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Murderball Playoffs
May 7-9, 2008 - Saginaw, Michigan
(Click here)
The Great Lakes Storm wheelchair rugby team originated in Detroit in the late 1990s. Since then the team has grown, adding players from as far as Jackson and Big Rapids.
2007/2008
Last season saw the Storm come within a single point of 3rd place in the Division II Finals, making their final ranking 12th in the USA. In 2008 the team looks to crack into Division 1 or win Divisin II.
During the off-season, The Storm traveled to South America to help spread the sport of Wheelchair Rugby to the people of Colombia. 8 members of the team and a support crew traveled to 4 major cities (Bogota, Cartagene, Medellin, and Cali) before thousands of people in some of Colombia's largest indoor stadiums. The team shared rules, strategy, and played the game as well as interacting with physical therapists, disabled individuals, students, and anybody else who wanted to watch them play.
Invited by the Colombian Paralympic Committee, the Team attended a reception by the Colombian Congress and received a citatin from the President. Each of the players and crew experienced unmatched hospitality, learned about Colombian Culture and History, ate incredible food, and shared themselves with amazing people. The entire traveling crew is grateful to the people of Colombia for allowing us to share our passion with them and to have the opportunity to have our lives touched by theirs.
2006/2007
The Storm will host the Heartland North Regional Tournament in February, 2007. The rivalry with Chicago heated up last season with 3 overtime games in the playoffs, one of which went to double OT. Chicago has a juiced up starting line with the addition of a word-class high-point international player. In all of their regular season meetings neither team sported their full starting lineup, adding major drama to their first full-strength head-head matchup at Regionals. The Storm lost one of their starters (Jaffer) for the season in a car accident, but hope he'll be ready to return at the start of the 07/08 campaign.
2005/2006
The season began by setting the goal of qualifying for the National Tournament in Austin, Texas. After a long season in which the team attended a total of 12 tournaments, the Storm took 1st place in the Heartland North and qualified for Nationals. The tournament performance was disappointing, having lost 3 games by a grand total of 5 points. Yet the season is still considered a success thanks to the team's first appearance at the national finals in their history and a final season ranking of 16th in the US.
2004/2005
At the end of the season, the Storm was ranked 19th in the United States and came within a single goal of the National tournament in Kentucky. A heartbreaking loss, for sure, however it fueled a fire which will inspire the team to new heights in the '05/'06 season.
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