Daily Sparks Tribune article on 2009 Reno Rumble
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Rugby on wheels
Loud thuds echoed in the Plumas Park gym when quad rugby players
collided with one another during a tournament game on Saturday, playing
their sport in wheelchairs. The athletes said that physical contact is
a pivotal part of the game, which has elements of rugby, handball and
basketball and was developed by a group of wheelchair athletes.
“We’re not playing for hugs,” tournament director and Sierra Storm player Todd Wolfe said. “This really is a serious sport.”
There
are four players on the court at one time and the combination of
players is determined by each player’s point classification.
“Every
team member has some kind of disability,” Kurt Sexton, whose stepson
plays for the Utah Scorpions said. “The highest point classification is
3.5 and people with more severe disabilities have a lower point
classification.”
Josh Wheeler, Sexton’s stepson, was involved in
a motorcycle crash that crushed three of his vertebrae, leaving him
paralyzed from the waist down three and a half years ago.
“He’s
always been very athletic,” Sexton said of 29-year-old Wheeler. “He
needed this kind of physical outlet, and he’s done really well. He
competed on a national team before.
Wheeler first learned about the sport though Murderball, a film documentary that came out in 2005.
Men and women play on the same team and women are assigned a lower point classification.
“I’m
at 2.5, but because I’m a girl, I’m a two,” Sierra Storm team member
Bridget Shanahan said. “It can be a little intimidating because as a
whole, girls are allowed to play but not that many do.”
Shanahan was born with cerebral palsy and was introduced to quad rugby by her track coach in high school.
“I’m a very competitive and aggressive person,” Shanahan said. “That’s one of the reasons I really like playing this sport.”
Quad
rugby has been around since the late 1970s. Currently, there are 36
teams in the United States with around 460 players who actively
participate.
“This (quad rugby) has been around for a long
time,” Sierra Storm player Dennis Smith said. “I was introduced to it
19 years ago when I was recruited.
Smith said that in the 19 years he’s been playing, he has only seen two serious injuries.
“Sometimes,
people can smash their hands or hit their heads when they collide,”
Shanahan said. “But when I collide with people, it really just gets me
more energized to play.”
Sexton explained that quad rugby is a
highly competitive sport and his stepson has been knocked over several
times this weekend alone.
“His mother’s an R.N. (Registered
Nurse) and she asked that he just give her a sign when he’s pushed over
since he’s still missing about three inches from the back of his skull
from his accident,” Sexton said.
Sierra Storm was created when the Reno team joined up with the team from Sacramento, Calif. since Reno only had four players.
“We’re in a rebuilding stage right now,” Smith said.
Teams came from Seattle, Houston and Northern California to compete in the tournament.
Referees
for the games were from the United States Quad Rugby Association. USQRA
provides opportunity, support, and structure for competitive wheelchair
rugby to people with disabilities.
Tournament play continues today.
For more information about Sierra Storm or quad rugby, visit www.quadrugby.com/sierrastorm.