Murderball

(Note: We here at 78 will be doing a much more in-depth story in our January publication about the Lakeshore Foundation and their myriad of programs. This article however focuses mainly on international wheelchair rugby. Enjoy)When you walk in, you hear it.There is a deep, reverberating boom of something metal being flung into something else metal at very high speeds over and over and over. This repetitive crashing is given an echoey quality that only empty gyms can produce. It permeates the skin. The noise draws you in from sheer curiosity.You hear it before you can see it, and there’s some confusion because everyone around you is-BOOM-nonchalantly going about their-BOOM-business. Then the mystery reveals itself. On a basketball court hidden behind the trees of Lakeshore in Birmingham, the two premier rugby countries in the world are squaring off. This kind of rugby just happens to be played in wheelchairs.This is the sporting secret of Birmingham. A complex tucked into a hillside just on the outskirts of Homewood is home to a virtually unknown sporting haven. The secret isn’t intentional; no one is scheming to keep the locals out of the loop. However the fact remains that Birmingham houses an internationally recognized and renowned facility that is known in circles throughout Europe and Asia, but often remains a mystery to those living a legitimate stone’s throw away. This facility, the Lakeshore Foundation, is the training home of the USA Wheelchair Rugby and USA Wheelchair Basketball teams, as well as assisting in training for a myriad of Olympic and Paralympic sports alike. Birmingham is the American Mecca for wheelchair athletes, yet few in the surrounding area are familiar with the facility.I graduated from Samford University this past May and drove past signs for the Lakeshore Foundation every time I was in a car for four years. The only reason I know anything about the place is because I spent one evening there in my undergraduate years getting embarrassed while playing a game of wheelchair football. The owner of 78 Magazine has an apartment that backs into the Lakeshore Foundation, and as we were walking in to watch this match, he remarked, “Whoa, this place is huge.” At the very least there is an emotional spectrum ranging from passing curiosity to unintentional indifference towards this incredible site. We were lucky enough to spend some time with Damian Veazey and Bob Lujano of the Foundation this week to learn more about what exactly it is that goes on inside their little bubble and, more specifically, about the game unfolding before us.One of the first noticeable components of the rugby match we were there to witness between the United States and Australia was the almost humorous juxtaposition between what was happening on the court of play compared to what was happening around it. The match, being held in one of the many gyms on the Lakeshore Foundation’s campus, is surrounded by an indoor track. And on that track are roughly twelve to sixteen different adults ranging in age from about fifty to seventy-five simply minding their own business and exercising. They walk at their own leisurely paces, some of them are biking in assisted bicycles, and all the while this hellacious competition is unfolding in the center. From first glance, this may look like some sort of pick-up scenario because of the surrounding activity; however it only takes a moment of attention to become engrossed with what is taking place. The coordinated attacks and calculated defensive schemes combined with the powerful hits and stunning agility make for an outing that I don’t fully understand at first, but am eager to learn more about.As an American growing up in Kentucky and Alabama, my exposure to rugby has been minimal. I could be considered an expert in the finer points of hockey when compared to what I know about rugby, and what I know about hockey is that there is a guy named Wayne Gretzky who exists and he has an attractive daughter. Therefore my virgin rugby experience was filled with questions, especially since this version of rugby was played in wheelchairs. Essentially the only knowledge I had of rugby upon entering the day was that it is played by very large, grizzled men who hit each other repetitively, and both of those parts rang especially true in this setting. Them boys is big. The largest player on this day played for Australia, and he spent most of his day doing his best homing missile impersonation, locking on to any unfortunate American who was brave (dumb?) enough to venture too close. I was one-for-one on my rugby predispositions. However I needed the experts help to understand everything else.Veazey, who has worked at the Foundation for eight years, talks to me about the players for the United States team like any sports fan would discuss the team they follow. He tells me who the best players are, and informs me, on more than one occasion, that this game won’t really give a fair portrait of both teams, because the best player in the world, an Australian named Ryley Batt, wasn’t able to make the trip. Even without Batt, the Aussies are still the number one ranked team in the world, but he is an integral cog that they could have used this day. Veazey and I talk a fair amount about the Foundation itself, and all the different incredible things going on inside their property, but it is Lujano who played the game and is more than happy to talk to me about the finer points of the competition.The games consist of four, eight minute quarters and is four on four .Teams have ten seconds to inbound the ball, twelve to cross mid court, a bounce pass must be made every ten seconds, and two wheels must cross the goal line to score. The most interesting aspect of this sport, however, is the classification system. Every player is classed by an impartial, educated third party called the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) over the course of time on a scale between 0.5 and 3.5. The closer a player is to zero, the greater the disability the player has. Teams are not allowed to exceed a cumulative point total of eight at any given time. Therefore teams have to consciously look for competitive players at every classification level, and not overload on the highest functioning players.“It’s cutthroat, if there are three guys who are all class 3 and are all very good, the team might only need two because they need to make sure and have guys at lower classifications who can work into the lineups as well” Lujano says, who has won three medals with Team USA, including a medal from the 2004 Paralympic games with and is now on staff with the Foundation. “It adds a dimension to the game that’s not seen in other sports.”As Lujano’s trained eye spouts off different classifications of players in the game, I become engrossed in the precision and power of a particularly impressive series of plays, and I realize that these men have found something that very few people find in their lifetimes. Living in a world that is not where everyday activities require uncommon amounts of time, they have found an arena where they truly flourish and thrive. On this court, on this day, they are masters of their domain. How many people can say that they have an area of their lives where they are truly the best in the world? These players put in the time and energy required to be able to make that claim.The best possible summation to this article came after the US had beaten Australia handily (again, not an accurate portrayal, that will come at Rio in two years) and we were talking briefly with the coach of the American team, James Gumbert. After he thanks us for coming to watch the exhibition, he tells us “we want people like you to watch this and see the chair as a way to play the sport. We want people to watch and say to themselves ‘Damn, I wish I could do that.’”We came, we watched, and we left with a newfound sense of respect for a group of athletes at the top of their craft.Damn. I wish I could do that. 78 To see more photos of our day at Lakeshore Foundation, please visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/78mag and give us a LIKE!Photography by Al Blanton