We are one, we are the champions

By Meg Olson

He’s a familiar face at the border, but did you know he was a world champion?

Customs and Border Protection inspector Andric Jackson is a member of the Zen Masterz basketball team which took the gold on the basketball court at the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Zen Masterz, a Vancouver-based team, represented Canada at the July 22-31 games, joining over 20,000 athletes from around the world competing in a wide array of events during the games.

The team lost 102-89 to the star-power of the U.S. team early on in the tournament. “Next to some of them I was a midget,” Jackson said. The two teams would meet again in the 40-plus premier division finals of the tournament.

The Chicago-based U.S. team was studded with former NBA players and a packed bench. The Zen Masterz entered the competition with the minimum of seven players and were decidedly the underdogs. They jumped ahead in the first quarter of the final game and never looked back, winning 102-85.

“We won because our emotions and thoughts are not divided,” Jackson said. “We work as one, we are the Zen Masterz.” However, he added, “Plus we had to kick a little ass. We had to play hard.”

The Zen Masterz will defend their world title in Australia in 2009 and plan to compete in other international competitions in New Zealand and Italy prior to that. ”We’ve got to defend ourselves,” Jackson said.