by Matt Milner
Staff Writer
Before you go diving into a pool this summer, ponder for a second what might happen if you were to hit the floor of the pool, head first. This very thing happened to 26-year-old University of Houston senior psychology major Jason Twedt, and it left him permanently paralyzed.
Twedt is classified as an incomplete paraplegic - he has use of his arms but not his legs.
An accident of this magnitude is certainly a life-altering event, but it does not have to be a life-hindering event, as Twedt has proven by participating in the increasingly popular paraplegic sport of wheelchair rugby.
That's right, wheelchair rugby. But isn't that a little dangerous?
Why yes, in fact, as Twedt put it, "... you get knocked on your ass a lot."
With the lack of mobility and possibly risking further injury, one might think paraplegic sports would have to be a tamed and controlled, but not so for Twedt and his fellow teammates on the Gulf Coast Hurricanes wheelchair rugby team, whose motto is to "experience the storm and twist some metal."
With the sport gaining enormous popularity amongst paraplegics, it has been added as a medal event for the Paralympic Games that will accompany the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Even though the sport is called wheelchair rugby, it shares only a few characteristics of conventional rugby: There is physical contact and the object is to put a ball through a marked goal.
"Speed helps greatly," said Twedt of the wheelchair variety, "but the fundamentals are ball handling ... and patience because one mistake could cost you the game at this level."
Instead of playing on a grass field, wheelchair rugby is played on a basketball court. There is a goal at either end of the court marked by cones spaced eight meters apart. A volleyball is dribbled and passed back and forth between the players with the object being that one player has possession of the ball as he passes the opponent's goal line.
Four players from each team are allowed on the court at the same time. Each player is classified by ability on a scale of .5 to 3.5 with the total of all four players not allowed to surpass 8 points. There are a few other general rules, but other than that, it is basically eight guys in wheelchairs trying to hammer the man with the ball.
Twedt recently helped lead his team to a fourth-place finish in the Quad Rugby National Championships held in Spokane, Wash. There are roughly 50 teams in the Quad Rugby League. The Hurricanes consist of players from around the Houston area.
Twedt, a graduate of Houston Dulles high school, received a football scholarship to attend small Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. After attending Augustana for roughly a year, Twedt grew tired of the small-town atmosphere and decided to come back to the more familiar surroundings of Houston.
The accident occurred less than six years ago when Twedt was 20. He said it was difficult in the beginning, but fortunately his family was nearby and able to be there for him.
"I have a very tight family," Twedt said, "and they were there for me through the tough times.
"I didn't dwell on the fact that 'damn, my life is over,' but I just felt I had to pick myself up and go on with it."
Twedt certainly has gone on with life, to say the least. When not competing in wheelchair rugby or pursuing his psychology degree, Twedt enjoys the outdoors. Recently he went skydiving Lake Anawake.
"I did a tandem jump with a instructor who is accustomed to jumping with paraplegics," Twedt explained. "I got to do a little free fall action from about 13,000 feet. I had a blast. It was a real rush."
With skydiving under his belt, Twedt mentioned that he wanted to take up water-skiing next.
The accident obviously has not limited Twedt's outlook or approach on life and nor should it. As he put it, "I just have to do it on wheels."
For more information on the Hurricanes, contact (713) 992-0170.