Whittington & Associates, LLC

North Florida Doctor (October 2008)
Extreme Sport Quad Rugby has Dramatic Impact on Quality of Life for Disabled

By R.P. Whittington

Most of us have heard of wheelchair basketball, wheelchair racing and several other sports that offer the disabled an opportunity to compete in the sports arena.

But while "Quad Rugby" may not be as well known to you, it's becoming more popular across the U.S. – a full contact sport played on a modified basketball court by players with physical or mental disabilities that affect all four limbs.

Given its history, some could call it an "extreme sport" for the disabled. Given the sport's aggressive nature, this wheelchair sport was originally called "Murderball" when it was first introduced in Canada back in 1981. Since that time, its popularity has grown and today Quad Rugby is an official Paralympics sport played internationally – boasting 45 teams in the U.S. alone.

Quad Rugby is a simple game, but teams can come up with some complex strategies for playing both offense and defense. The game is played with a volleyball, where teams of six wheel around on a basketball-size court. There are goal lines marked by cones and a lined-off "key" area. Each team attempts to score goals (1 point for each) by crossing the goal line with possession of the ball while the opposing team is defending that goal. The team with the most points when time runs out wins.

According to the United States Quad Rugby Association, while it is considered a full contact sport, rules require that no personal contact be allowed, such as slapping, hitting, punching, gouging at eyes, and biting. Penalties are enforced for infractions, usually requiring time in the penalty box (similar to hockey).

The First Coast area has more participants in the sport than many other areas of the country – in large part through the efforts of the Brooks Rehabilitation Clinic. Brooks, a non-profit health system that provides inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, supports quad rugby through its funding of an Adaptive Sports and Recreation Program.

According to program manager Alice Krauss,M.Ed.,OT/L, quad rugby is just one of several sports in which Brooks provides funding, training and competitive sporting opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities.

"We provide support for basketball, hand cycling, tennis, and rowing," said Krauss, a therapist since 1982 and the manager of the Brooks program since it was introduced in January 2007. "In addition to weekly programs, we also have special events like surfing, water skiing and martial arts."

No prior training is required for the disabled to take part in the program, and no cost to the participants in the Brooks program.

"With many of the teams we compete with out of the area, the cost of equipment, transportation and leasing facilities is a big limiting factor in getting the disabled involved," she said. "For example, the cost to take the team to Philadelphia to compete is about $10,000. Most teams without some form of community support have to rely on car washes and other fundraising events to pay for these things, which can be extremely difficult. We're fortunate that Brooks recognized this impediment, realized that the sports element is an important part of the rehabilitation process and built a program around that, using their financial resources, including my salary, to make a huge commitment to our community."

Krauss says that regardless of their level of participation, whether they are in it for the competition or just recreation, the program is open to anyone in the disabled community.

"Some people don't have an interest in traveling to tournaments and that's fine," she said. "To the newly injured, there's something intimidating about the program, though there shouldn't be. Just as in the non-disabled community, not everyone is super competitive, but most want to have an active lifestyle. In fact, when we developed the Adaptive Sports Program, the vision and mission of the program was not only to support the physical needs of the disabled who participate, but also their social needs. In many ways, the camaraderie that develops among the participants is the most important aspect of the program."

Most medical research backs up Krauss' assessment – that when you become disabled it's important to stay physically active.

"There are clearly health-promoting benefits for staying active, both physically and mentally" she said. "Physically, heart disease, skin ailments, diabetes, and urinary tract infections – these types of secondary complications can become more likely given the weakening of their auto-immune systems. Staying active can counteract many of these types of ailments. It's amazing how vast the improvement in their quality of life can be."

In addition to physical complications, Krauss says there is a huge incidence of clinical depression that comes with disability and physical activity has proven to counteract it.

"As a therapist, I found that most of my newly disabled patients did well when they were receiving initial services – they staying in contact with support groups and developing relationships with other people in similar situations," she said. "They worked really hard in rehab, but once they got past that phase their quality of life spiraled downward. The relationships are gone, they weren't working and their health began to fall apart."

Krauss says quad rugby, along with the other sports, help them counter that slide.

"Someone who has a new disability, say a broken neck, has a lot of issues to deal with: can I have sex, can I go to school, that's the general feeling of a quadriplegic coming out of rehabilitation," she said. "At our program events, the older patients who went to college, who are in a meaningful relationship, are there to help them understand there is life after being disabled. It's unbelievable how it turns their emotional state around. I've heard some incredible testimonials from patients involved with the adaptive sports program."

As medical director of the spinal cord injury program at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital for the last two years, Jeff Johns, M.D. has also seen the program's positive impact on patients first hand.

"With quad rugby you really need a patient who is fairly adventurous who is willing to put it all out there again, which can be difficult for some of them because they might hurt themselves more," said Johns, who provides patient care in addition to patient recruitment for all the adaptive sports. "The patients who take part aren't risk takers, but those who want to be competitive, be part of a team and see the physical benefits that can result. I can say that none of the patients that I convinced to get involved in quad rugby came back and said ‘that's not for me.' "

Like Krauss, Johns encourages all his patients to get involved with some sort of physical activity as part of their on-going rehabilitation.

"When I got out to see our first tournament, I was glad to see that it was extremely well received – not only by the patients but by their families and friends," Johns said. "The camaraderie, seeing the family members – it was a whole lot of fun and had a whole lot of energy around it. People who were there that day just wanted to go out again and be a part of it."

And Johns says he has witnessed some incredible transformations among his patients who participate – including one young man in his early twenties who had experienced a high neck injury that resulted from a motorcycle accident."

"He was an adventurous young man before he was involved in this life-changing injury, and his course of rehabilitation was long and complicated," Johns said. "When we got him involved in quad rugby, it really opened his eyes to the possibilities. He developed the attitude that ‘yes, life is different now, but life is good and I'm going to make it as good as it can be.' He sought out new rehabilitation opportunities and got back in school with a different career focus. Quad rugby played a key part in that change."

Johns said the young man's involvement was also good for his entire family.

"It helps the family cope as well, because a disability like that affects them as well," he said. "When the family members participate, come to watch, you see their attitude toward rehabilitation really change. This young man's family saw him score his first goal. It was a pretty awesome event. You could see the pride in their faces, and the man was just beaming."

Darryl "Spinner" Howland, the founder and co-owner of the Jacksonville Axemen, the city's profession rugby team, says he is awed by the tenacity of people with quad disabilities who get back into the sport.

"I personally think it's a fantastic way of getting disabled people involved in a contact sport," Howland said. "I've met a couple of guys who were actually injured playing rugby, who had injured necks and back trauma, who play quad rugby today. I think it takes a big human being to do that – to go back and play in the sport that injured you so badly. It takes quite a driving force in a person. It's quite amazing."

Howland, who has played rugby his entire life, competing with teams in his home country, Australia, and teams in England, France and the U.S., says he and others who play the sport are just fortunate that they haven't experienced such debilitating injuries.

"We've all sustained injuries over our playing careers," he said. "We were just fortunate that we were able to get out of bed the next day and walk around. It's quite a sport, and the fact that these players continue to compete after receiving such injuries is nothing short of remarkable."

Perhaps, the essence of quad rugby is best captured on the United States Quad Rugby Association's website: "There is story after story of people getting involved with the sport who have found, through peer interaction or just the raw desire to compete, the competitive outlet they hadn't felt since before their disability. Some, disabled from birth or childhood, may be feeling the competitive fire for the first time. Almost without exception, the positive influence of this challenging sport transfers into players' everyday lives. That positive power may be the best thing we can say about our association and our game."

Media Contact: Ron Whittington (904-563-0402)