Why is it called murderball

He fell into a coma for two weeks and remained in hospital for a year. His legs and fingers went black as a blood disease attacked his body. At first he thought just his toes would be amputated, then his feet, but he ended up losing his legs below the knees. In the hospital, people tried to offer reassurance, telling him one day he would run marathons in artificial legs. He kept going out with friends, graduated, and got an HR job at a supermarket where he met his wife Vicky.

It was Vicky who encouraged him to try sports. The scarring on his legs meant artificial legs were too painful so wheelchair sports were his only option. He started playing wheelchair basketball — badly. Then he entered a 10 kilometre race to raise money for meningitis research. The other runners all overtook him, but he loved it. He had no idea what to expect. Then, halfway through, his chair broke. But then as he crossed the finish line and saw his time — two and a half hours — he decided he could improve on that.

He returned the next year in a new chair and, after training six days a week, he cut thirty minutes off his time. It was through racing that Phipps came to rugby. In , while racing in a wheelchair track meet, he met two former Team GB wheelchair rugby players on a scouting mission. Phipps had seen the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball , which chronicles the exploits of the US team, and his first impression was that on top of being quadriplegic, the sport required a dose of insanity.

Intrigued, he asked the pair what it was like. Upon entering the murderball world, players effectively get a number stamped on their forehead based on how much of their body works. The system is based on a five-point scale.

Someone with no injury would be a five and someone completely paralysed would be a zero. Phipps is a 3. The number means his spine has not been broken, but his four limbs are damaged. For others, the higher the break is up their spine, the less they can use their body and the lower their classification. These numbers are crucial in the game because the combined points of the four players on the court cannot exceed eight.

Or Mike Kerr — a 1. But what he lacked in experience, he made up for in fitness. Bruce Lowe saw huge potential in Phipps and now helps him train six days a week — as hard as an able-bodied Olympic athlete — doing speed work, weight training and team drills. In his kitchen, Phipps fixes a protein shake, opening a cupboard with photos of himself in action taped inside the door.

As a career counsellor who works with school kids, he admits knocking people out of wheelchairs did not come naturally. Bob Myers believes the Warriors will benefit from situations like the one between Draymond and Jordan Poole on the bench Wednesday. Steph had a great reaction as Anthony Edwards told him he was chasing a milestone in Wednesday night's Warriors-T-Wolves game. Powerful agent Scott Boras was critical of "the fact that the system allowed" Atlanta to win the World Series, despite being under.

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Yes, really. Story continues. Recommended Stories. Patriots Wire. NBC Sports Chicago. Their team of four on court must not exceed 8. Great Britain has a young man squad who are hoping to land their first Paralympics medal at London Captain Steve Brown says wheelchair rugby is not just about banging chairs but is a strategic game like chess. He said the players are keen to make the podium but added: "There is no added pressure.

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