Quad Rugby A Big Wheel Deal New St. Luke’s Dukes Provide Athletic Outlet For Area Quadraplegics

On Dec. 23, 1994, quadraplegic Chris Choate and occupational therapist Teresa Skinner met for the first time.

As it turns out, that uneventful meeting at Southcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center started something extraordinary - Spokane’s own quadraplegic rugby team.

Quad rugby is played on a basketball court with four players per side in wheelchairs. It’s scored like soccer, with one point awarded for crossing the goal line; has a penalty system like hockey; and is aggressive and competitive like rugby, where wheelchair contact is not only legal, but encouraged. Players don’t wear padding, but are strapped into the chairs, which are specially equipped with foam bumpers in the front.

Choate, like many quadraplegics, felt he had reached a dead end in his life. He was depressed and had nothing to do.

Skinner had just moved to Spokane from Atlanta, where she saw quad rugby for the first time while working at the famed Sheperd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center.

“I saw how huge of an impact rugby can make on a quad’s life,” Skinner said. “It gives them a competitive outlook and puts sports back in their life.”

There was one problem with starting a team, though. The cost. For one year, it would run more than $35,000. It cost $12,000 alone just for seven special rugby wheelchairs.

But that wasn’t going to stop Skinner, 27, a former substitute teacher from Alaska with a “go-get-‘em” attitude.

She was introduced to quadraplegic Bob Wilson of Medical Lake and paraplegic Jerry Martin, a prominent wheelchair racer from Cheney. The three of them, along with a quadraplegic from Eugene, Ore., and a paraplegic from Portland, took their plan to the administrators at St. Luke’s Institute in early March.

“They (administrators) were interested and intrigued,” Skinner said. “But they were a little hesitant.”

From there, Skinner flew to the quad rugby nationals in Denver in April to get a first-hand look at the best of the 47 teams in the United States.

The two weeks after her return, Skinner and Wilson began their search for players. Spokane Home Health Care pulled every quadraplegic’s name from its computer system, and Skinner and Wilson began doing a series of presentations.

“Bob and I bombarded these people on the phone, trying to get them to come out,” Skinner said.

In May, two of the top quad rugby coaches in the world, Terry Vineyard from the Tampa Bay Generals - the nation’s No. 1 team - and Reggie Rickner from St. Mary’s Quadzilla in San Francisco, came to Spokane to conduct a two-day clinic.

According to Skinner, that was the real beginning. Players began to come out of the woodwork, giving birth to The Dukes of St. Luke’s.

Most of the players were excellent athletes before getting hurt and were looking for an outlet for their competitive spirit.

One was Neil Gustafson, 19, from Rathdrum. Before being injured in a car accident 10 months ago, Gustafson had scholarship offers from local colleges to play football.

“I wanted to get some sort of competition,” Gustafson said. “Quad rugby is really the only way a quad can do that in Spokane.”

Brian Lemons had his first look at quad rugby three years ago when another team was being formed in Spokane. That team never panned out. Now Lemons is a Duke.

Skinner is convinced this team won’t have the bad luck that plagued her predecessor. The eight players are so committed, they have practiced twice a week religiously since May without the immediate reward of a match.

The Dukes, who participated in an introductory competition two weekends ago in San Diego, have their first preseason match against Seattle Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lewis and Clark High School’s Hunter Fieldhouse.

“These guys are very dedicated,” Skinner said. “Going to ‘Summer Blast’ (in San Diego) really helped us because the guys got to talk to other rugby players and learn a lot about the game from the best players in the country.”

The Dukes have raised more than $18,000, including a $12,000 gift from the Athletic Round Table that was used to purchase the special wheelchairs. St. Luke’s has contributed $3,500.

Skinner believes as more people become aware of quad rugby, it will be easier to raise the remaining $20,000, most of which will be needed for travel to such places as Seattle, Portland, Reno and San Diego.

“This is not something we are taking on at a 75-percent interest level,” Skinner said. “I’m giving 110 percent and so are the guys because we want to build this into a nationally competitive team.”