Be The Ball Danny, Be The Ball

This famous Caddyshack quote has followed me for the past eight years and I thought it would be an excellent place to start discussing the topic of what I've learned through sports. (Thanks for the idea Kevin!) In future posts I will discuss other events and activities that have had a great impact on my life because I feel there are lessons in them that can apply to many people’s lives.

For this post I would like to focus on my current passion wheelchair rugby. As part of my web committee duties I came up with an idea for a section named Off The Court. I am not married to the name but the idea behind it is that people find out so much about their new lives as disabled people through the sport of wheelchair rugby. Rugby is more than some recreational or competitive activity it is a tool for learning about life.

My idea is for different players to write different first-person testimonials to show sponsors and the general public the incredible impact rugby has on people's lives.

Please accept this humble submission as an example of how wheelchair rugby has impacted my life.

1. Don’t think so much Chris!
Throughout my life I have tended to be trapped in my mind for many different reasons but a common theme is I didn't want to make mistakes. I am far from perfect in solving this insecurity but it has gotten much better. Because of rugby I realize that mistakes equate to growth and I've been able to take many more chances off the court.

2. Movement is good even if you just made mistake
I attribute this lesson all to one occurrence in rugby. When I get beat by someone who is faster than me and my teammates switches who they are defending to help me out it is my responsibility to haul ass and try to cover the person that my teammate was originally guarding. I used to be so embarrassed by this but I always pushed as hard as I could. Then towards the end of the season last year I started to notice I was able to make some positive things happen even though the movement originally began with a mistake. I know this is a lesson that can be applied to so many different things in life.

3. Score Here!
Sorry this is a Lakeshore inside joke but the point is I have realized that it is a good thing to state your intentions even if on occasion you make a complete fool of yourself. When you say what is in your heart the things you want have a way of coming true. When I fail while saying what I thought was the right thing I have a tendency to remember the lesson more vividly. I believe this can be the case anywhere on the failure scale from minor to epic proportions however for it to be most effective I have found that it is imperative to move on completely from the failure. Like stated in point number two failure is okay, it's good even, failure is a vessel for growth.

4. Learning My Body
Even though I've had my disability for my entire life I continue to learn about it and understand more on a regular basis. Rugby is the second chapter of my life that has been a great time to learn about how my body works. When I played college wheelchair basketball it allowed me to learn a great deal however because I rarely touched the ball I was not forced to learn as much. Because I get to handle the ball much more regularly in rugby it has forced me to have a better understanding of what's going on. Because of the way I breath and prepare myself to catch the ball I have a better understanding of why my limbs and trunk spasm. I am far from complete mastery of this issue however I have seen improvement in this area. Through rugby catching and pushing I have also realized that my arms and hands tend to lock up. I don't always understand what triggers it but now I have a better understanding of why my car parking skills are less than stellar and occasionally a Lean Cuisine meal ends up on the kitchen floor (don't worry I never remove the plastic cover until I am settled and ready to eat).

5. Everyone can be Batman
When I played wheelchair basketball I did not have very high self-esteem. I just saw myself as a picker who worked really hard to be mediocre. Yes I was a picker but that didn't mean I had to be the Robin to anyone's Batman. Being a leading man or woman in your own life has very little to do with the role you play and much more to do with the way you lead your life. Lead your life with confidence, work ethic and compassion and who can possibly stop you? It doesn’t matter what happened in my life that lead me to the rugby court. All that matters is we are on the rugby court together making our sport better everyday. Lets all be leaders together!

Life is a team sport and my wheelchair rugby career is no different. I would like to finish this post by thanking everyone who has helped me in my career.

A huge thank you to My Team the Lakeshore Demolition! Thanks to an amazing staff Kevin, Kris, Boo, Gary, Kevo, Joe, The Fosters, Crystal, Patti, Crystal, Trish and all the other amazing people that work at Lakeshore.

Thanks to all my amazing teammates. Thanks to former teammates Dan Buckingham, Brandon McNeil and Josh Pennington I miss being able to see you all at least twice a week. Thanks to V, Sulli, Edward, Bob-bo, Bry, and Big Will for having patience with the young crew. Thanks to Am, J and Del for having patience with me as we continue to grow together. A special thank you goes to Joel Wilmoth for not killing me or causing me serious bodily harm. :)

Thanks to my former teammates in Chicago. They gave some basketball kid a chance when he had very little knowledge of the game.

Thanks to the teams that have allowed me to be a guest player along the road so far. John Bishop, Marco Dispaltro, and the South Florida Rattlers during Knock and Roll in 2007, Team Manitoba for Windsor and Canadian Nationals in 2007, and finally my newfound boys from Nebraska and Iowa the Midwest Rugby Rebels who let me play with them in Minnesota in St. Louis this year. It was truly a selfless act to allow me to be a guest on their teams.

Thanks to everyone I have met through special rugby events like Team USQRA tryouts and Texas Thunder.

Thanks to everyone that I have worked with as part of USQRA boards. You are all wonderful people and it has been an honor. A special thank you goes to all my brothers of the web Bob, Bill, Jason, John & Don from north of the border. Thank you for having so much patience with this website newbie.

I would also like to thank all the amazing people I have met through this sport. The encouragement and knowledge I have gained from one-time strangers is incredible. It is the catalyst for why I want to start the “Off The Court” section of the website. The knowledge sharing for life that goes on is truly unique and must be praised.

So many people have given me encouragement I hate to single out just a few, but I must to prove a point. Thanks to such world class people Will Groulx, James Gumbert, Mike Whitehead, Ian Chan, Erika Schmutz, Ross Morrison and Dave Willsie for giving me unsolicited encouragement while I was in Vancouver this summer. It proves that whether we come from rival teams in the USQRA or rival countries we are all family in rugby.

Another set of special thank you must go out to my Lakeshore family. I know I would not be following my passion of writing if it wasn’t for Lakeshore and all my other rugby brothers and sisters.

Thanks to Eddie and Sulli for having to listen to me talk rugby and life more then anyone else during tournament weekends, emails and phone calls. If it wasn’t for V (the defensive machine), Eddie (my hero) and Sulli (The Man) I could not see any court time right now.

Thanks to Kevin for being my coach in not just rugby but also life. You took a chance on a fellow Illini when you didn’t have to. You set my life down an entirely different path when you enthusiastically took my phone call on October 14 2005.

A final thank you goes to Dan Buckingham and Gary Pate they have taken on the task of being my best friends while in Birmingham. They have spent more time with me off the court than anyone else. Dan has gone back to the Southern Hemisphere however I am happy to report that Gary continues to help me improve in life on a day to day basis.

Thanks for reading!
Chris