“I know one of the guys in the team...” - Rugby (Intro)

Here is my first post about rugby, as promised. The thing is I can't go straight to the point because it's a long story, but I'll try to be as cohesive and coherent as possible (as one of my lecturers would say).

I've always wanted to play basketball. At school I would play with my classmates and I was good. It wasn't always easy to score, since it is much more difficult to reach the basket if you cannot jump, but I was certainly very good at bashing into people's legs and grabbing the ball from them. I was also low enough to sneak under people's arms. And most importantly, I was fast so my team mates were always happy to have me in the team. Playing was so much fun that I started thinking about taking up wheelchair basketball. The main problem was that the team was based in a town which was about one and a half hours away from where I live – too far away for my parents to drive me there twice a week. Then there was another major problem: back then I profoundly disliked disabled people. Before you start insulting me (you'd be right, by the way) and stop reading, let me explain. Throuought my whole childhood the only disabled people I saw were people who couldn't really move and could hardly speak. Most of the time they would try to tell something by shouting, which is all right, but it can be quite scary for a four-year-old. So for me disabled = scary. Also, my parents are amazing people, who decided I was going to grow up like any other “normal” child. I never wanted or felt the need to socialise with disabled people. I didn't have a problem with being “different” but I thought being friends with someone in your same situation didn't make any sense whatsowever. So wheelchair basketball.

This was about 7 or 8 years ago. In all this time I've learnt from experience that people in wheelchairs do not bite and they can be really good company. What I didn't know until recently is that they can be total nutcases, who knock on your door on a Saturday morning and go:

“Hello, I'm your neighbour. I was wondering if you feel like jumping off a plane with a parachute. Tomorrow. It won't cost you anything.”

I remember pinching myself hard to see if all this was really happening and I really was standing in front of a complete stranger who had just asked me to go kill myself on a Sunday morning – for the fun of it. I have to admit that, had he asked me the same question a couple of years earlier, I would have said yes straight away, but too many rides on Christmas fairies wheels in Edinburgh can make you change your priorities damn quickly!

When I said no to his offer he was quite disappointed but he got over it quite quickly: “Hmmm...ok. What about cycling. I have a bike. You should try it! Or maybe sailing. I have a boat too, it's in parked in the garage, I can show it to you!” Had I not seen the boat parked next to my car I would have thought something was seriously wrong with this guy.

It took quite a few dinners and many long talks for my neighbour to go: “I have just what you need right now. Don't ask any questions. All you have to know is that I know one of the guys playing in the team – and he is hot!”

This is how I said yes to wheelchair rugby :)

The basics

Players per team: 4 

Goal: the player who is holding the ball must cross the line at the end of the opponents' field.

Gear:

• a wheelchair 

There are two types of rugby wheelchairs: one for attackers – which is also the one I use – with big bumpers; and one for defendants, with iron bars at the front. The defendant's aim is to get the attacker's front wheels caught into the bars so as to stop him from reaching the line at the end of the field (and score). The attacker's only goal is...well...to run and hit hard.

Ehm...sorry for the technical picture! It's the only decent one I could find.

• A pair of rubber gloves (unlike normal wheelchairs, rugby wheelchairs do not have handles on wheels so you manoeuvre the wheelchair by pushing on the tyres directly. No gloves = bruises, bruises and more bruises!)
• A ball (a normal volleyball one)

   Me looking far too serious. 


Today I tackled someone for the first time and it was really good fun! I'll tell you more about it soon!