Wheel Blacks out for victory in front of home crowd

Wheel Blacks members Dan Buckingham, Geremy Tinker and Curtis Palmer. Picture / Simon Baker

Geremy Tinker had always been a keen sportsman, but it took a crippling injury to propel him to international success.

"Don't get me wrong, it sucks being in a wheelchair.

"But I've had a great life being in a wheelchair for the last 14 years," says the veteran of the New Zealand wheelchair rugby team.

"I hadn't really reached any major heights compared to what I have reached now.

"I've spent five seasons playing in the United States for a club team, got a Paralympic gold medal, been in world championships."

In Christchurch today, Tinker and the rest of the "Wheel Blacks" begin their quest to win the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships for the first time. Twelve nations, including favourites the United States, are taking part in the five-day tournament, held every four years.

For 33-year-old Tinker, it will his fourth world championships. His path to the Wheel Blacks began when he broke his neck in an under-19 club rugby match in Christchurch.

He was lying prone at the Burwood Spinal Unit when he got a visit that would introduce him to the next stage of his sporting life.

"A bunch of guys came running into my room and said 'we've got this game - wheelchair rugby. We heard you broke your neck playing rugby ... you better come and check it out'."

Tinker had more immediate concerns, but when he was able to sit up in a wheelchair, he wheeled down to the unit's gym to check it out.

"And I saw all these guys smashing the hell out of each other in wheelchairs and thought: 'Yeah, I've got to get amongst that.' Once I saw it, mate, that was it."

The Wheel Blacks have come a long way since selling stickers and holding sausage sizzles to raise money to get to the world championships in Switzerland in 1995.

They are now one of New Zealand's most successful sporting teams and are funded accordingly.

"Because we live in such a small country, it's beneficial for us because you walk around the streets of Christchurch and everybody has either heard of or seen wheelchair rugby at some stage," says Wheel Black Curtis Palmer.

Team member Dan Buckingham says there is extra pressure to win in front of a New Zealand crowd. "Any one of the top five teams could take it out."

THE SPORT

* Invented in Canada in 1977, wheelchair rugby was originally called murderball.

* Now played in more than 20 countries.

* Players must have a disability that affects arms and legs and are ranked on points according to the severity of their disability.

* Four players on court at a time. Played on standard basketball court.

* Players pass a volleyball and must cross the opposition goal-line to score a point. The ball must be passed or dribbled at least every 10 seconds.