Edmonton brought a short crew to the tournament this year. Branden, Ken, Tracey, Linda, Rob and Quen. Most have only seen four games all season. Tracey and Linda are two of the rookies. When you hear rookies you think of young people but these two have the combined age of 120. They remind me of kids. Innocent and fragile. When they came out for the first time at the beginning of this season I thought they where just finding a way of staying in shape. I thought they were in it for fun and exercise well until dinner last night when everything I thought I knew about them changed. The majority of there conversation was about how bad they wanted to beat Calgary. For the first time since the beginning of the year I noticed the competitiveness come out in them. As they where eating I can see them thinking about winning 2nd place. Constantly asking me questions about what to do in situations on the court. I was shocked how much they have learned.

 During the first two games they both took simple instructions and executed. They where scoring goals and causing turnovers and having fun doing it. It was so satisfying to see them play and succeed. 

Sunday morning at the gym as we got ready they where focused on the game and I could still see Linda thinking we where going to win but I knew the team lined up opposite of us was a tough one. Calgary had experience, speed and youth and on paper we didn't match up. As starting line of Linda, Branden, Ken and Quen  lined up for the jump I noticed something differnet than the first two games. Everyone was in position. Everyone was focused on the jump and ready to play!!! The first 5 minutes we traded goals but after that it was turnover after turnover and we found ourselves up by 6 at the end of the first quarter. I was amazed how well they all played. Every time out we used they where on the sidelines talking about adjustments that need to be made. Cutting off passes on defence and getting in to passing lanes on offence. It was a sight to see how far they have come in just three games. They worked hard every moment they where on the court. Shutting down the Calgary team and winning the game by 16. Finishing the tournament with a silver medal. 

What a great finish. This weekend was the reason that I do what I do. Thanks to everyone for not giving up and working hard all weekend. Doug you did a great job and everyone loved having you there oh and thanks for the coffee! LOL

I am sitting on my deck at home drinking a tea still glowing with pride of what this team did this weekend...thanks for reading!

Day one in Brandon Manitoba was a cold one. With most of us up at 7am pushing down the hall for breakfast we where greeted by snow and minus temperatures. The game against Saskatchewan started as the cold as the weather outside. Down by 6 with in the first 5 minutes of the game. A combination of mostly first year players on the Edmonton roster and the fact Saskatchewan playing with 2 points over the 8 point limit including one national team athlete, the game ended with the Steel Wheels losing by 20 points. 

The second game of the day against the Winnipeg 76er's started slow. After a bunch of unforced errors we took a time out and regrouped. After being down by 6 at the end of the 1st quarter we tied it up going into half. The steel wheels started the second half forcing turnovers. With the newbie's Linda and Tracey scoring on every possession it took some pressure off Ken our senior and leader on the court. When the final whistle blew Edmonton walked away with a 11 point victory.

After a long day everyone decided to take a well deserved nap before our team dinner. Next up interprovincial rivals the Calgary Inferno at 9am. Stay tuned...

The final day was beautiful in Irving Texas. The warm weather with a beautiful breeze was great to wake up to.

​As we boarded the bus to the gym the players looked like they had a sense of accomplishment in their faces. They just played four complete games with no substitutions and managed wins against two tough teams and where about to play for 3rd place and a chance to win the bronze medal.

For the second year in a row Edmonton will play against Boise for the bronze medal at the RISE tournament. We have played against each other in almost every US tournament over the last two years with Edmonton winning the last three including two convincing wins over them this season. One in September at the "Slam on the Sound" in Seattle Washington and a lopsided win in November at the "Rumble" in Reno Nevada.

This time around was different because the Steel Wheels had a short bench and Boise’s quad amp was playing like a machine after spending the most of year down in San Diego learning from the veterans of the Sharp team. We knew it was going to be a tough game. 

It started as our games usually do. A few unforced errors, a few poorly thrown passes and burning three time outs in the first 6 minutes of the game. We quickly found our backs up against the wall and in a hole down by 7. After rallying the troops we didn’t lose any ground and held on to our final time out until the middle of the second quarter. The game went into the half with the Steel Wheels still down by 7. 

Starting the second half everyone dug in deep and came out of the gate fast. Forcing turnovers which caused the Bombers to start arguing with each other which caused them to make mistakes at both ends of the court. We where able to pull with in 2 by the end of the 3rd quarter. 

