The world championships for wheelchair rugby are being held this week in Canada, and 12 teams from countries around the world have descended on the Richmond Olympic Oval to fight for the championship title.
Wheelchair rugby combines wheelchair basketball, hockey, handball, and rugby into a sport all its own. It first debuted at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta and was inducted as an official Olympic sport four years later, beginning with the Sydney games. Winnipeg athletes with disabilities originally created the game in the late 1970s. Wheelchair rugby is now played in over two dozen countries.
Believe it or not, physical contact is a huge part of the game, even though all its players are confined to wheelchairs. Because of the intensity of physical contact that the sport can contain, it was originally known as “murderball,” and the 2005 Academy Award nominated-documentary by the same name is what escalated the sport to international prominence.
All wheelchair rugby players have a loss of function in at least three limbs, although the majority of the players are classified as quadriplegic. Although wheelchair rugby is a sport open to both men and women, men dominate the sport. Out of the 12 teams competing at the world championships this week, only four competitors are women. Erika Schmutz of the Canadian team is one of the females competing, and she was also the first woman to score in the Paralympics wheelchair rugby competition. Schmutz was confined to a wheelchair a decade ago, after her car hit two moose on a highway, severing her spinal cord. She has been playing wheelchair rugby ever since she picked it up as part of her rehabilitation. Schmutz hopes to stay with the Canadian national team long enough to compete in the London Olympic games in 2012. Miranda Biletski of Regina’s team is another woman participating in the championships this week.
Wheelchair rugby players aim to be considered as athletes, and as professional as all other athletes who train and compete at a high level in their own individual sports. They don’t want to just be seen as people who can inspire, despite their confinement to a wheelchair.
“We don’t dismiss the fact that people see us and they do see the chair and it does inspire them. But that’s just part of it. It’s not everything,” said Schmutz.
The Canadian team comes to the world championships ranked third and began the tournament with a 48-41 win over Great Britain.
