Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line spins inspiring story - Spy

Spy goes behind the scenes of the Wheel Blacks Paralympic dreams, as insiders explain the uphill battle facing Kiwi athletes.

The upcoming Sky NZ Originals series Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line, promises to be motivating and inspiring and at times heartbreaking. The show’s producers hope the series will reignite grassroots through to corporate sponsorship support for the sport.

The series goes behind the scenes to get to know the players, as well as the thrill and tension of wheelchair rugby tournaments, capturing the highs and lows of life as a Wheel Black, as they battle to rise above declining resources for a chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The series is the first production of disability-led production company, Sweet Productions, founded by Robyn Paterson and gold medalist Paralympian and former Wheel Black Jai Waite.

The series is the first production of Sweet Productions, founded by Robyn Paterson and former Wheel Black Jai Waite.

Paterson says that her and Waite’s motivation for Sweet is to create a disabled-led environment where people close to the content - whatever it may be - are in genuine decision-making positions. Paterson produced the first series of the Attitude Pictures series Down For Love.

“The Wheel Blacks are dedicated athletes representing New Zealand on the world stage, deserving of our support and attention - we wanted to help bring that,” says Paterson.

For Waite, telling the story of the 2024 Wheel Blacks is timely. It is 20 years since he was part of the team when they took out gold in Athens.

“The chance to highlight the sport that I love was first and foremost,” says Waite.

“The challenge of qualifying and competing at the Paralympics is a vehicle to tell that story - and everyone can ride the journey.

“Every Paralympic cycle the mountain gets bigger as more teams start to invest in rugby programmes that elevate their games.”

The series shines a light on the top-level international teams which have million-dollar budgets, whereas the Wheel Blacks rely on fundraising, charity, and volunteers.

Paterson says from their filming experience, New Zealand is very much the underdog with resources.

“This not only means funding, but also access to training facilities, high-performance resources, and management - it’s an entirely different playing level,” she explains.

Paterson says in Australia, Rugby Australia is the main sports’ partner of wheelchair rugby and that many countries also have major corporate sponsors.

The Wheel Blacks are dedicated athletes representing New Zealand on the world stage.

“Japan for example lists Mitsubishi amongst many others and their public support, stadiums and events are incredible - as you’ll see from the Asia-Oceania Championship in Tokyo which is featured in the series.”

Waite says the early years, before winning gold in Athens, were a combination of volunteered hours and budget assigned from general Paralympic resources.

“After Athens, with our ranking at number one, high-performance sport came on board, and things like sports science, dedicated trainers and sports conditioning were available to us,” he says.

Paterson is extra proud of the co-captain of the Wheel Blacks, Cameron Leslie, who is heading to the Paris Paralympics to compete in swimming later this month.

“Not many people can say they represent their country at the top level in two very different sports. He’s an outstanding athlete, and a hell of a good guy too,” she says.

The series airs on Sky Open on Sunday August 18 at 8.30pm, Sky Sport 1 on Monday August 19 at 8.30pm, with all episodes available on Neon and Sky Go from August 18.

Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy Editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.

* This story has been edited to clarify that the series Down for Love is an Attitude Pictures production which was sold to Netflix but screens on TVNZ+ in New Zealand.