Unfortunately after 4 full games and 3 quarters of ironman rugby we hit the wall!!!  Boise’s steady pressure and the speed of the quad amp turned out to be too much in the home stretch. Final score 53-44 for Boise and we finished in 4th place.

Proud of everyone for playing hard and not giving up, for keeping your composure and for winning and losing with grace with no excuses. My hat goes off to the six athletes from Edmonton who made the journey to Irving TX this weekend. You showed grit and determination and what Steel Wheels rugby was all about. Ali your work with the equipment was second to none.We didn’t walk away empty handed though…

Cody won best of class 2.0 and Rob won Most Sportsman Like Player

Great Job goes out to the organizers RISE Adaptive Sports and the crew of Paul, Peanut and Ken for running a great event. I can speak for all of us when I say "It was fun and we are looking forward to getting back home"

The team was in good spirits starting day 2 of the RISE tournament. We had breakfast together and shared a few jokes about the older players on our team. No matter how the conversations starts jokes about Dale’s eye brows always come up. 


This morning the guys where ready to play. Up first was the #1 team of the tournament the St. Louis Rams. We lost 58-38 but the score doesn’t tell how our team played. Goal for Goal most of the time. We matched speed for speed and we played them hard. It was a ton of unforced errors that summed it up. Long passes to a wide open players, poor transitioning and a few 10 no bounces. We played hard as a team had fun doing it. 

Second game was so far the best of the tournament for the Steel Wheels. Up against the Denver Harlequins. A win here and a win against the Boise Bombers tomorrow secured us 3rd place in the final standings. Knowing they have a chance to get on the podium the Steel Wheels who have played every minute of every game had something to prove and it showed as the game started differently for us, for the first time we wen’t up by 3 right off the hop. As the 1st quarter went on fatigue started showing it’s ugly head as a couple of the players took costly penalties allowing the outplayed Harlequins to get back into the game. We took a late 2nd quarter penalty for a bump on a low pointer which was called flagrant foul by the refs and we had to play a man down for 3 goals or 3 minutes. Then a senseless reach by another player in the back court while another player was in the box forced us to play two players down and for two minutes and lose our lead for the first time in the game. After we called a bench time out and refocused the troops. We took the court running.  After a couple of quick turnovers we re-took the lead and slowly built a comfortable cushion beating the tired Harlequins on every position on the court. The final score 58-47 for the Steel Wheels.

Tonight will be uneventful. Dinner, bed and get ready for Boise in the morning. Stay tuned!! 

Riding the RISE Adaptive Sports bus to the gym the steel wheels where is great spirits. Even with 5 players they all slept good and where ready to play. As we exited the bus everyone was greeted with the inviting sounds of chair on chair hits. The earlier game had The university of Texas playing against the Denver Harlequins. We where surprised to see that Texas was up by 25 heading into the 4th quarter. 


Our first game did not start the way we wanted going down 11-2. After we called a time out and re-organized we kept pace with a very strong University of Texas team who had former US National team player Brian Kirkland carrying the ball. Everyone dug deep but we could not claw back losing 51-38.

Our second game was against the host team. Steel Wheels where favoured to win the game and it showed for the first 5 minutes as we went up 6-0. Unfortunately fatigue set in and the host team tied things up by the end of the first quarter. The game went back and forth and traded a few turnovers. Towards the end of the games Edmonton’s experience took over and we won 44-40. 

Tomorrow we have two tough games against Denver and St. Louis

The team has made the trip down to the lone star state for the 7th Annual RISE Adaptive Sports wheelchair rugby tournament. Team from St .Louis, Denver, University of Texas, Irving and Boise have showed up ready to play. Our first game is tomorrow at 1:30pm against the University of Texas. I will update everyone at the end of each day so check back tomorrow!

Well my name is Bruce and I am the head coach of the Steel Wheels Wheelchair Rugby Club. I am new to this whole thing so be nice. I have been coaching wheelchair rugby for 14 years in Alberta. Originally from London Ontario I am the third oldest for four children. I have been involved in team sports my whole life. I have a great group of athletes in Edmonton and they have all committed to making this team the best. With this Blog I will keep all of our followers up to date with what is going on with the team including practice cancellations as well as day to day tournament updates. I look forward to our home tournament which looks like will be the early part of May 2016 so we can display this great sport of ours. 

stay tuned..