No Pity Allowed, But You Can Look Without Embarrassment
I knew about wheelchair basketball. I couldn't imagine the amount of strength and skill required to dribble a ball while manoeuvring a heavy wheelchair, but I knew about it.
When a home health aide who cares for a client of hers, a young man who played wheelchair rugby, my first thought was, "How do you tackle someone in a wheelchair?" I know there is more to rugby than that, but it is one very rough sport, making foorball look like softball.
When I started this lens I wanted to show the amazing strength of these men, their game and what the human spirit and body are capable of. Then, in my research, I read this: "* Quadriplegia results from an injury to the neck, paraplegia from an injury below the neck." And suddenly it became very personal.
Nearly 8 years ago my neck (C2) was broken in a car accident. And here I am sitting up on my own and typing these words. The lens has taken on a new meaning. This one is a responsibility. It is a responsibility to these men and to others who did not fare as well as I did, to present their story as they would want it. I hope that anyone 'quad' who reads this will help me with this challenge.
The Raleigh Sidewinders
The History of Quad Rugby
Wheelchair rugby was started in Canada in 1977. Wheelchair basketball was popular by then, but quadriplegics could not play this well because basketball requires full use of arms and hands. As we see here, many of the Quad Rugby (which it is also called) do not have the ability to shoot. It was originally called Murderball.It then went to the USA and in the early '80 to England. There was an international tournament in 1989 in Canada with teams from these three nations. It was a demonstration sport in the World Wheelchair Games in 1990.
In 1993, there were 15 countries involved and the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) was founded.
In 1996 wheelchair rugby was included as a demonstration sport in the Atlanta Paralympic Games before becoming a full medal sport four years later in Sydney.
The sport is now played at elite level in 20 countries across the world.
You can read more about this at the site for USA Quad Rugby Association .
The Raleigh Sidewinders
The Raleigh News and Observer October 15, 2006RALEIGH --" It's a perfectly reasonable desire, but it feels shameful to say it out loud. But since we're all thinking the same thing anyway, you might as well give voice to it: "I don't ever want to end up like that."
Hey, nobody does, bucko. It's everybody's nightmare. The guys who did end up like that -- the six men in custom-built wheelchairs who spend every Friday night at a local community center banging the hell out of each other -- had the same nightmare. They understand your secret fear.
They also know that people get real weird around them. Some people pretend not to even see a wheelchair, as if to acknowledge it could suddenly cause its occupant to realize, "Whoa! I can't walk. When did this happen?" Others overcompensate in the other direction, becoming elaborately courteous and concerned for the poor, poor wretch who had that Horrible Thing happen.
So ask yourself this question: Which one are you?
Whichever is the case, you're going to have a hard time with quadriplegic rugby. It's impossible to look away, largely thanks to its train-wreck appeal. Besides, if you're at a match, you are by definition there to stare at the handicapped people. Those guys in the wheelchairs want your attention. So that'll help if you're a look-away type. You'll probably adjust pretty easily."
Who Are These Men? The Sidewinders of Raleigh, NC Tell Us
More importantly these men are athletes, athletes who are going to play to the best of their abilities no matter what else is going on in their bodies or lives.
The are heroes and role models to all of us.
Check out the site for The Raleigh Sidewinders
When The Brain Can't Communicate With the Body
* Quadriplegics often cannot sweat. Sweating occurs, of course, when the body seeks to cool itself. But spinal cord injuries interfere with the brain's ability to communicate with the body -- specifically, to tell it to sweat. Players often keep spray bottles of water handy to help cool themselves.
Yes, There Are Women in This Game
By Leslie Gibson McCarthy
"On the day Kerri Morgan turned 1 year old, a virus attacked her spinal cord, causing permanent impairment from the chest down. Life in a wheelchair is all Morgan has ever known, but that hasn't stopped her from working as a White House intern and then getting a master's degree from Washington University and teaching in the occupational therapy program there. She started playing quadriplegic rugby, the subject of 2005's Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, for fun and to get in shape. When Morgan discovered that she was good at it, she turned her training up a notch. She's now captain of the St. Louis Rugby Rams and is training to become the first woman on the U.S. Quad Rugby National Team."
Click for the entire story. Kerri Morgan and the women of quad rugby.
