people's dreams is to make it to the Paralympics. I know some people that have changed sports because they weren't able to necessarily make it to the Paralympics, and they thought, "Okay, well, I'm good at this, so I'm going to change it over to this," and then they end up making the Paralympics. I've seen it quite a bit during my time doing sports with certain athletes, and you can't really blame them because, like I said, to me, it wouldn't matter whether I'm going for para ice hockey or for wheelchair basketball, whatever the sport is, if I'm able to make it the Paralympics based on whatever sport, I'm going for that sport.

Claire Buchanan:
That's exactly it, and I think that is what is special about parasports, is that you are able to compete at a high-level in multiple sports, and try out different sports. Ryan has experienced that now with getting to a certain level with hockey, and yes, a lot of his skills did transfer over, like his hockey IQ. I've shared practice times with him quite a bit, and his stick handling is there, and it's just the level of his injury is where it comes into play, and that's the special thing about parasport, is at that high-level you see athletes getting two multiple Paralympics in multiple sports. You see Alana Nichols in the US of medaling in two different sports at the Paralympics, and now competing in a third sport. Yeah, it's nice to see, and I wish him all the success, and I think basketball is a great fit for him.

Brock Richardson:
Now we're going to talk in a little while about something that Claire said to our group when this came out. I'll leave that as a little bit of a teaser, and we'll get to it down the line, but I want to point out three things here that sort of stand out. I also want to say before I put out any of these three things, I am in no way saying that this is Ryan's perspective, this is the way Ryan feels, what we're talking about here is the perceived media portrayal. So none of these things that I'm going to elicit right now, three things, have anything to do with Ryan's state of mind, the way he feels, thinks, this is just my feeling on the media portrayal.
So number one on this list is that because he was a hockey player, the transition would be a "simple one" according to the media portrayal. Second thing is because you are a high-level athlete in conventional sport, and this being hockey, therefore it would be the same kind of transition to parasports. The third thing that comes to mind here on this for me, is that Hockey Canada has a history of staying within their own sort of box and not really breaking out of that. I will say that they have done that recently in the acquisition that they did, recently with ... her name is escaping me at the moment, but ... Raphaëlle Tousignant, but they have a history of not breaking through that mold. So of those three things that I just said, what's your thoughts, and where would you like to weigh in on this one? Claire, start with you.

Claire Buchanan:
Honestly, I think that it's ... Again, thinking about parasports compared to able-bodied sports, you would never think about, "Oh, maybe I can compete at a high-level in a different sport." So portraying that, him being a high-level hockey player before his injury, that he would only be playing hockey after his injury is a little close-minded. I think that with more media coverage of parasports, that individuals, even able-bodied individuals, and the disabled community can both see that sport is available for anybody, and it's not just particular to one sport. I honestly don't think that Hockey Canada ... Hockey Canada, I think, did a fantastic job of immediately connecting with him once he had his injury. For one, the hockey community in general, especially the Sledge Hockey World, connected with him and his other teammates that were affected really well, and made sure that they were still able to play the game that they love. I think Hockey Canada did a great job to support Ryan, and get him as far as he could, and that he has been with the sport of para hockey.

