UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

Michigans new quad rugby team makes its debut on hardwood in Windsor Games
By Bruce L. McLaughlan / The Detroit News 3/20/97

Michigan's newest rugby team plays its first game this weekend, but don't look for the mud-covered stars of some Irish Spring commercial. These athletes compete in wheelchairs on a gym's hardwood floor.

"Quadriplegic rugby is the fastest growing wheelchair sport in the world, and here in Michigan, we didn't have a team," said Rick Knas, sports director for the state's Paralyzed Veterans of America office. That changed last June, when the paralyzed vets hosted a clinic, attended by about 15 potential players. Enough stuck with it since then to form a team, Knas said. "They practice hard, and they show up when the weather is bad," he said. But they'd only played against each other. "This will be our first competition." One of the hardest parts of putting a team together has been getting equipment. So far, they have four of the specialized wheelchairs used in the sport, and will borrow another this weekend.

The team will be the only U.S. quad rugby team Saturday in the Windsor Classic Indoor Games, sort of "an Olympics for people with disabilities," Knas said. The Michigan team may be raw, but it has a couple of secret weapons, Knas said: Two women players -- unusual in this young sport -- and a couple of heavyweights, big guys who may be able to muscle their way down the court. The players have varying degrees of use of their arms. "Maybe we will surprise some people," Knas said.

Quadriplegic rugby -
The game: Four players per side play on a basketball-type court, with broad goals marked at either end. The object is to get a volleyball-size ball to the scoring zone by passing it back and forth, and carrying it down the floor.
Basic rules: Only three of the four team members are allowed into the goal area in playing defense. No electric chairs are allowed. Because nearly anything else goes, the game once was called "murder ball."
Players: Some specialize in defense, jamming their chairs up against an opponent in a "tackle" to stop the ball from moving up court. Others may use speed or agility to move the ball toward the goal.
Strategy: Coach Rick Knas said his team is likely to play a conservative zone defense. "Offensively, we're just going to stick with a couple of plays and hope we get lucky."

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