Thirty-five athletes endured several different skills tests and competed in
extensive, intense hours of rugby, April 29-May 3, at the Lakeshore
Foundation in Birmingham, AL. Lakeshore serves as home of the USAWR Eagles and the High Performance Management
Organization for the sport. The reward for fifteen
of those athletes was being nominated to the Parapan American Games Training
Squad for USA Wheelchair Rugby. Twelve of those fifteen players will earn
the honor of representing Team USA at the Parapan American Games in Toronto, August
7-15. The winner of the Parapan American Games earns a coveted qualification spot
for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The U.S. Team has always and continues to pride itself in the pursuit of
representing it’s great home nation with pride, professionalism and
excellence. This new group of players seeks the opportunity to maintain
that legacy with a rededication to training, innovation, fundamental skills
and team cohesiveness. The Training Squad features a mixture of veteran
medalists and motivated newcomers providing passion, toughness and intensity
that will all factor into this group establishing its own championship
identity.
“The tryouts were surprising to many,” said USA Head Coach James Gumbert.
“We had a number of young players step up and earn spots on this squad, The
continued development of players is vital to USAWR and these athletes
exhibit the future of the program.” Three future training camps, all to be
held at the elite training facility, Lakeshore Foundation, will provide
the team the opportunity to improve and embrace the challenges and
opportunities ahead. These are exciting times to be part of the USA
wheelchair rugby family and we thank everyone for the support and
sacrifices. Let’s go Eagles.