March 24, 2002

Spectators call it thrilling, fast-paced, aggressive, violent and even dangerous. Fingers barely miss getting mashed between wheels. A player crashes head-on into an opponent, knocking him over. First- time viewers flinch at the piercing sounds of clashing metal.

No wonder the Canadian creators of this sport called it Murder Ball!

Twenty-five years later, we call it wheelchair rugby, or quad rugby. And it's the fastest-growing wheelchair sport in the world. It's also an exciting spectator sport, if your eyes can keep up with the powerful players who speed across a gym floor and fiercely ram one another as they fight for possession of the ball.

Interested? An exhibition game will be held 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at Orange Coast College's Peterson Gymnasium. The event is free, but Bill Alvarez, a quad rugby player and instructional associate of OCC's Disabled Student's High Technology Center, hopes you'll buy a raffle ticket - $5 - which will go to the Disabled Students Scholarship Fund.

Members of the teams, Casa Colina Buccaneers and Casa Colina Plan B squad, are from Orange and surrounding counties. The teams are part of the U.S. Quad Rugby Association, which holds clinics and tournaments throughout the United States and participates in international competitions.

To qualify, players must have upper- and lower-body impairments that preclude their play in able-bodied sports. Most team members have spinal-cord injury; some have cerebral palsy or other disorders.

They have strength, determination and a passion for life and adventure. All know the challenges of living with paralysis, but they don't dwell on what might have been.

The object of the game is to score goals. Players use reinforced sport wheelchairs (not electric), built to handle frequent heavy contact.

Players get a classification number to indicate degree of impairment; a .5-point player has the greatest impairment while the 3.5-point player has the least. The total points of the four players on court may not exceed 8.0. The system allows players of varying disabilities to compete.

Ryan Nichols, captain of the Plan B team, summarizes the rules. Four players per team. Ten-second hold rule. One point each time a player carries the ball across the goal line. No hitting behind the axle.

Wheelchair rugby is catching on at rehabilitation centers, Nichols says.

The game is played with a volleyball, which is light, so it can be slow- or fast-paced according to players' abilities. Players can use any kind of wheelchair when they're learning; for advanced playing, the chair type depends on the position played.

Nichols started playing quad rugby in 1995, a year after an auto accident resulted in spinal-cord injury. "I love this game! Even if I were cured, I'd still play wheelchair rugby. I think most of us would," he said.

Coach Eddie Alexander has contributed to the team's success.

"He taught us the technical aspect of the game - strategies, positions, running plays, communicating with players, knowing each other's movements so well you can predict where a player will be," Alvarez says. "So we can beat a team physically and mentally."

Dean Maccabe, a Tustin player on the Buccaneers, also played on the U.S.A. Wheelchair Rugby team in the 2000 Paralympic Games, held in Sydney, Australia. The team won a gold medal by one point. His wife, Lisa Maccabe, recalls spectators' exhilaration.

"Rugby is Australia's national sport, and they were just as excited about quad rugby; the stadium holds 10,000 people, and it was packed," she said.

"It's an exciting, fast- paced, full-contact sport, and people usually are shocked the first time they see it. Then you catch the fever and you can't wait to see another game."

Dean Maccabe will represent the United States again in the world championships, to be held in May in Sweden. A casino night to raise funds for the team will be held April 27 at the Tustin Community Center. Fifty dollars covers dinner, dancing, casino games and prizes. Call the Maccabes at (714) 508-0119.

For information call Alvarez at OCC's Disabled Students Center, (714) 432-5807. The Buccaneers and Plan B teams will need a new sponsor starting in May.

A Web site for information, photos and a video clip of quad rugby: www.quadrugby.com.