Melanie Hawtin
 Team Canada – No 15 – Melanie Hawtin | |||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Canada | ||||||
| Born |
July 20, 1988 Hamilton, Ontario | ||||||
| Height | 4 ft 8 in (142 cm) | ||||||
| Sport | |||||||
| Sport |
Wheelchair racing Wheelchair basketball | ||||||
| Disability class |
T54 (wheelchair racing) 1.5 (wheelchair basketball) | ||||||
| Team | BC Breakers | ||||||
Medal record
| |||||||
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Melanie Hawtin (born July 20, 1988) is a Canadian 1.5 point wheelchair basketball player. As a T54 class wheelchair racer, she was the Canadian national champion in the 100 m in 2008, and the 400 m and 1500 m events in 2009. She was Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association's Junior Female Athlete of the Year four times, and its Female Athlete of the Year twice. After switching to wheelchair basketball in 2012, she won a gold medal at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
Early life
Melanie Hawtin was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on July 20, 1988.[1] She has spina bifida, and began wheelchair racing when she was five years old. By age ten she was participating in national championships,[2] and she won two bronze medals in 2001 in the T54 class.[3]
Awards and honors
She was Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association's Junior Female Athlete of the Year in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004, and its Female Athlete of the Year in 2005 and 2007.[4] She was the national champion in the 100 m in 2008, and the 400 m and 1500 m events in 2009.[3]
Surgery
Then, in April 2012, she was told that she would need surgery for hydrocephalus. A build up of fluid in her head was putting pressure on her brain. The surgery was successful, but left her unable to bend over, and therefore participate in her sport, for a long time. Offered a facial tissue, she said that she would need a whole box.[2]
Comeback in 2013
However, wheelchair basket is played in an upright posture. Hawtin joined the Burlington Vipers, and played for Team Ontario in the CWBL Women's National Championships in 2013 and 2014. She was selected for the national team at its training camp in Las Vegas in January 2014, something she had never achieved as a wheelchair racer.[2][1] In July 2014, she was part of the team that won a gold medal at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.[5]
Statistics
| Competition | Season | Matches | FGM-A | FG% | 3PM-A | 3P% | FTM-A | FT% | OR-DR | AST | PTS | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Championships | 2014 | 7 | 2–6 | 33 | 0–0 | 0 | 1–1 | 1 | 1–1 | 0 | 5 | [6] |
| FGM, FGA, FG%: field goals made, attempted and percentage | 3PM, 3PA, 3P%: three-point field goals made, attempted and percentage |
| FTM, FTA, FT%: free throws made, attempted and percentage | OR, DR: offensive, defensive rebounds |
| PTS: points | AST: assists |
Notes
- 1 2 "Melanie Hawtin". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Garbutt, Herb (January 31, 2014). "Change of plans – Melanie Hawtin reaching new heights in new sport" (PDF). Oakville Beaver. p. 16. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- 1 2 "2009 Canada Games – Prince Edward Island". Gems.pro. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Awards". Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Canada Wins Gold on Home Soil at the 2014 Women’s World Championship". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ↑ "2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship – Cumulative Player Stats" (PDF). Wheelchair Basketball Canada. p. 3. Retrieved July 25, 2014.