UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

October 2003

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT: Quad Rugger Will Groulx
By Jennifer Sheffield

Paralyzed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a wet interstate on-ramp in 2000, Will Groulx (Portland, Ore.) has since set aside the scare of sliding head first under the guardrail and the quick crush of the bike on his body and taken up the rough and tumble sport of quad rugby, referred to by its participants as “murder ball.”

Groulx is starting his third season with the Portland Pounders club team in Oregon, but is new to international competition like that he will contend with as part of the U.S. Quad Rugby National Team headed to the 2003 International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation World Wheelchair Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, Oct. 25-Nov. 2. 

One week of nine-hour-a-day tryouts for the National squad was held back-to-back in June with the 2003 North American Cup at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala. Sixteen members were named, but only 12 will represent the U.S. at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. Final selection will come down to a second camp in February 2004. 

“The focus was individual that week,” said Groulx. “There was a lot of pressure because all our mistakes were put on videotape, but once the team was selected it was about doing a job and playing some rugby.”  

Groulx’s reaction to being named and having the chance to pummel Canada in a 29-25 win went like this: “Oh, wow,” followed by, ”I lost my breath for a few seconds.”   

Prior to his accident, Groulx served six years of active duty in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear trained electrician’s mate and diver attached to a fast attack submarine stationed at Norfolk, Va. After, he spent seven months in hospitals, including one month in a spinal cord unit in Seattle, Wash. “I think serving the U.S. in the military and in sport have two huge things in common,” Groulx said. “Something that was stressed in the Navy was that you are an ambassador for your country and being associated with a National team is the same. Given a chance to represent the U.S. at that level is an honor.” 

Doctors told Groulx there was less than a two-percent chance he would walk again, but it was in rehab that “I lucked into rugby,” he said. “I took a day trip to check out a tournament in Portland and it looked like demolition derby in wheelchairs! I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to play’.”  

While in the hospital, Groulx was also contacted by the Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of America (OPVA), and after completing rehab in 2001, moved to Portland and got on board with the advocacy group helping people in his similar condition.

At the 2002 National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Cleveland, Ohio, Groulx competed among 500 athletes in 9-ball, slalom and rugby, and at the 2003 U.S. Quad Rugby Association Nationals in Tempe, Ariz. last April, was named to the 2003 USQRA All-Tournament Team in Division II.

“The Vets Games are competitive,” Groulx explained, “but it is more an opportunity to see guys again from all over the country, hang out, and compete a little bit. Everybody’s good friends and it shows newly injured people what they can do, not what they can’t any longer.”

Two teams of four play quad rugby on a basketball court. Athletes are classified on a point system with the most disabled graded 0.5. Groulx is considered a high-point player at 2.5. Ed Suhr, coach for the Pounders, said, “2.5’s can play a multitude of roles on a team. Will relies on his physical skills since he’s still learning the game, but being a tall, rangy guy with court smarts and ball handling ability, is developing into one of the better 2.5’s in the country.” 

Groulx said his motivation came from his hometown, and now National, teammate. “Lynne Nelson got into a high performance-training program and seeing him selected raised my curiosity. I'm very competitive, so after my first season I wanted to know what I had to do to make it.”

But being named to the National team will affect Groulx’s participation with the Pounders. “It’s a good news and bad news situation because Will and Lynne get to learn, but at the same time they are not going to be around to work out with us,” said Suhr.  

Groulx also gained emotional support from his rugby team during rehabilitation  “A lot of guys need some sort of athletic outlet and [rugby] really accelerated my learning curve,” he said. “It’s hard to explain because I can’t say I forget I'm in a chair, but I’ve gotten to a point where it’s just about rugby and I want to do as much as I can do to further myself in that.”

He added, ”A few guys are still in touch with our therapists and find out when there are new injuries and we go talk to those guys to let them know ‘Hey, life isn’t over.’ Our rugby team is not just a club, it is a support group and we outreach to individuals to make them feel more capable at sport or life.” Currently, Groulx is doing volunteer work at a VA hospital in Vancouver, Wash. putting together exercise programs and looking at getting into the Olympic Job Opportunities Program (OJOP) at Home Depot in Portland.

Groulx, 29, is also an avid outdoorsman. Having done some shooting before he was injured, he got involved on the National Trap Shooting circuit with the Newberg Gun Club and did his first shoot in Sioux Falls, S.D. in 2001. He also tried driving the “Cushman Trackster” with Big Bear Countree, Inc. outdoor excursions for the disabled as well as of one of the largest all-terrain vehicles made to date, the Grizzly 600 Yamaha Quad. During his next outing, he drove the Argo, an eight wheeled all-terrain vehicle, straight into a lake!

“I was told that being paralyzed doesn’t change the person you were before you got hurt,” Groulx proclaimed. “For some people, it’s a very life-altering event, but if you were a thrill-seeker before you got hurt, I think you’re still going be afterward. One of the guys who came to talk to me in the hospital was a Navy Seal who was paralyzed and he helped me accept that these are the cards I’ve been dealt and I need to play the best hand I’ve got.”

Groulx admits, “I’m always going to make time for the things that I love and am absolutely looking toward Athens.”

For more information, contact Jennifer Sheffield at (719) 866-3503, Jennifer.Sheffield@usoc.org.  This release is also available on the USOC’s public website (www.usolympicteam.com) and media specific website (http://usocpressbox.org).

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