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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 8, 2005 ‘Murderball’ shows triumphant tale of quadriplegics By Chris Honore Tidings Correspondent They come slammin’ and jammin’ down the field of play, a cadre of kamikaze road warriors that crash and smash, carrying a white volleyball, passing, dribbling, intent on the goal line. Every player is a charging, take it to the edge competitor, looking for the pass, fighting for the goal line, wanting above all to win. And each player is a quadriplegic, strapped in a Mad Max wheel chair of heavy duty, welded steel, the wheels cantilevered, their muscular, corded torsos bent forward, heads bend down, straining with effort. There’s not a pad or helmet in sight. Welcome to Murderball. Or, as the International Paralympic Committee likes to call it, Quad Rugby. There’s a story to tell here. Not just about this take-no-prisoners game, but about the young men who play it. And that is exactly what the film “Murderball” does. Intensely. Up close and personal. Get Out Murderball Documentary directed by Dana Adams Shapiro and Henry-Alex Rubin Produced by Jeffrey Mandel Rated R Opening at the Varsity Theatre Oct. 14 with benefit screenings for Ashland Independent Film Festival at 6:15 and 8:30 p.m. For two and a half years, the filmmakers followed Team USA, a group of world-class athletes, from the courts of Sweden to the Paralympic games in Athens, Greece. It is a journey of stunning victory and crushing defeat, and woven into the competition is the very personal stories of six young men who began not as world-class athletes, but as individuals whose destiny would take them to that one singular moment when a neck-breaking accident would abruptly alter their lives forever. Suddenly all that was taken for granted, every step, every motion, now required mind-numbing, heartbreaking effort. As each player acknowledges, the first two years can be jarring, dark and hopeless, a wall of depression and denial. And gradually, as the dream of ever walking again is painfully relinquished, the question then looms: What will take its place? What next? For John Soares, Scott Hagsett, Bob Lujano, Andy Cohn, Keith Cavill and Mark Zupan, it’s Murderball. Each came to terms with who they were, with not only the impossibilities that defined their lives, but the possibilities. Out of the crucible of their life-altering paralysis, each became a standup guy. “Murderball” captures that spirit in every frame. They reject all sentimentality, detest condescension, and will be the first to dispel all the stereotypes and assumptions that civilians hold by the kilo about their circumstances — including sex. For them, the wheelchair is not a jail where they do hard time, but a launching pad, a line in the sand that dares them to step over and beyond. And that’s what they do. They step up. Move forward. And if challenged, at the drop of a volleyball, they can tap into a well-stoked rage that springs from the most elemental of places. That is what this astonishing film captures — that spirit. Clearly the filmmakers went to great lengths to avoid any hint of a hand-wringing, quasi-religious, beatific, heartrending Hollywood wrap-up. To the contrary, these players, while inspirational, are also decidedly human. Mark Zuppan, for example, looks like a refugee from Attica, goateed, splendidly tattooed, a trash-talking, out for revenge, deal-with-it player and individual, who every day dares himself or anyone else to define him by his limitations. He’ll be the first to insist that his “ass-level” view of the world suits him just fine. And the rest of the team follows along the same arc. It makes for energizing and enlightening filmmaking and Rubin and Shapiro get it just right. Quad rugby is a ’70s transplant from Canada By Chris Honore Tidings Correspondent Quad rugby was created in the 1970s by Canadian Brad Mikkelsen and his colleagues. Mikkelsen introduced the game to the U.S. in the 1980s and the United States Quad Rugby Association now boasts some 65 club teams. It was included as a demonstration sport in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games. Quad Rugby is played with a volleyball on a regulation-size basketball court. Squads are composed of eight players, four per team, competing on the court in eight-minute quarters. Substitutions are permitted. Scores, worth one point, are obtained by athletes carrying the ball in a controlled fashion over the goal line and into the end zone. They must bounce the ball every ten seconds; the ball can be thrown, rolled, batted or dribbled, or carried up field. Occasionally chairs crash to the floor and trainers must rush to upright the player who is strapped in at the waist, knees, and ankles. The competitive season runs from October until national championships in April. Regional playoffs determine which clubs will vie for the national trophy, and potential U.S. squad players are viewed throughout the season. Players must have a combination of upper and lower body extremity impairment, but not necessarily total paralysis. Most have suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury that results in some form of paralysis to all four limbs, hence the term “quadra,” derived from Latin, meaning four. “Plegic” is derived from the Greek word “plegia” meaning paralysis. “Para” is derived from the Greek word for “two.” The exception is Bob Lujano of the U.S. team, who is a quadruple amputee, having lost his limbs below the elbow and above the knee due to a rare form of meningitis. Damage to the spinal cord is known as a lesion and the resulting paralysis is known as quadriplegia if the injury is in the cervical (neck) region or paraplegia if the injury is in the thoracic, lumbar or sacral region. Individuals who are paraplegics and have full upper body use cannot qualify for quad rugby. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a paraplegic. The spinal cord does not have to be completely severed for there to be a loss of function. In fact, the cord remains in tact in most cases of spinal cord injury. It is most common for the injury to result in swelling, which in turn results in nerve damage causing scar tissue to form, which inhibits the formation of new nerve pathways making the resulting paralysis permanent. Generally, a paraplegic will be in the hospital for some five months, whereas a quadriplegic can be in the hospital for six to eight months; all must undergo extensive rehabilitation. 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