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2009 News and Information
Second Test For World Championships Begin at Olympic Oval
07 May 2009The second test event in preparation for the 2010 World Wheelchair
Rugby Championships (2010 WWRC) takes place at the Richmond Olympic Oval May 8-10 as the 2009 Coloplast Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships gets underway.
Canada’s top wheelchair rugby athletes will battle it out for provincial supremacy, and then put their National Team “hats” on to begin training for the 2010 WWRC which runs September 17 - 26, 2010 at the Oval.
New to the National Team this year is head coach, Kevin Orr, who coached the USA team to a silver medal at the 2002 World Championships and bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
“Canada was within one goal of the gold medal game in Beijing,” said Orr. “There is a lot of experience here. There are athletes who have attended three Paralympic Games and one that has four under his belt. It’s neat to see some of the up and coming talent mixed with the veterans.”
The coaching staff will use the training camp to institute new systems that the team will follow over the next year-and-a-half. Tournaments in Great Britain this August and Argentina in October will test those systems on their journey to the 2010 WWRC.
“We have fantastic team speed and we’re very physical,” continued Orr. “We have a very good future ahead of us.”
During the Coloplast Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships all teams will play in one, single round robin format with the first through fourth place teams from the round robin playing for the Division 1 National Championship (the Campbell Cup) and the fifth through eighth place teams competing for the Division 2 National Title (the Zbieranowski Cup). The Campbell Cup is named after the sport’s co-founder, Duncan Campbell, now a resident of BC, and a player/coach on the BC – C team at the Championships.
Wheelchair rugby is a sport for athletes with a disability in at least three limbs, with mechanics and rules borrowed from team handball, ice hockey and basketball. Wheelchair rugby is the only full contact sport played by athletes with a disability. Called “Murderball” by the five Canadians from Winnipeg, MB, who developed it, the sport first captured the fascination of the public when it was the subject of the 2005 film by the same name.
Wheelchair rugby was designated as a Canadian Heritage Sport in 2008, one of only six sports within the Canadian sport system with that designation, and the only sport for athletes with a disability to receive this distinction. Wheelchair rugby gained full medal status at the Sydney Paralympic Games and was a fan favourite from that point on to the Beijing Games in 2008.
BC will play host to the world’s 12 top ranked wheelchair rugby teams as over 400 athletes, coaches, officials, delegates and volunteers converge on the Richmond Olympic Oval in 2010. It will be the first International event at the Oval following the 2010 Olympics.
The Coloplast Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships is hosted by BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA), a not-for-profit organization devoted to providing opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities. Founded in 1971, it works to provide access to quality programs for athletes with disabilities. BCWSA partners with other Provincial Wheelchair Sports Societies across Canada in promoting wheelchair sport and community awareness.
Complimentary tickets for the Canadian Championships are available on game days at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Visit www.bcwheelchairsports.com for more information and Championships results.
