Power Player

By Jamie Sutherland

Wheelchair rugby is also known as murderball, and for good reason – it’s a no-guts-no-glory kind of game played by warriors in battle chairs. For Erika Schmutz, it’s also a passion, career and way of life.

Last May, Schmutz, 33, became only the third female to be named to the Canadian national wheelchair rugby team. She is also currently the only female playing at a national level worldwide.

Wheelchair rugby has been in the pop culture spotlight for the past year, thanks to the Academy Award-nominated documentary Murderball, which features many of Schmutz’s teammates. Wheelchair rugby combines elements of volleyball, basketball and hockey. It is played on a basketball court using a volleyball. All players have reduced mobility in all four limbs. Four players from each team are on the court, and each athlete is assigned a point value based on their level of mobility. Each team cannot exceed eight points on the court at any time.

The object of the game is to carry the ball down the court and over the goal line, passing or bouncing it every 10 seconds. Athletes are equipped with gladiator-like wheelchairs built to withstand high-impact collisions. And, believe it or not, they don’t wear helmets.

Despite being the only female and half the size of her teammates, Schmutz is just as competitive as any other athlete on the court. “At 100 pounds soaking wet, I have to rely on my speed instead of size,” explains Schmutz. “I use my head instead of strength.” For the national team, Schmutz plays a defensive role. When playing with her club team, Toronto’s Barking Spiders, she plays offence.

Despite the spectacular smash-ups that happen in every game, Schmutz has no fear. In fact, she’s more worried about her chair being dented than getting hurt. The custom-made aluminum chairs, which cost $2,500 without wheels, are equipped with spoke protectors, wings from the footplates, bumpers and other gadgets to minimize the impact on the athletes. Top-of-the-line wheels can cost an extra $2,000.

When asked whether opposing players go easier on her on the court because she’s a woman, Schmutz assures me that that’s not the case. “I think I get hit harder because I’m a girl. They think by knocking me harder they can get the ball.”

Players don’t seem to worry much about getting injured. Chairs do tip over, but players aren’t likely to be badly injured unless they fall forward or backwards. Referees call penalties for illegal hits, such as hitting from behind, causing another player to spin violently or hitting any part of a player’s body with hands or arms. For these offences, players are sent to the penalty box for one minute, or until the other team scores. Playing penalties are called for going out of bounds illegally or having more than three defensive players in the key. Schmutz is aggressive but also smart, and avoids penalties as much as possible.

Athletic from a young age, Schmutz has been involved in track and field, cross-country running, martial arts, mountain biking and swimming. In October 2000, she was seriously injured when her car hit two moose near Thunder Bay, Ontario, where she and her husband, Rob, were working as power engineers.

Schmutz’s injuries included two broken arms and a shattered C7 vertebra. Rob, who escaped serious injury, called 911 and resuscitated her. She was rushed to the hospital, where a pin was later implanted in her spine from her C6 to T1 vertebrae.

After two weeks, Schmutz was transferred to the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, where she stayed for five months. It was there that Lynda Charters, a therapeutic recreationist in the spinal cord rehabilitation program, introduced Schmutz to wheelchair rugby.

Schmutz’s competitive spirit certainly did not change after her accident. After her recovery, she began swimming and competed at Canadian Summer Nationals in 2002, where she set three records. She later took up wheelchair fencing and qualified for the Paralympics, although no women’s team was sent to the Games in 2004. During this time, Schmutz joined the Barking Spiders. The more she played wheelchair rugby, the more she loved it.

Schmutz attended wheelchair rugby nationals in 2003, and it was there that team coaches noticed her and invited her to attend a training camp in Florida. She paid her own way to the session and from there she decided she would try out for the team. In 2005, she was invited to don the Team Canada jersey. She has already played with the team in New Zealand and Brazil, and her dream is to play at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Schmutz’s training consists of 10 to 20 hours of swimming, weights and other strength and endurance exercises each week. She lives in Whitby, Ontario, and her coach resides in Quebec, so she is on her own for much of the training. Team members must try out every year, so her next goal is to make the team to play at the 2006 world championships.

Schmutz says that, since her injury, her outlook on life has changed. “Before, I worked a lot and didn’t take holidays or travel. Now, I realize there is so much more to life.”

When asked what advice she has for others, Schmutz stresses the importance of staying positive, trying new things and getting involved in the community. “Everyone has down days. You just have to take it one day at a time,” she says. “The most important thing to do is to get out of the house. There are so many interesting people to meet and so many things in life to experience. Try everything and live for the moment.”

Jamie Sutherland enjoys travelling, writing and the outdoors. She lives in Toronto and works in advertising.