Nandini Naiyna Sharma has only recently started to play sledge hockey.

But already the Brampton resident has earned a spot on Canada’s national women’s team. She was named to the team following selection camp Sept. 2-4 in Montreal. Sharma began playing the sport about two years ago with the Cruisers Sports for the Physically Disabled (a club based in Peel) and has quickly established herself as an elite player.

She is one of three women who play on the Cruisers top sledge team, along with Brampton’s Claire Buchanan and Mississauga’s Danica McPhee. Both of those players are repeat selections to the national team.

Sharma, who turns 19 on Oct. 2, has also participated in track and field with the Cruisers, who offer a number of sports programs throughout the year. She said she fell in love with sledge hockey because of the speed and physicality.

“Everyone is equal, male or female,” she said.

The national sledge team is for players who have a lower body impairment. Sharma is a paraplegic after suffering injuries in a 2010 automobile collision in Mississauga.

Her father Vipul and mother Sarita are proud of the fact that she is the first Indo-Canadian to make the Canadian team. Sarita said for those with disabilities playing a sport can be a great confidence boost.

With the Cruisers Sharma, who is a Ryerson University student, has a busy practice and tournament schedule throughout the season. That includes the Cruisers Cup, hosted in Brampton each November at South Fletcher’s Sportsplex.

Unlike the men’s version of sledge hockey, the women’s sport is still very much in the formative stage. The Women’s World Ice Sledge Hockey Festival in Skien, Norway runs from Oct. 18-23. Three teams are scheduled to participate: Canada, the United States and a team representing Europe.

The hope is that enough countries will have teams so the sport can be added to the Winter Paralympic roster. Because it is not in the Paralympics, the team does not receive any funding so the players have to cover the costs.