2011 SU Update: Injury won’t keep Canadian Basketball Player Down

SHENZHEN – For Kale Harrison, the Summer Universiade, on the court at least, was over after about three minutes.

The first time he stepped on to the court in Team Canada’s men’s basketball opener versus Turkey, Harrison suffered a concussion, which brought his tournament to an end.

“It was really tough at first because I was pretty out of it, but now that I’ve been able to come to the games it’s gotten a lot better,” said Harrison. “It’s been good overall, the team’s playing so well and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Those games Harrison’s been forced to watch from the bench rather than playing in have been especially difficult because his Canadian teammates have been in the process of an incredible run. With their 83-68 win overLithuaniain Sunday’s semifinal, the Canadians will play in the gold medal game today, for the first time in 14 years.

The success from the Canadian team has come in a tournament in which they certainly were not a favorite coming in.

“People weren’t expecting us to even get out of our group,” said Harrison. “And now with the way we’ve played and to be guaranteed a medal, it’s just amazing.”

While he may not be able to play in the games, Harrison has still enjoyed every minute of his team’s wins, particular their group stage defeat of their future gold medal opponents Serbia.

The Serbians are the reigning gold medalists and have won at least a bronze in every Universiade since 1999, including the period when the team competed asYugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro.

“I think beating Serbia,” said Harrison when asked what his tournament highlight has been so far. “Serbia’s been really dominant at this tournament and once we beat them we knew we were good and we had chance to go pretty far and ever since then we’ve been rolling.”

While he may not be able to enjoy the Universiade experience on the court,Harrisonhas still managed to have an enjoyable time representing his country.

“It’s amazing, just being here around people from all over the world, it’s something I never thought I’d be able to do,” he said.

Harrison and his teammates have even found time to squeeze in some ofChina’s famed shopping.

“We haven’t had too much time, but we got to see downtown Shenzhen and do some shopping,” he said. “You can get some pretty sweet deals, I’ve been telling all the people back home, ‘you have to come here and shop.”

(Source: Justin Fauteux, FISU-AIPS Young Reporter/Canada)