Cam Jenkins:
For the media to portray him, to say that it's going to be an easy transition to play sledge hockey, that's just asinine at the end of the day because, one, what's his injuries like? So you've got to take that into effect. Yes, he's played a regular standup hockey, but there's a lot of differences with para ice hockey, how you check a person, you can't necessarily skate backwards, there's different angles that you have based on being in a sledge, so for the media to do that, I don't think that's the best way to portray it. But because the media doesn't cover parasports a lot, I don't think they have the knowledge or the education in order to be able to say, "Oh, okay, well, it may not be as easy as a transition as we think because of." So hopefully they can be trained or they can listen to programs like this to say, "Okay, well, I understand what Claire and Cameron are talking about, and next time we won't necessarily portray it that way."
Yes, especially in the sport of hockey, it has been very much the same thing over and over again, and it's nice to be able to have Raphaëlle on the team, or at least being able to try out for the team. Because I think, especially with the way Team Canada is now, the way it's currently set up, something definitely needs to happen or change, whether it be recruiting some more to be able to keep up with the Americans, because in my opinion, the Americans, they're number one because they've beaten us, it seems like time and time again for quite a while. Maybe we've pulled out the odd win here and there over the past few years, but it sure as heck doesn't feel like it.
So Hockey Canada has really got to take a look at what the strengths of the American team are, and trying to find players that can stop them from being so dominant. It may take a really good defensive team in order to be able to do it, because I don't think ... if they're going to try to go offence on offence against the Americans, that's not going to work out, they're just going to lose.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, I would agree with you on this, and I want both of your perspective on this, and Cameron, we'll start with you. I remember when this happened in April of 2018, as I mentioned, months later we started hearing about Ryan and parasports being a window for him and an opportunity, and that's where we started feeling, or I started feeling and hearing that the transition would be easy because of his experience.
Do you think that that could have, I'm not saying it did, but could have played a factor in Ryan's mindset in a positive, negative, or anything in between, and that maybe now he's starting to realize, five years removed, that the talent level is deeper in parasports than maybe he might've thought? Start with you on that one, and then move straight over to Claire.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah, absolutely. I think even if ... I've seen try-it skates with people getting on sledges, and after they come off they are like, "Oh, man, I didn't realize it was going to be as hard as it was, and there's so much upper body strength that you need to be able to move the sledge." Yeah, I think a lot of people just think that it's easier. I've even heard a lot of comments of, "Oh, they make it look so easy," and it's not, you need total upper body strength in order to be able to move that sledge, and then that's not even counting the dipsy-doodles, and going to the left, going to the right, or all the different moves that you have to do. I think people just don't realize it. I think they think that it's easy, and once they get in there, like a lot of things in life, once you start doing it then you're like, "Oh, it's not as easy as I thought, and I'm really going to have to practice in order to get better."

Claire Buchanan:
Yeah, it's a double-edged sword sometimes that you're glad that people know that the sport exists, and they're excited to experience it, but at the other end of it, they are coming in with an assumption that it's not as skillful or hard as one may think. It's one of those times where you just think, "Man, we're in 2023, and people still think that disabled athletes are just doing these easy things, and not competing at a high-level no matter what sport we're talking about." Yes, it's nice to get those reactions of like, "Man, that's way harder than I thought," and yes, you get that respect for it, but I really hope we do get to a point that it's not such a shock anymore that disabled athletes have a high-level set of skills.
I love getting people on the ice for the first time, it's one of my favourite things of this sport. One of our recent camp in Calgary with the women's team, Emily Clark from the Olympic standup team was there training. She got in a sled and participated in a full 90-minute practice with us, and a two-time gold medalist couldn't do much on the ice with us. It's times like that where you humble people a little bit, but it's also ... it can get tiring of this constant assumption that you get put on you of having to work that much harder to prove something because we're playing parasport.

Brock Richardson:
Another solid slice of humble pie. You're talking about somebody who exists in the sport that we're talking about, exists in hockey, and to do that transition, just to sit there for a 90-minute practice, that's harder than people want to put out there. Honestly, I look at this, Cameron, and I think to myself, "This takes away from the talent that already exists in parasport." When I used to hear, "Oh, it's so easy to make a parasport team," that just drove me even further to say, "Yeah? Want to sit down and play a bocce game with me at the peak of my career? I dare you." A lot of it, unfortunately, came from or comes from the able-bodied community, where they don't realize the dedication, the effort that goes into it, and I think it's unintentional, but it does get tiring after a while, Cameron, and something needs to change.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah, absolutely. The only way that you can make change is to invite people out to try it, so they can actually see how hard it is to do it. All you can really do is, the friends and family that you have, is to get them out to a game so they can see it that way. I'll never forget, I took my mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle out, and we ended up watching Murderball. It was during the 2015 games that were here in the Toronto area, and it was out at the Brampton Centre, I don't know what it's called these days, but there. They had never seen it before, and they were just like, "Ooh," and kind of cowering because of all the hitting that was going on and the wheelchairs. My aunt, who is from the Rochester, New York area, she's like, "Oh, they're going to hurt them." So then I had my little thing of, "Well, they're already disabled so I think they can't be disabled too much more." Then they thought that was so rude of me to say, but I'm like, "Oh, whatever."

