Yukon paralympian Jessica Frotten named to sports hall of fame in Saskatchewan

Yukon paralympian Jessica Frotten is being honoured with a hall-of-fame induction in her adopted home province of Saskatchewan.

The wheelchair racer wasone of six people named this week to the Regina Sports Hall of Fame. She'll be officially inducted at a ceremony in the city in October.

"It's pretty cool," Frotten said. "There's some phenomenal athletes that have come out of Regina. So it's an honour to be a part of that, for sure."

Frotten got into para athletics a little more than a decadeago, after she borrowed a racing wheelchair from the Saskatchewan Wheelchair Sports Association. Shehad beendiagnosed with a spinal cord injury following a car accident in 2009.

Since then she's won medals at the Parapan American Games, and competed at several world championships. In national competitions, she's won 17 medals, six of them gold. In 2020, she was part of the Canadian Paralympics team.

Frotten says it means a lot to be honoured in Saskatchewan.

"I will always and forever be a Yukoner, but my athletic career really started in and grewhere. So yeah, it's awesome to be recognized," she said.

Dick White, who's with the hall of fame committee, said Frottenhas had an "incredible" athletic career, and her induction was overdue.

"I mean, her athletic accomplishments have been absolutely exceptional and she's well deserving of this honour," White said.

"In the 20 years of our history of the Regina Sports Hall of Fame, we have not had a wheelchair athlete inducted."

White says Frotten'sadvocacy work for para athletics, and her professional work as a transition specialist she serves as a mentor for newly-injured people at the local hospital and rehabilitation centre made her especially worthy of recognition.

"She's that kind of positive example of ...everything's not over for you now, that there is lots of life ahead for you. And she brings that attitude with her not only into her competition, but is a living example of it," White said.

"Yeah,we're just so proud of her."

Frotten says the challenges she's facedsince her accident in 2009 have shown her that "you never know what's going to happen in your life."

"And you know, from some of the worst, terrible moments can come some of the most beautiful and rewarding things. So you just need to roll with it, I guess, and also just find the good, always."

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Jessica Frotten competed in wheelchair racing at the Olympic level.