A south Island Paralympian figures the fierce competition to earn a spot on the world stage in wheelchair rugby will continue when the world’s top eight hit the hardwood in Paris.
Canada earned a place at this year’s Games with a second-place (behind Australia) finish in the 2024 qualification tournament.
Byron Green, of Brentwood Bay, first made the national team in 2013 and now calls all the players in Canada’s program friends.
“It makes all the travel and leaving the family behind more appealing. I always know I’m going to have a great time on the road,” he said.
He feels fortunate to make his third Paralympic return – with the team falling just shy of reaching the podium in the previous two competitions.
Green’s first foray was the 2016 Rio Games and he still bears the sting of a bronze-medal loss as Canada’s team finished a “disappointing” fourth.
“Going in we were expecting a top-three finish and we were well positioned to do it,” Green recalls. “That said, being my first Games it was a great experience.”
He was fortunate enough to have family and friends make a big trip of it and travel to Rio. “It was really nice to have the support. Even though we don’t get to see them that often.”
Hanging out with clan is not at the top of the schedule, with eating, sleeping and recovering the priorities.
“We’re there to compete and to perform. But it’s still really great to have that support in the crowd.”
His second Paralympic Games stand in stark contrast, played in empty Tokyo venues
“It was really strange being in a big open arena that was just empty,” he said. “Even though we worked just as hard to get there – and we’re playing against all the best teams – just not having the same atmosphere … it took away from it.”
Canada finished fifth that year.
When Green hits the hardwood of Champ De Mars Arena in the centre of Paris, his five-year-old son Sawyer will be among the throngs of spectators.
“To see him experience that Paralympic atmosphere; to share that part of my life with him, I’m excited to share that,” Green said.
A tight and experienced team, the dozen members of Canada’s wheelchair rugby team boast an “almost unheard of” amount of Paralympic experience.
“There’s so much experience and knowledge that we have as a team,” Green said. “I think we’re all really focused. We’re a really tight team, been playing together a long time. We have that unfinished business mindset.”
A similar mindset pushed Green into the sport in 2005. A lifelong athlete active in a variety of sports, a 2001 spinal cord injury during a mountain bike incident sidelined him.
“Post-injury is a really tough time, it was a really tough time in my life, there’s always that adjustment period,” Green said. “When I found wheelchair rugby it was a big turning point in my recovery, finding a sport that allowed me to be active and fired up my competitive drive and passion for sports – reconnecting with that side of myself as a quadriplegic.”
It led to him becoming a happy and healthy individual again, a feeling he aims to share.
“I love wheelchair rugby and it’s done so many amazing things for me. I’ll be part of the community for the rest of my life.”
Green and wife Alana both grew up in the Comox Valley, and recently returned to the Island from the mainland, settling back in Greater Victoria three years ago. Now he coaches the provincial team and helps with the Victoria Wheelchair Sports Association, offering several sports including wheelchair rugby, sledge hockey and wheelchair tennis at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence in Saanich.
“We’re a really welcoming, inclusive group and we love having new people come out and try it out for the first time.”
Wheelchair rugby, once referred to as murderball, is a raucous sounding, and looking, contact game that Green describes as “bumper cars turned into a sport.” While the hitting may appear to put players at risk, the rugby chairs tend to take the impact, he added.
A Canadian heritage sport invented in Winnipeg, it’s a four-versus-four indoor game played on a basketball court. Unlike rugby, the ball can move in any direction.
“It wasn’t based on able-bodied rugby and when the name changed to wheelchair rugby, they chose wheelchair rugby because how you score points is very similar,” Green explained.
Wheelchair rugby teams from France, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the U.S. compete in Paris from Aug. 29 to 31 followed by placing playoffs and semifinals with medal matches set for Sept. 2.
