Eastside Business article on 2009 Pacific Section Championship Tournament

The teams participating will include the Seattle Slam, Portland Pounders, Northridge Knights, Northridge Kings, Sin City Skulls, Sierra Storm, Arizona Outcasts and Sharp Edge.  This tournament will decide who will move on to the USQRA National Championship Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky the first week of April.

There will be over 100 athletes involved in the Pacific Sectional in Seattle and these will include many well-known Paralympic athletes such as Andy Cohn (of ‘Murderball’ movie fame), Will Groulx and Seth McBride. These are veteran athletes with exciting records and histories, and we’re looking forward to seeing them, along with many local, national and international players at the event. Local Seattle Slam player Curt Chapman, Seattle Slam team captain, has been involved with the team for 10 years and has been front and center in watching the sport grow. 

Curt had always been an athlete, playing football and wrestling as a teenager in Iowa. At the age of 22, while helping a contractor build a house, Curt fell off of the roof and suffered a disabling spinal cord injury. Although he heard about the sport of Murderball while he was in rehabilitation, he did not become involved until several years later, after completing law school and starting his law practice. Since getting involved with the sport in 1998, Curt has seen many of his teammates build confidence, stamina and improve body conditioning. Being with other peers in a team sport is also life-changing in numerous ways.

“This is a young team” Curt says “with lots of promise. Our players are getting stronger and more strategic all the time.”

Quad Rugby, also known as wheelchair rugby, is a furious, fast-paced, competitive team sport played by quadriplegic athletes. It was first introduced in Canada 3 decades ago, under the original name ‘Murderball’, named for its aggressive, full-contact nature that combines strategy, power and speed. The sport was made famous in the 2005 movie ‘Murderball’ which garnered numerous accolades, including Best Documentary at the 2005 Sundance Awards and an Oscar Nomination. The name was changed from Murderball to Quad Rugby and it is now also called Wheelchair Rugby.

The game is played indoors on a regulation sized basketball court and the players are in reinforced, ‘gladiator-style’ chairs, with the wheels attached at a camber angle for greater stability. Quad rugby athletes all have some form of disability with a loss of function to both upper and lower limbs. The majority of players have experienced some type of spinal cord injury, although there are eligible players with other types of disability. Players are classified according to their functional level and assigned a point value ranging from 0.5 to 3.5. The total value of all the players on the court, per team, at one time, cannot exceed 8 points.

The motto of the USQRA (United States Quad Rugby Association) is “Smashing Stereotypes One Hit at a Time” and this message carries through to the players’ everyday lives. All the quad rugby athletes bring their personal, compelling stories to the sport.

The Pacific Sectional Tournament determines which teams will go on to the USQRA National Championship. The most elite competitive sports for athletes with disabilities are the International Paralympics. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the Olympic Games, and in the same venues. Quad Rugby made its Paralympic debut as a demo event in the Atlanta games in 1996. It became a medal sport in Sydney in 2000, where the US team took the Gold Medal. Just this past year, during the Paralympics in Beijing, Team USA again took the Gold and was undefeated in every tournament leading to the Games. 

Seattle is excited and honored to be hosting all the teams for this unforgettable weekend. We are looking forward to seeing each and every one of you at this event, and greatly appreciate all the support of the public, our volunteers, and our generous sponsors, including Seattle University, Absolute Mobility, Rocklyn Medical and Rochester Medical.