Murderball, the sport
(or wheelchair rugby as it now officially known as) is a modified form of rugby for quadriplegic athletes. Originated in Canada nearly 30 years ago, murderball is now part of the Paralympics since Sydney 2000. The next being held at Beijing, in 2008.
The sport is played by 6 players to a team on an indoor court, the size of a basketball court. It started off being called “Murderball” because of the potentially violent nature of the sport. Players are allowed physical contact, but only between wheelchairs (read crashing into each others’ wheelchairs will full force is allowed and is very much a major part of the game). Players have been known to break their necks, with rods and screws placed inside, to support their neck!
Murderball, the movie
starts of with a very fast-paced finals at the 2002 World Championships, held in Gothenburg, in Sweden and ends at the 2004 Paralympics at Athens, with backgorunds on the players, their lives, their accidents, their life interspersed in between. Played by real people playing their real selves.
Mark Zupan
Broke his neck at age 18, when he was flung from the back of his friend’s pickup during a collision, into a canal, where he held onto a branch for 14 hours, which resulted in him going into hypothermia and becoming a quadriplegic as a result [1]. He is now the captain of the U.S. quadriplegic rugby team and refers to the accident as
“the best thing that’s ever happened to me”
His autobiography, GIMP : When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold—or You Can Play is out in October this year.
You can read more about his personality here.
Bob Lujano
lost limbs below the elbow and above the knee, due to a rare blood disease called Meningococcemia, a rare form of Meningitis. Motto in life,
“No arms, no legs, no problem!”
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The impact,
The movie has been out over a year, buy only recently did I get a chance to watch this movie. I can’t think of any other movie that moved me as much, filled me with as much awe, got me involved with the characters as much, a movie that surpasses any other I have seen so far. In a strange way gave me a sort of high that I haven’t experienced before.When you see someone in a wheelchair, what goes through your mind? Anything at all? Do you feel pity for that person? It doesn’t matter what you think or thought, you should try and watch this film.Amongst the take home points I got from the movie, they don’t want pity/sympathy, they don’t want to be asked something along the lines “Do you need help with…?” .. they hate it. Infact one of the stars in the movie made a comment about how much he hated it when someone came up to him at a supermarket when he was loading his bags on to his car (yes, he and the others can drive) .. his point being
“if I can drive myself to the supermarket, I sure F***** can load my own grocery bags onto my car“
If you’d like to download the full story, you can do so from here.
If you’d like, there’s also a donation site, which helps athletes with disabilities. |
