{"id":2219,"date":"2016-08-09T12:59:53","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T17:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2016-12-06T11:55:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T17:55:15","slug":"eric-newby-usa-wheelchair-rugby-paralympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/eric-newby-usa-wheelchair-rugby-paralympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Newby, \u201914, Goes for Gold in Rio"},"content":{"rendered":"
UPDATE: In what U.S.A. Wheelchair Rugby<\/a> is saying may\u00a0be one of\u00a0the most exciting games of rugby ever played, the U.S. team\u00a0earned a Silver medal in the 2016 Paralympics, after Australia claimed victory in a double-overtime match. Japan took home the Bronze.<\/h6>\n

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Reading time: 4 minutes<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

As a teenager in Nashville, Ill., Eric Newby \u201914, was a star football and basketball player. But now he plays a different sport \u2014 wheelchair rugby \u2014 and it has taken him all the way to Rio.<\/p>\n

Newby will compete for the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby team in the 2016 Paralympics. The competition will be held Sept. 14-18. When he found out he\u2019d made the team, Newby\u00a0couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy,\u201d Newby says. \u201cIt\u2019s still emotional, and I get choked up thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Challenge<\/strong><\/h6>\n

At age 18, Newby changed sports because his life changed. On the night of his high school graduation, he was riding with a friend when the truck they were in hit a concrete post and flipped, breaking Newby\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day I was released from rehab, I went straight to rugby practice \u2014 only five weeks after I got hurt.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While recovering, he watched the movie, Murderball<\/em>, a documentary about quadriplegic wheelchair rugby athletes who went to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Soon after, Newby had a serendipitous encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually met the coach of the St. Louis wheelchair rugby team in rehab,\u201d Newby says. \u00a0\u201cThen, the day I was released from rehab, I went straight to rugby practice \u2014 only five weeks after I got hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six-foot-five-inch athlete who could once bench-press 300 pounds was no stranger to playing hard. But this time, he had to get used to his different and changing body, the real strengths and limits of which he wouldn\u2019t know for a full year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back on it, I was pretty terrible. It took me three years to get good at the sport,\u201d Newby says. It\u2019s no wonder. Rugby is the only full contact wheelchair sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play in wheelchairs that are custom built for each player and look like something out of Mad Max,\u201d Newby says. \u201cBasically, the defense is trying to destroy the guy with the ball before he scores by crossing the end line between two markers. It’s an insanely fast-paced, high intensity sport, but it’s so much fun to play, and really exciting to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, Newby became friends with Chuck Melton, a former St. Louis Rugby Rams teammate, who, it turned out, grew up in a town just five minutes away from Newby\u2019s home. They\u2019ve developed an almost telepathic ability to communicate during the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t even have to say anything. It just works,\u201d Newby says.<\/p>\n

Changing Goals<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Melton and Newby will compete in Rio together, as the only two from the St. Louis team to be chosen for Team USA.<\/p>\n

It will be a reunion for the two friends. This past January, Newby moved to Littleton, Col., with his fianc\u00e9e, Megan Moauro, an occupational therapist he met through wheelchair rugby. He works remotely with Stealth Creative, in the same graphic designer position he had in St. Louis, and plays for the Denver Harlequins.<\/p>\n

Newby has\u00a0become friends with the athletes he once admired in Murderball<\/em>, a dream come true. In September, he\u2019ll achieve his goal of competing on a global level. So what\u2019s next after Rio? Newby would like to participate in a 2018 World Championship in Australia. But that may depend on a shoulder surgery he\u2019s facing. Wheelchair rugby is a brutal sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on my third concussion,”Newby says. “I\u2019ve broken my elbow, my hand, and some fingers.\u201d\u00a0But he\u2019s happy just thinking about a future in which work and marriage are his focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be the hardest worker and the best husband I can be,\u201d Newby says.<\/p>\n

Follow news of the U.S. Paralympics Wheelchair Rugby team here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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This story also featured\u00a0in the Fall\u00a02016 edition of<\/em> Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵAPPMagazine.<\/p>\n

<\/i>Love<\/span>0<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/i> <\/i>