Kerri Morgan
What would you like people to know about physical disabilities? "I was happy to see in Murderball that there was no pity factor. It's just about a bunch of athletes. I'll be going around in everyday life, and people will say things like, "I don't know how you do it. If I were you, I wouldn't be able to manage." You sit there and think, "Wait a minute-am I really that bad off?"
Blog Posts from Google
- OLYMPICS: Athlete who will light city cauldron has excelled at wheelchair ...
- He competes in wheelchair rugby, also known as murder-ball, and was a bronze medalist from the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing. Tonight he'll wheel ...
- OLYMPICS:Thousands greet Olympic flame in city
- After a spinal cord injury during a minor hockey game as a teenager, Jason Crone has specialized in wheelchair rugby. The bronze medalist for wheelchair ...
- Fiorito: Looking back at 2009, a year of many heroes
- Last I heard, Cody was heading back to school in Peterborough, and aiming for a spot on the Canadian wheelchair rugby team. And then there are Fred Dunn's ...
- Bristol area's local heroes recognised in New Year Honours List
- The 49-year-old has used a wheelchair himself since he was injured in a diving accident in Australia in 1982. He studied industrial design at the Royal ...
Shout Out For These Guys!
Don't forget to add your thoughts on the lens. Stars welcome!
Mark Zupan:
"We had been calling it Murderball, but you can't market Murderball to corporate sponsors".
Murderball Is The Documentary Inpired by GIMP
The documentary is a must for the library of sports fans, especially those who admire courage and skill, para sports or rugby.
Murderball
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 12/31/2009)
Any Purchase Here Will Contribute to Heifer International: The Pay It Forward Entrepreneurial Charity
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Celebrate Quad Rugby!
I Love Wheelchair Rugby Teddy Bear
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I Love Wheelchair Rugby Stein
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No Guts, No Glory Cap
Price: 20.99
Chair Flame Ringer T
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Murderball Wheelchair Rugby Cult Movie Tshirt XXXL
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Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAbout Margo Arrowsmith
Lensmaster Margo_Arrowsmith has been a member since June 21 2008, has rated 2,019 lenses, favorited 121, and has created 129 lenses from scratch. Margo Arrowsmith donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "Hooters Is Not a Family Restaurant". See all my lenses
My Bio
For Arrowsmith Printing 9/22/08
I was born into a small business, I believe that small business and entrepreneurs are the backbone of America and what has made us great. They are what made us great and will save us in these unsure times. I have never wanted to have a great job. Well, better a great one, than a boring dead end one, and I have had both. But I have never really wanted a job at all.
Don't get me wrong, I am a hard worker. I have worked a full-time job, a part time job and a private practice all at the same time for a lot of years in my past. It isn't the work, its the working for someone else. Never wanted to do that, and I don't understand those who want to do that.
When I was six months old my parents bought their first small town weekly newspaper in Iowa. This was back in the day, back when small town newspapers were not just advertising sheets. Perhaps there are still some of them that are real, I hope so.
So I came by this perverse nature naturally. My path to self employment has been different than theirs, but it has always been my path, my direction.
Growing up in Iowa, in the fifties, I also grew up politically conservative. By the time I was 30 I was radically left. Today? I am proudly liberal and what that means will be clearer as we progress.
However, I have had conflicts about 'taking advantage of people'. I now know that employing people is not automatically taking advantage of them, but it took a while for me to learn that nothing is intrinsically good or bad. Well, almost nothing.
I have educated myself in business, I have a small business and I have used EFT and other energy clearing methods to help me clarify the old conflicts and move forward.
My mission here is to provide a forum for people who want to work independently through one person businesses or through employing others and for whom the betterment of human kind is an important value. My lenses are about offering good products, teaching people about betting their lives, and using the money they make for their pleasure and the benefit of others.
That is how I see business and if you have a similar vision I invite you to my blog www.creatingbusinessenergy.com
Margo Arrowsmith
Raleigh, North Carolina
Mother and Grandmother
Clinincal Social Worker, Coach and Internet Marketer
Interfaith Contemplative Minister
Student of life, business, the human spirit that motivates us to be our best in all circumstances.
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by Margo_Arrowsmith
For Arrowsmith Printing 9/22/08
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