We are looking for more players to add to our rugby team at Variety Village in Toronto (Danforth and Birchmount). If you are interested in playing, please come any Wednesday night from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. You can also join us for speed drills and passing drills at 5:00 pm-ish. Our coach/team organizer, Erika Schmutz (Paralympian and member of the Canadian National team), will be taking August off but some of us of will be continuing to play all through August. Practice will 'officially' resume in September. You do not need experience and you do not need to be a quad. For the rec league, any mobility impairment is acceptable. We are looking to start doing tournaments at the Village at some point in the near future.

Directions and membership info to Variety Village can be found at http://www.varietyontario.ca/village/index.htm
If you are not a member of the Village, I think you will need to buy a day pass to come in and play ($10) as non-members need passes to enter the facility. We do have a couple spare rugby chairs available if you don't have your own. We've got a few people on the team who come from out of town so if you're in Southern Ontario and interested in murderball, come on out and play!

Hi Ophelia,

My name is Clara. I'm a researcher from the RMIT University in Australia. I'm currently conducting research on rugby Wheelchair design in relation to enhancement and customization of performance for wheelchair rugby athletes.

As part of the research, I have targeted Paralympic athletes from the main International teams to fill in a short survey regarding preferences and performance customization requirements for different classification athletes. The survey had been posted in the main wheelchair rugby sport forums and has had amazing return from elite athletes worldwide. However, I am still in need of input from the Canada national team and I'm guessing the reason is that the survey hasn't reached any of the athletes in the national team yet.

The main idea of the project is to be able to provide Paralympic athletes with an easy and immediate way to customize their equipment for performance and fit to deliver the best results in international competition.
For this purpose I would kindly like to request your assistance by forwarding this message to other experienced athletes, coaches or enthusiasts who are involved in Wheelchair Rugby and I'll be especially grateful if you could please pass it on to Erika Schmutz. Maybe she would be interested and pass it on to the rest of the team.

The survey link is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oVKv...ctziE1Pdw_3d_3d

The completion of the survey should take only a few minutes and obtained input will be greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions in regards to the survey, or if you are interested in learning more about our work and research; please feel free to contact me through this forum or on e-mail below.

Thank you very much in advance for your time and help. Keep the good work up, wheelchair rugby is a great sport!

Kind regards,

Clara Usma
PhD Research student
clara.usmaalvarez@student.rmit.edu.au
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
RMIT University
Melbourne, Australia
3083

Just a quick update on this:

The Toronto rugby team (which just came back from competing in the Parasport Winter games in January) is still recruiting new players! We are now practicing on MONDAY NIGHTS at Variety Village in Toronto from 6:30-9 pm. You do not need to have experience to join us. We will teach you. We have a coach and a national team player who also acts as our coach and rugby chair rentals are available from the Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association for just $20/month. We do have some spare chairs but not many. Please PM me if you are interested in joining the team and I will give you the email of our team contact. One of the national team coaches will be scouting on February 18th so that would be the day to come on out! Variety Village memberships or a visitor pass are required to enter the facility. Visitor passes are $10.