Murderball, Quad Rugby Players Appear at Trinity
Emma Bayer
Issue date: 11/29/05 Section: Arts
The quad rugby players don't want sympathy or pity though. Mark Zupan, the U.S. quad rugby team captain, tells a group of prospective players that he has "done more in a wheelchair than able-bodied." The rugby players that Rubin and Shapiro film do not deny that they are disabled, but they do not define themselves by their disabilities, either. Two of Zupan's friends concur (sort of), recalling that Zupan was a jerk before he was a quadriplegic, calling any effort to relate the two conditions "bogus."
Much of the film centers on team members off the court. They are all surprisingly regular guys. Zupan is definitely a bad-ass, with a goatee, multiple tattoos, and a hot girlfriend who used to work at the morgue. In the movie, Zupan and his girlfriend goof around at a pool like any other couple, as the Moldy Peaches' "Anybody Else but You" (one of several soundtrack gems) plays in the background. The guys joke around with each other, teasing one teammate because he "doesn't like big boobs," or fairly unabashedly answering questions about sex and meeting girls.
Many members of the Trinity men's and women's rugby teams came to Monday night's screening and talk and seemed fascinated by the game. Murderball gets its name because the game's goal is "to basically kill the man with the ball," as Zupan explains. Quadriplegics are not paralyzed; they have impairment in all four limbs, most because of spinal cord injuries. Each player is given between .5 and 3 points, depending on ability, and during the game coaches can put out players for a total of 8 points. Most put glue on their gloves to catch the ball. The quad rugby games are as intense as any played by the Trinity teams, with their steel-plated wheelchairs crashing thunderously.
At the games, family members, friends, and significant others pack the stands and look as invested in the game as any player. Scott Hogsett, another team member, meets "the girl of his dreams" at a bar. Bob Lujano, a quadruple amputee, meets his girlfriend, a paraplegic swimmer, at the Athens Paralympics. Lujano is remarkably agile and mobile and has been playing quad rugby for ten years. He is also one of the friendliest team members. A group of cub scouts visits, and one tow-headed kid shyly asks how he eats pizza with his elbows; Lujano demonstrates with a smile. Later, in Athens, the guys recreate a scene from Ocean's Eleven, and Lujano hides in a cardboard box to the delight and guffaws of his teammates.
Much of the film centers on team members off the court. They are all surprisingly regular guys. Zupan is definitely a bad-ass, with a goatee, multiple tattoos, and a hot girlfriend who used to work at the morgue. In the movie, Zupan and his girlfriend goof around at a pool like any other couple, as the Moldy Peaches' "Anybody Else but You" (one of several soundtrack gems) plays in the background. The guys joke around with each other, teasing one teammate because he "doesn't like big boobs," or fairly unabashedly answering questions about sex and meeting girls.
Many members of the Trinity men's and women's rugby teams came to Monday night's screening and talk and seemed fascinated by the game. Murderball gets its name because the game's goal is "to basically kill the man with the ball," as Zupan explains. Quadriplegics are not paralyzed; they have impairment in all four limbs, most because of spinal cord injuries. Each player is given between .5 and 3 points, depending on ability, and during the game coaches can put out players for a total of 8 points. Most put glue on their gloves to catch the ball. The quad rugby games are as intense as any played by the Trinity teams, with their steel-plated wheelchairs crashing thunderously.
At the games, family members, friends, and significant others pack the stands and look as invested in the game as any player. Scott Hogsett, another team member, meets "the girl of his dreams" at a bar. Bob Lujano, a quadruple amputee, meets his girlfriend, a paraplegic swimmer, at the Athens Paralympics. Lujano is remarkably agile and mobile and has been playing quad rugby for ten years. He is also one of the friendliest team members. A group of cub scouts visits, and one tow-headed kid shyly asks how he eats pizza with his elbows; Lujano demonstrates with a smile. Later, in Athens, the guys recreate a scene from Ocean's Eleven, and Lujano hides in a cardboard box to the delight and guffaws of his teammates.
