Former Humboldt Bronco Jacob Wassermann aims for Paralympic rowing

Saskatoon’s Jacob Wassermann is working his way up the ranks in the sport of rowing.

Wassermann, 23, is a former member of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team and a survivor of the team’s 2018 bus crash which killed 16 people and injured another 13.

The crash left Wassermann paralyzed from the navel down, which naturally meant he was unable to continue playing hockey.

Wassermann tried his hand at sledge hockey after the crash, but found the sport just wasn’t a proper fit for him.

“I tried it very briefly, but it was never something that was for me. Hockey was kind of before I was injured, and after then crash I tried it and it didn’t feel right for me,” Wassermann explained.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s done with hockey altogether.

“I’ve done some coaching with some kids since then, and I’ve loved that,” he explained. “I think for me to stay in the sport of hockey, it’ll be on the other side of the bench.”

Jacob Wassermann on the dock outside of the Saskatchewan Rowing Association building in Saskatoon. (Shane Clausing/650 CKOM)

Last year, Wassermann decided to pick up the sport of rowing after a friend encouraged him to give the sport a try. He said it happened almost entirely by chance.

“I was just going to the grocery store to pick up some stuff and I ran into a buddy of mine who is also in a wheelchair that was saying he was looking into getting into a new sport. He was saying the rowing club had a give-it-a-try day,” Wassermann said.

“I thought, ‘That sounds like fun,’ and I was looking for a new sport. I had the build for it. I’m really tall and I like training and I sort of gave it a try and loved the community here in Saskatoon.”

Wassermann said what he loves the most about the sport is the competition.

While he’d used a rowing machine at the gym, and had some experience in canoes, Wassermann said the sport was almost totally unfamiliar.

“I had never been on the water on a rowing boat until this summer,” he said. “It’s so much different (than a canoe). I had been on the water lots growing up, but rowing was something completely new.

“It’s kind of funny to see where I was to where I am now. It was really wobbly and took a long time to get that balance before I could get that training and speed under me,” he added. “It was a slow first couple weeks getting that figured out.”

While he struggled at the start of the summer, Wassermann said he was quickly able to figure things out.

Listen to Wassermann on Behind the Headlines:

Last February, when he was still doing indoor training, Wassermann won his first gold medal in competitive indoor rowing. He completed the feat at his home rowing club in Saskatoon on a specialized rowing machine hooked up to online tracking specially designed for the competition.

Then, this past October in Victoria, Wassermann won a gold medal in the Men’s PR1 single category at the 2023 National Para Rowing Championship.

“I was the only adaptive athlete here in Saskatchewan that’s training consistently and (the Saskatoon Rowing Club) provided me the opportunity to go down and said my times were pretty close to being able to try for the national team,” Wassermann said.

“I went with the rest of the Sask. athletes and it was awesome. It was my first experience with a big competition.

“That feeling of competition – I love that. That’s why I loved hockey so much, and I’ve been looking for that since the crash,” he added. “To get that feeling again was a lot of fun.”

According to Wassermann, para rowing is unique, especially for him as he can’t use his legs for power like most rowers can.

“The tricky part I guess is trying to find and use as much of my body as I’m able to. I can’t really use my leg strength, (but) have to use as much core as I have still to try and use that and building up my fitness and training,” he explained.

“There’s a lot of little techniques with rowing, and it’s constant work on the little things that pay off in the end, but they take time off the finesse stuff, I would call it. That’s the biggest thing.”

Because of his gold-medal performance at nationals in Victoria, Wassermann said he’s hoping to get accepted to the Canadian team. He said right now, things are still in the works.

And after so much early success in rowing, Wassermann said he’s hopeful he can somehow get to the Olympics one day.

“That’s the dream,” he stated. “That’s the goal for sure. L.A. 2028 is where we’re looking to. We’ll see (about Paris in 2024) I guess. There’s a chance, but the big goal is for sure L.A.”

Wassermann noted the national team has been rebuilding its adaptive program to make it more competitive in the future.