Its a dream come true for Orillia area single leg athlete Rick Ball.
He is one of 26 athletes chosen to represent Canada on the international stage at the 2011 Para Pan American games in Guadalajar Mexico in November.
Ball is thrilled with the news and says he has worked so hard and been so focused on changing everything about his training.
He says it’s a wonderful reward and a great relief.
Ball achieved the International Paralympic Committee A Standard running the (T44) 400 metres in 57.73-seconds earlier this season.
In its newsletter to athletes, Athletics Canada called that “a great achievement for the single-leg amputee who spent the winter converting from distance running to sprint events.
Ball says he actually is training harder now than he did when he was running the marathon.
Being named to the Pan Am team was not the only good news Ball Received.
Also last week, Ball was notified he will be getting a grant from CANFund, a not-for-profit organization devoted solely to raising funds and awareness of Canadian athletes to help defray the costs of training for and participating in major competitions.
Ball was among 120 athletes selected from over 600 applicants to receive that grant.
