The Canadian Paralympic Committee announced earlier this week the athletes, coaches and staff who will make up Team Canada at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Canada will  bring a total of 145 athletes to compete in 15 sports in London. They are joined by 12 athlete support personnel (cycling pilots, running guides, boccia sport assistants and a rowing coxswain), and 134 officials (coaches, managers, support staff, mission staff).

Sarnia native Josh Vander Vies was included in the list of athletes competing in the sport of Boccia.  This is Vander Vies second Paralympics Games, his first was the Athens 2004 Paralympics; 

Vander Vies started competing at an elite level in 2003. In 2011 at Parapan American Games Vander Vies won a bronze medal.  Vander Vies also competed in the 2006 and 2011 World Championships; the 2003 and 2007 World Cups; and holds two silver and one bronze medal from the 2005 and 2009 Americas Cup.

Vander Vies now living in BC is a student at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Law and holds an honors double major in Political Science and French from the University of Western Ontario.  Vander Vies is also a powerful inspirational speaker, Vander Vies brings to corporate, government and community audiences the message that any obstacle can be shattered.

In 2006, Vander Vies was elected to the International Boccia Committee as Athlete Representative by the boccia players of the world. He acts as Athlete Council Representation on the Canadian Paralympic Committee Board of Directors. He is also a 2003 national Terry Fox Humanitarian Award recipient.

At the Paralympic level, Boccia athletes are classified based on the severity of their disability as BC1, BC2, BC3 or BC4. Vander  Vies will be competing in the BC4 Individual and Mixed Pairs. The Mixed Pairs will begin on Sunday Sept 2nd and the Individual will begin on Wednesday Sept 5th.

Above photo courtesy of The Canadian Paralympic Committee
More about Josh - http://joshvandervies.com/
More about Josh Vander Vies - Student Profile University of British Colombia

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