Brock Richardson:
I'm part of the community, I could say this.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah, exactly, but they thought it was so cool that they would be able to go out and do that, and that they're able to lift themselves up from the wheelchair, and so on and so forth. So the only way that you're going to change minds is, anyone that doesn't necessarily have, or is uneducated in regards to this is to say, "Hey, come on out and do a try-it day," or whatever the case is, or even go out and watch it, then a lot of the people, you're able to change their minds after they see it.

Brock Richardson:
Claire, I have a specific sort of avenue that I want to go with you. You mentioned it a little bit when we started the conversation, in that you felt because of Ryan's level of disability, that basketball might be a better transition for him suiting of his disability. Can you elaborate on this, just to close the conversation on parasports and media portrayal?

Claire Buchanan:
Absolutely. So the biggest difference, I think, between the two sports, para hockey and wheelchair basketball, is that wheelchair basketball has a points classification system that really opens the door to a wide variety of levels of disability, which para hockey does as well, but only to a certain extent. Just the movements on the ice, and the balance that you have to have on the two blades, in motion, really ... You do see it, you kind of hit this wall, where if your spinal cord injury is a little too high that ... You need your core movement for sledge hockey quite a bit, especially falling over, getting back up, it's just part of the game that it requires.
With wheelchair basketball, one, the equipment is different, the surface is different, and because of the point system, you are able to include and have more disabilities in the game at one time. It does cater to higher levels of disability because, one, the equipment is, you're able to adapt it, and customize it to that level of your injury with changing the level of the dump in the chair, and how low the chair is, and there's just ... I think it just caters to higher level of disabilities comparatively to parasport and him, I don't know the level of his disability, but the amount of core that he has or lack thereof, I can see him really thriving, and being able to push those doors down at the Paralympic level, not easier, but more efficiently and more effectively in wheelchair basketball.

Brock Richardson:
If there's anything that I want people to take away from this conversation and this episode, there's nothing guaranteed to you in life, and I think this is a portrayal of that. We may think that because we're good at something, we are then good at the equivalent in the para world, and that doesn't necessarily mean the same. You still have to work hard, you still have to train, and you still have to put in the effort, if you put in the effort, and the time, and all those things, that becomes where you can achieve your goal. Achieving your goal doesn't just mean we're going to slide from here and over here, and carry on in our little, I'll take a word from Cameron's book, Disney World, and say, "This is how this is going to go."
People in the parasport world earn their way and earn their stripes in what they do, and I think members of the media that don't cover Paralympic sports or parasports in general, need to watch their verbiage at how they portray something, because you could dangerously give someone a level of false hope that could really set them on a path that is not good for them. I wish Ryan nothing but the best in his success in parasport. Again, to close this show, I'm just going to say none of these opinions reflect necessarily what Ryan thinks, we were just talking about the media portrayal. I think we need to articulate that one more time before we close out the episode.
That is the end of this episode for The Neutral Zone this week. I'd like to thank Cam Jenkins, Claire Buchanan, I'd also like to thank our technical producer, Jordan Steams, our regular technical producer is Mark Apollo, our podcast coordinator is Ryan Delehanty. Tune in next week because you just never know what happens when you enter The Neutral Zone. Be safe, be well, talk to you next week.