Wheelchair rugby season starts in earnest this weekend at the Wrecking Ball Wheelchair Rugby Tournament.
The Western New York Wreckers co-ed rugby team will host teams from around the Mid-Atlantic region and Canada on Saturday and Sunday at the Pinnacle Athletic Campus in Victor.
Wheelchair rugby is a four-versus-four game played in 8-minute quarters. Also known as "murderball" and "quad rugby," the sport is designed for and by people who are quadriplegic.
"I think a lot of times there's sort of stereotypes that that people with disabilities, particularly quadriplegics, are frail or weak in some way," said Chris Hildebrandt, team manager and defensive player for the Wreckers. "You come and you watch this, and that will change your mind entirely."
For those who are uninitiated, expect full contact, clashing metal and armored wheelchairs.
"I kind of say (the wheelchairs) are inspired by the Mad Max movies — like my 'post-apocalypse wheelchair' — and you're just trying to get the ball and kind of smash through the other team and get to the other side of the court to score one point," Hilderbrant said.
Eight teams from Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland will compete for bragging rights, Hilderbrant said.
Jerremy Lorch, cofounder of the Wreckers and one of the main ball carriers, said the game he's looking forward to most is versus the Pittsburgh Steelwheelers at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
"We're always pretty competitive with them," Lorch said. "And I think over the last 10 or more years that we've been playing, they've probably got the edge on us. But we do manage to sneak a win every once in a while."
Rochester tends to have the biggest turnout, Lorch said, and have the loudest and most supportive fans of all the tournaments he's played with the team.
While the tournament this weekend marks the start of the season, Hilderbrant said recruiting efforts are ongoing.
"Recruiting players can be a challenge. It's kind of a niche sport where you definitely have to have a disability," he said.
Sometimes that means connecting with someone who is straight out of the hospital when they have a brand-new injury, he said. Or through the disability community and making sure physical therapists or disability organizations are aware so they can direct people to the team.
"We have to find players that have some limitation in all four limbs and still want to get in a wheelchair and smash into other people," he said.
The team was founded in 2013, and has drawn interest from dozens of prospective players with disabilities including spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, multiple limb amputations, and spina bifida.
"It's exciting when you hear the chairs crash into each other, when guys and girls are rolling down the court and somebody crashes into them," said Robert Tortorella, founder of Endless Highway which sponsors the tournament. "This is a game that's developed over years, and it allows (the athletes) the opportunity to compete competitively. And it's a great event."
