With plenty of tickets to the Wheelchair Rugby still available -  they're a steal at RMB 30 each -  we decided to re-run this article from the September issue of the Beijinger magazine. The competiton runs from Sep 12-16 at Beijing Science & Technology University Gymnasium with the Canadian and US teams going head to head on Sep 14.

When it comes to dynamic-sounding names for a sport, few can match the term Murderball, the original name for Wheelchair Rugby (or Quad Rugby as it's known in the United States). The sport is coming to Beijing this September as an event in the Paralympic Games, and starting Friday, September 12, Beijingers will get the chance to see first hand why the sport wholly deserves its traditional violent epithet. As soon as the opening whistle sounds and you witness the athletes smashing chairs, the game will ride roughshod over any preconceptions you may have about the wheelchair-bound.

Wheelchair Rugby was developed in Canada in the late 1970s. At the time Wheelchair Basketball was the most popular team-sport for wheelchair users, but its reliance on upper body mobility was a turn off to the majority of quadriplegic athletes, who suffer functional impairments to the upper and lower limbs. As a combination of wheelchair basketball and ice hockey, the sport offers quadriplegic athletes the chance to play in both offensive and defensive roles. Played on a basketball court with a volleyball, the aim of the game is to score points by carrying the ball over the line in between the opponents goalposts. The sport shares little resemblance with traditional rugby except for its name and a full contact nature that often unseats participants from their wheelchairs.

Over the years the USA has emerged as the dominant force in the sport and the Beijinger caught up with two members of the squad as they made their final preparations for their visit to China. 19-year-old Joel Willmoth (pictured above), hailed as a future star by US Coach James Gumbert, was the youngest player ever selected to the USA Quad Rugby Team at the tender age of 18. A quadruple amputee, he took up the sport just three years ago; at the time he was a member of the Lakeshore Foundation – a non-profit organization that offers sports and recreation programs for people with physical disabilities and an official U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site in 2004 – and after couple of months was encouraged to try Quad Rugby. Having never been in a wheelchair in his life (he relies on prosthetics day-to-day) this struck Joel as "a dumb idea" which he "wasn't really sold on."

Joel was told that he was eligible to play and encouraged to check out a practice session. The game had an immediate impact on him. "I went one Tuesday night to watch and they got me into a chair, and [that’s how] my career started – I’ve been hooked from that night on!"adding that from the moment he "got out on the court and started hitting people, I was sold!" Joel found the contact of the sport made it "every bit, if not more, physical than football," which he had played in middle school.

Current Team USA Captain, and a player truly worthy of the mantle "legend," Bryan Kirkland (pictured above) also found he "couldn't resist" the speed and contact of the sport. After playing basketball in College, Kirkland took up motocross but was injured during racing in 1992. Five months into his rehabilitation, he was introduced to Wheelchair Rugby. By 1996 he was a regular on the team that participated in the Atlanta Paralympics where it was a demonstration sport. Kirkland has since won gold at Sydney in 2000 and a bronze medal at the last Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004.

Intent on doing their best in Beijing to represent their country in such a combative sport, these athletes have a punishing training schedule. Team USA Captain Kirkland says that he has trains five days a week. “It's like a full time job for me. I'm putting everything I've got into these games so hopefully the US can bring back the Olympic Gold." Wilmoth, despite his relative inexperience, is no less serious: "I train at least four days a week, and we focus a lot on our core strength. A lot of cardio training is important in quad rugby, because you never know if you are going to be on the court five minutes or 32 minutes. So you have to be prepared," says Kirkland, adding that he’s "in awe of my team-mates and how hard they work, which pushes me to work that much harder."

Murderball was also the title of the Oscar-nominated 2005 documentary focused on the rivalry between the US and Canadian teams at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens – a rivalry still at the heart of top-level competition according to the current members of Team USA. Bryan Kirkland, who was on the team that lost to the Canadians in 2004, says "There's no other rivalry like it in the sport of rugby. We respect them, but we love to beat the crap out of them. Off the court we get along, but when the whistle blows it’s time to pound them." His sentiments are echoed by Games first-timer Wilmoth: "Canada and USA will always be enemies – It's just something you have to get used to. They are probably our number-one opponent, and the rivalry is very bitter. I think the players on both sides enjoy having a tough rival though, because without having a very tough challenge on the court, it would be pointless to play."

The USA and Canada have once again been drawn in the same group at this year's Paralympic Games. Both teams have points to prove on the court, the Americans want avenge their semi-final defeat four years ago while the Canadians want to redeem their Canada Cup defeat (Team USA won by 41-35 and went on to win the trophy) from earlier this year in which the USA cemented their current number one ranking. Come their match-up on Sunday, September 14, there are sure to be some on-court fireworks to match those of the Opening Ceremony.

Links and Sources
Rotoevil.com: USA v Canada Image
Flickr: Image of US team captain Bryan Kirkland
Youtube: Murderball Documentary
The Beijinger: Get ready for it -- Murderball