Since the age of 9, wheelchair basketball has
been the all-consuming passion of Canadian Paralympic athlete Joey Johnson
(born July 1975). Degenerative hip
disease has been no bar to sporting success and Joey is proud to have been part
of the Canadian Gold medal winning teams in the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics and
the 2006 World Championships. Joey and his team’s sights are now set upon
victory in London 2012 and gaining a 4th Paralympic podium finish and
medal.
In recent years, Joey has worked hard and
supported his wife and family as a successful professional wheelchair
basketball player in Germany. Earlier in his twenties, he gained a BSc in
Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Joey first connected with the Canadian Paralympic
Committee’s Athete Career Programme via a workshop for the Canadian wheelchair
team in Toronto in early 2011. The program coaches and trains Paralympic
athletes to successfully make the
difficult transition from elite sport to a new career.
It was a
timely introduction for Joey: “You are always thinking about ‘what’s after’ and
I realize the end is in sight in terms of top level competition. As an athlete,
the concern is that we have no job training or skills to help us in another
profession. The workshop helped me realize that this is not necessarily true.
Most of our skills sets – such as leadership, working under pressure and goal
orientation – can carry over from our sport to the professional world and will
be valued by employers. I’d recommend
any athlete to get involved with the ACP. It is so valuable to have
professionals ‘on your team’ to help guide and mentor you in finding a new career.
“
