A recent bronze-medal victory in Bogotá has further sharpened Lily Brook's focus on reaching the 2028 Paralympic Games.
Last month the Salmon Arm athlete was in Colombia's capital city for nine days with Wheelchair Basketball Canada's women's senior national team to take part in the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) Women's Americas Cup. With games between Aug. 9 and 14, Brook and the Canadian contingent would beat Argentina 63-51 to earn a bronze medal.
Brook, 20, said the tournament was an amazing experience, noting she was one of four new players on the Canadian team.
"This was our first tournament as senior women and considering that, and we still got bronze, that was pretty cool," said Brook.
In addition to Colombia, representing the nation in women's wheelchair basketball has also taken Brook to tournaments in Japan and Thailand – the latter being the 2023 IWBF U25 Women's World Championship, which saw the junior women's Canadian team, including Brook and Salmon Arm's Maggie Manning, come in sixth place.
With the bronze win, Brook and the Canadian senior women's team will be competing in the 2026 world championships which will be hosted by Canada.
In addition to playing with the senior women's team, Brook is also on the U23 Women's Paralympic Team, and the win in Bogotá brings her closer to realizing one of her goals, to compete in the 2028 Paralympic Games.
"I’ve been on the U23 team for a few years now which is like the next generation of athletes…," said Brook, noting the senior women's team is at a different level of play. "It was amazing to be able to see all of these athletes and play with them just because of their level of skill, their level of tactical skill, it was amazing to be able to learn from that. I'm hoping one day I will also be the same."
Brook has long been athletically inclined, something that didn't change after she was diagnosed with osteochondritis in her ankles at age 11. While she's been successful in adaptive boxing and Para-Nordic cross-country skiing, her focus now is wheelchair basketball.
"When I joined the U23 team a few years ago, that’s when I started thinking that pursuing basketball might be a possibility for me," said Brook. "When I was contacted last winter about getting carded and being on the senior women’s team, it immediately became this is going to be my goal now."
Of adaptive boxing, Brook said her goal has always been to help advance the sport.
"I just really want to get knowledge out that wheelchair boxing is a sport and a very adaptable sport," said Brook, who until last winter had been teaching adaptive boxing classes in 麻豆精选. "We’re just having our first nationals for wheelchair boxing this year in October… and our first provincials as well in September. Adaptive boxing has come a long way, and I think I've done my part in trying to get it there and I’m still going to try to continue to do what I can to help the sport move along."
As for sit-skiing, Brook says she'll keep doing it as a fun thing as time allows.
In addition to sport, Brook is also focused on a career in education.
"I took my education assistant program last year have a practicum coming up this winter…," said Brook. "I would like to eventually become a teacher. That was my initial goal when starting school, but then all this new stuff with basketball came up so I had to kind of change my plans."
While the intensity of her basketball training regime alone can be exhausting, Brook remains driven.
"Some days I show up and I just don’t want to play, but I do it anyway because I love the sport and just overall love what I do," said Brook. "Sport has been something that has always been a part of me but even prior to my diagnosis with my bone condition, I was playing sport so really love it."
Brook also loves the opportunities she's earned to represent her country.
"Representing Canada has been amazing," said Brook "That has been a goal of mine for a long time. I wasn’t sure what sport I wanted to do it in. I wasn’t sure I'd want to pursue skiing. Do I want to kind of hope that boxing gets to the Paralympics? I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so finally being at a point in my life where I'm in front of tons of people representing Canada with my team is amazing."
