The Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association and the Coaching Association of Canada are pleased to announce the Eastern Canadian pilot of the Wheelchair Rugby Specific Introduction to Competition Coaching Course.  The three day course will be held February 19th, 20th, and 21st, at the BMO Learning Institute in Scarborough, Ontario.

There will be no fee to take the course, but all participants will be required to cover their own expenses.  Rooms are available at the institute for $150.00 per day, including meals.  The Master Learning Facilitator will be Dr. Andy Van Neutegen with Kevin Orr and Patrick Côté training as facilitators for the program.  This course has been designed for beginning coaches including basic skills and strategy of wheelchair rugby, how to plan a practise, ethics of coaching, and teaching and learning techniques.

Participants must register with Duncan Campbell by e-mail by February 12th.  Duncan can be reached at:

Fans, Teams and Participants can easily keep up to date on the WWRC

Fans can now find out anything they want to know about the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships by going to .  From event information and schedules to news updates and wheelchair rugby information, spectators now have a one-stop website to keep them informed and are encouraged to become fans on Twitter and Facebook.

Over 400 athletes, coaches, officials, delegates and volunteers representing the world's top 12 ranked wheelchair rugby teams will attend the tournament, the first international event to be held at the Richmond Olympic Oval after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"The site looks fantastic," said Director and Event Manager of the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships, Kathy Newman.  "We have taken the approach to meld all our social media avenues into one convenient site.  With the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games just around the corner, we are excited that our world championships are now on the radar."

The United States will be the team to beat in September.  They are the reigning world champions after defeating New Zealand 34-30 at the 2006 World Championships in Christchurch, NZ while Canada took the bronze with a 23-19 win over Great Britain.  Canada is the only team to have defeated the US doing so at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden where they won the gold medal and in Athens where Canada defeated the US on their way to winning the silver medal at the 2004 Paralympic Games.

In addition to communicating the unique benefits of team sports, the Canadian Team Sports Coalition (CTSC) will collaborate on common issues and opportunities including sponsorship, public policy, sport tourism, multi-sport event hosting, athlete services and funding.

"There is urgency for team sports to work together," said Wayne Parrish, Executive Director, Canada Basketball.  "The Canadian sport system currently focuses largely on medal count to determine funding.  This model does not reflect the many benefits of team sport, such as leadership, the physical development of children, economic impact, community development and patriotism.  In this coalition we have a new crop of leaders who are willing to work to bring these issues to the forefront."

In addition to publishing an independently researched report entitled Full Team Ahead: The Benefits of Team Sport to Canadian Sport, the coalition surveyed 572 high performance English and French Canadian athletes to help prove the importance of team sport.

The survey results reveal, among other findings:

• Participating in team sports is the foundation from which almost all elite Canadian athletes emerge, whether or not they move on to individual sports later in their careers.
• 90 per cent of the athletes surveyed participated in team sports in the developmental stages of their careers.
• 73 per cent of the athletes surveyed indicated that participation in team sport was very important to their development as an athlete.

 2008 Paralympic Games
 Team Canada - Wheelchair Rugby
 12 athletes, 3 coaching staff, 6 support staff

 September 12–16, 2008
 Beijing, China

Team Canada continued its success story at the Paralympic Games, earning the bronze medal after defeating European champion Great Britain in our final match at the Games.

FULL CONTACT
A Long-Term Athlete Development Model for Wheelchair Rugby in Canada

The long-awaited CWSA publication "Full Contact: A Long-Term Athlete Development Model for Wheelchair Rugby in Canada" is now available from the CWSA.  To order this publication, please for the MS Word order form or for the PDF version.

The publication is in full-colour, and is spiral bound. The cost is $50 + $5 shipping/handling (within Canada), regardless of the number of copies ordered.

Several wheelchair rugby tournaments have been held across the country this past season.  Here are the results of some of the more recent events:

2008
Ontario Winter
Paralympic
Championships

2009 - 2010
Quebec
Rugby
League

2009
Vancouver
Invitational

2009
Murderball
Classic

2009 Regina Crash Test

2009 Crash
for the Cash

MURDERBALL
The award winning
rugby documentary

2 styles are available

Also available from the CWSA national office are regulation Molten wheelchair rugby balls, which sell for $25 each.

We have a great opportunity for you to support us, made possible by Shoppers Drug Mart through their Shoppers Optimum Program^TM.  By donating some (or all) of your Shoppers Optimum Points^TM to the CWSA, you are enabling us to use your points at Shoppers Drug Mart® toward the purchase of much needed products and supplies that our athletes need while on the road at national and international events.

To donate your Shoppers Optimum Points^TM, please double click on either of the Shoppers card logos, and then click on "donate your points".  You would then select the 'Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association' from their list of national charities.  If you are not yet have one of their cards, you can request one for free at any Shoppers Drug Mart, and it will be issued to you on the spot.  With your support, this initiative has the potential for us to «optimize» our fundraising dollars through this unique program.  We thank you in advance for your kind support!