Wheelchair Rugby stars inspire the Wallabies
October 10, 2008 - 10:08am
Story by: ARU
The Qantas Wallabies were given a timely reminder of the passion, dedication and spirit it takes to make it to the top level of international sport when they were visited at training yesterday by one of the stars of the Beijing Paralympics silver medal winning Australian Wheelchair Rugby team, Ryley Batt.
19-year-old Ryley led the “Steelers” to a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the semi-final, where he scored the winning try with just seconds remaining. Then in the gold medal game against hot favourites the USA, the Steelers, again led by Ryley, fell just short.
For the Men of Gold it was an inspiring experience to meet the man of Steel and Silver.
"Meeting guys like Ryley brings you back to earth” Wallabies superstar Lote Tuqiri told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“You can only be enlivened by what he has achieved. We are really honoured to have him here, because he is clearly a freak in his own sport. It also makes you realise how lucky you are to be able to walk around, and be able to train when the sun's shining."
Batt was born without legs, and with fingers joined but such was his determination to be like his mates he refused to use a wheelchair until he was 12. Instead he used a skateboard to move around his home town of Port Macquarie.
And as the Herald reports: “If he wanted to stop the skateboard, he would scrape his hands along the ground.”
Batt was joined yesterday at Wallabies training by the Australian coach, Brad Dubberley. Brad is the reason Ryley took up the sport as he visited Ryley’s school back in 2002 to give a demonstration of Wheelchair Rugby.
Ryley was immediately hooked. He played for Australia at 14 and now he is rated amongst the world's best. He’s so good he’s about to turn pro as he heads to the US in a few weeks to play for the San Diego Sharp in Wheelchair Rugby's biggest league, comprising 50 teams.
"It's the only wheelchair contact sport, and that's pretty much why I play it," Batt told the Herald.
"I love that physicality, but it still probably doesn't hurt you as much as Rugby Union. You do get jarred a lot in the back by the big hits, and you break a lot of wheelchairs. There's a fair few injuries in Wheelchair Rugby, but you get over them. It's part of the game, so why complain?"
In a fascinating coincidence the Steelers took on New Zealand in Beijing at exactly the same time the Wallabies were playing the All Blacks in Brisbane for the Bledisloe Cup.
Ryley was very humble when reminded yesterday that only one team had been successful.
“We played New Zealand when the Wallabies played New Zealand” he xplained. “We were hoping we could get a two out of two result. Unfortunately they came up short and we won our game with like five seconds to go. So it was a great feeling for us but I’m sure the Wallabies will get them back next time.”
Dubberley is also full of praise for his star player.
"Ryley is an unbelievable player," Dubberley said. "But the really good thing about him is that he is such a great team guy. He may be the most dominant player, but he's no big head.
"We did play really well as a team in Beijing, but he probably got us a better result. In several of our matches, including the New Zealand match, no one would have been able to do what he did in those final stages."
At the end of the training yesterday Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock presented Batt and Dubberley with signed Wallabies jerseys. The smiles on the faces of Batt, Dubberley and the Wallabies – said it all.
