The Kelowna Wheelchair Rugby Club and the UBCO Kinesiology Department will join forces to showcase several para-sports at a special demo on Thursday March 6th from 1:30 until 4 pm at UBCO (south gym). This event will be a unique interactive opportunity for athletes with a disability, friends, volunteers, students, and practitioners to expand the knowledge base within the rehab and sports world in the Okanagan.
All members of the community - whether able-bodied or disabled - are invited to ask questions about and then try wheelchair rugby. All equipment will be provided, and participation is totally free.
Wheelchair rugby is a full-contact sport for men and women of all ages. It is a sport for people who have functional impairment in at least 3 limbs, though in smaller communities athletes with paraplegia may be allowed to participate. Athletes train and compete in custom designed "MadMax-like" wheelchairs and score points by carrying a ball over a goal line. This Paraplympic
medal sport was made famous by the 2005 documentary "Murderball" and was started in Manitoba in
1977 by Canadians still involved in the sport.
Kelowna KOs take pride in acknowledging sponsors such as Canadian Paralympic Committee, BCWSA, BC Rehab, ViaSport and the Province of British Columbia, Pacific Sport, Own the Podium Program, and local sponsors Hybrid Elevator, Doak Shirreff, School District 23, Boilermakers 359, City of Kelowna, Parkinson Rec Centre, Spinal Cord Injury BC, and our individual sponsors reaching as far as Singapore.
For more information please contact Colleen Bryant at cobryant@telus.net or 250-808-2955.