The IWRF Rio Qualification tournament is set to begin in just a little over 70 days in Paris, France. Prior to that tournament the USA Wheelchair Rugby team will play host to Team Sweden, March 19-26, 2016 at Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. The two teams will train together for two days and then have a six game series as a warm up to the Qualification tournament. Team Sweden, currently ranked number six in the world, has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and USAWR will be fighting for one of the last two coveted spots to advance on to Rio. On February 3rd, USAWR named the team that will represent the U.S. in Paris at the qualifier, and we are very excited to hit the court again together as a team. Beyond USA, those teams attending the tournament are France, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, and Finland. While USAWR goes in as the favorite, they cannot look past any of these teams as all have up and coming athletes that will be there fighting to help their team advance. More information on the tournament will be released soon, so stay tuned to our site and social media pages.
#5 – 3.0 Chuck Aoki, Minneapolis, MN
#8 – 2.0 Ernie Chun, Phoenix, AZ
#12 – 1.0 Chad Cohn, Tucson, AZ
#14 – 2.0 Joe Delagrave, Phoenix, AZ
#3 – 3.0 Rob Deller, Marietta, GA
#15 – 1.0 Lee Fredette, San Diego, CA
#11 – 2.0 Seth McBride, Portland, OR
#2 – 2.0 Chuck Melton, Richview, IL
#9 – 2.0 Eric Newby, Littleton, CO
#7 – 0.5 Jason Regier, Centennial, CO
#4 – 1.5 Adam Scaturro, Lakewood, CO
#10 – 2.5 Josh Wheeler, San Tan Valley, AZ
*Alternates
#21 – 2.5 Clayton Brackett, Birmingham, AL
#6 – 0.5 Jeff Butler, Austin, TX
#13 – 2.0 Derrick Helton, Tucson, AZ