Canadian wheelchair basketball star Eng relishes big stage

David Eng always seems to deliver on the big stage.

Case in point: in two of the past three years there has been an all-star wheelchair basketball game as part of the festivities at the NBA all-star weekend.

• David Eng chosen asCanada's Paralympic flag-bearer

Eng, a three-time Canadian Paralympian, not only was the MVP in New Orleans in 2014, but he followed that up with another MVP performance in 2015 in Brooklyn.

"It was such a privilege to go," said Eng, who was chosen Canada's flag-bearer for the Paralympics in Rio. "I met most of my childhood idols. It was awesome to be there and have their respect."

"It was great to have these NBA players after our game to come and tell us how much respect they have for us and for our game to have that interaction was just awesome."

Some of those NBA players he met included Magic Johnson, Dikembe Mutumbo and Shaquille O'Neill.

Eng, who was born and raised in Montreal, would have loved a shot at a third MVP crown in Toronto last February during all-star weekend, but the NBA shelved the wheelchair game for a year because of challenges for the players to cross the border.

Humbling on home soil

Eng was disappointed. He thought it would be another way for the sport to be exposed in Canada. But the discontent was nothing like he endured last summer when the United States routed Eng and the Canadian national team 62-39 in the gold-medal final at the ParapanAmGames in Toronto.

By making it to the final, Canada qualified for the 2016 Paralympics. The drubbing, however, still smarted.

"The number one thing is we can't be complacent," Eng said. "We qualified for Rio, but we lost in the gold-medal final. We know the hard work that we needed to qualify, but now we have to double that effort to beat the best teams."

"I can't speak for all my teammates, but I hope the loss will bring us energy and fuel to take the next step. You need losses to learn and get better."

His teammates can lean on Eng's leadership. At 39, he's been around and this will be his fourth Paralympics. He knows how to bounce back.

As far back as he can remember, Eng always has been wild about basketball. He wore out a Michael Jordan highlight video his parents Diane and David Sr. gave him.

Competitive fire

As a youngster, Eng suffered from a leg-length discrepancy, in which one of his legs grew longer. This condition prohibited him from playing able-bodied basketball at a high level.

In 1989, his competitive fire to play basketball found a place to burn when his uncle Gerard Brule, a former national team player, introduced Eng to wheelchair basketball, and he started to play for his hometown Gladiateurs de Laval.

In wheelchair basketball, players are assigned a classification between 1.0 and 4.5 and the total value of the five players on the court for a team cannot exceed 14. Eng is a 4.5.

There were Paralympic gold-medal victories in Athens in 2004 and in London in 2012 that sandwiched a silver medal in Beijing in 2008.

He also earned a kinesiology degree at the University of Texas in Arlington and was an all-American for four straight years. His area of study keeps him busy, always trying new training methods.

There also was a championship with the New York Rollin' Knicks in 2014. He has witnessed first-hand how far wheelchair basketball has come.

"The evolution of the game has been incredible," he said. "I'm blessed to have been in the game for 26 years and I've been a part of this evolution."

"It's been great. Everything that I've learned in life has come from wheelchair basketball. I know most sports are life enhancers. But my personality, the drive I have, the leadership and drive qualities have come from this sport. I owe everything to these experiences and that is the main reason I continue to play.

Eng has come a long way. He may get his inspiration from Jordan, Johnson and Kobe Bryant, whom he named his dog after, but Eng's parents have meant so much, too. His mother and father, a level-five black belt in karate, have taught him work ethic and the importance of being a spiritual person.

Eng is an avid reader and moviegoer. He loves underdog stories like the Rockymovies, something which suits him fine in how he sees Canada's wheelchair basketball role in Rio

"We're the underdogs right now, even though we're the defending Olympic champs," Eng said. "This is four years later and there have been a lot that changes in four years.

"We have a whole new team. We have a good surprise. We'll be there. I have total faith that we'll be there in the end."