Bearing our flag

Photo: The Canadian Press

Veteran wheelchair basketball player David Eng holds a Canadian flag as he poses for a photo in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.

When David Eng made his Paralympic debut 12 years ago in Athens, coach Mike Frogley would jot down a word each day and pin that word on the wall.

They were words like "leadership" and "commitment," character traits Frogley wanted his players to embody.

They were words, Eng decided then and there, to live by.

"I started focusing on that," Eng said. "That was what I wanted to become, was that type of person."

The 39-year-old veteran of Canada's wheelchair basketball team has been chosen to carry the Maple Leaf into the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on Wednesday.

Frogley, now the high performance director for Wheelchair Basketball Canada, said there was no better choice. Every great player and every team, he said, "starts with great character."

"And that's what David is: great character that allows us the opportunity to be great," Frogley said. "And he's a great representation of Canada, (he) embodies all the things that Canadians hold in the highest regard, his work ethic, his discipline, his commitment to the team ... those are things all Canadians share in, so they share in him marching out holding our flag."

The two-time Paralympic gold medallist, who was cheered on by both the men's and women's wheelchair teams at his news conference Tuesday morning, will be competing at his fourth Games. Canada won gold in Eng's debut in 2004, took the silver at the 2008 Beijing Games and won gold four years ago in London.

The Canadian co-captain, who was born with one leg shorter than the other, took up the sport when he was just 12 through the encouragement of his uncle Gerald Brule, a former national team player.