Team Fire & Smile

This post is dedicated to Dave Willsie. I learned about Dave Willsie from the pages of Sports ‘n Spokes magazine before I even started playing wheelchair rugby. Dave has been a mainstay on the Canadian national team for a decade and a member of many successful American club teams.

We met and played against each other for the first time in January 2007. Dave was playing for his hometown team the London Ontario Annihilators and I was a guest player for the South Florida Rattlers. I knew Dave and the rest of his team would be a real challenge for me and my adopted team, that is why I was shocked on my team’s first possession I was able to break free and score.

As London inbounded Dave got the ball and before I knew it the only thing between Dave and the goal was me. Dave was going faster then I was and I could not stop him with my chair so I tried to reach in and cause a jump ball. In the process I gave his arm a good whack which was not intended. I apologized immediately and Dave calmly replied “No worries man. It’s part of rugby.” We have been friends ever since.

I love the way Dave plays because it is full of passion and he takes each goal scored against him personally. He strives for perfection on the rugby court. He is living proof the size of fight in the dog is ten times more important then the size of the dog in the fight.

I saw Dave this summer at a competition where I was frustrated because my offseason had been full of injuries and I was not training the way I wanted to. The advice he offered could be applied to any field in life.

“As long as you have fire in your belly and a smile on your face you will figure out a way to be successful.”

Thank you Dave for the sage advice. There is so much fundamental truth in such a simple statement. It is hard to stop a person that is hungry and happy. Being joyful and aggressively striving perfection is quite a combo.

Thanks for reading!
Chris