PLAY RUGBY!

Soon after I first broke my neck in a poorly formed scrum, and it became apparent that I would use a wheelchair for mobility, several of my friends suggested that I would soon be playing wheelchair basketball. What they didn't account for was the inability to shoot the ball as a C 5-6 quad. I did become excited when a Rec Therapist made me aware of young sport called quad rugby, a team sport designed by and for athletes with upper body disabilities. Over the next several years, quad rugby teams sprouted up over the east coast and several life changes finally allowed me to play for the Magee Rebels, Philadelphia's quad rugby team. As a player, I love quad rugby because it's fast, exciting and forces quick decisions; elements that any team sport should be about. The physical benefits of getting into condition and playing a team sport are obvious. The conditioning and strength gained from playing support you in all eleme! nts of your life. Other benefits are more subtle. For somebody like me who has always played team sports, there's nothing like being part of a team again.

Quad rugby is played by two teams of four on a gym floor with a volleyball. While at first glance it looks like little more than bumper cars, study of the game reveals that the players have clearly defined roles within the offensive and defensive strategies. The object is to score by carrying the ball across the end line between two cones. The ball must be bounced or passed every ten seconds and a team must be out of the back court in 15 seconds. Chair to chair contact is allowed, and in fact, encouraged. Contact behind the axle that spins a player is a penalty and results in one minute in the sin bin. Anyone who can push a manual wheelchair can and will play because the sport's classification system requires a balance of ability levels on the floor at any time. While the sport is not based upon rugby football, players of either code who watch the other recognize that both sport! s share the same intensity. The quad rugby season runs from October through April.