Quadriplegics, who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs, overcome unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Quad rugby as played by the US team, between 2002 games in Sweden and the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Young men, most with spinal injuries, play this rough and tumble sport in special chairs, seated gladiators. We get to know several and their families. They talk frankly about their injuries, feelings in public, sex lives, competitiveness, and love of the game. There's also an angry former team member gone north to coach the Canadian team, tough on everyone, including his viola-playing son. We meet a recently injured man, in rehab, at times close to despair, finding possible joy in quad rugby. After Athens, the team meets young men injured in war: the future stars of Team USA.—<[email protected]>
There is a new sport called wheelchair rugby, also known as "Murderball" in which quadriplegics of varying degrees of severity play full-contact rugby in specially designed wheelchairs with a ferocity that could cow a pit bull. This film documents a particularly strong competition between the American team and the Canadian one coached by the former coach of their opponent. In the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, this rivalry hits a fever pitch as no holds are barred for an all or nothing battle to the finish.—Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])