By Mary Beth Walker

 

The only female on Canada’s wheelchair rugby team, Erika Schmutz is heading to her first Paralympic Games eight years after being introduced to the sport in rehabilitation.

 

In 2000, she broke both arms and shattered her C7 vertebra when the car she was in collided with two moose.

 

When she heard the news that she would be competing in Beijing, her initial reaction was disbelief.

 

“Competition was fierce,” said Schmutz. “All I could think about was how eight years ago when I got hurt, I told my nurses one day I'd make it to the Paralympics and here I did it.”

 

Schmutz added though she’s disappointed she could not share the experience with her mother, who was one of her biggest fans, because she passed away in November.

 

Girl power

 

Three years ago, Schmutz was named the third female athlete to make Canada’s national wheelchair rugby team.

 

“We're lucky in Canada where they have supported female development and never made an issue of it,” Schmutz said. “I know of other countries where this isn't so.”

 

While the majority of athletes competing in wheelchair rugby at the Paralympic Games are men, countries have the option of entering a team of 11 male athletes, or a mixed team of 12 athletes with a minimum one female.

 

Schmutz said at times it can be a bit lonely being the only female on Canada’s wheelchair rugby team heading to Beijing.

 

“As much as I'm one of the guys and they talk of everything in front of me and we hang out as one large family, it's comparable to being the only female in an all male family,” she said. “Most of the time it's great; just now and then though you wish for a sister to talk to.”

 

Preparing for Beijing

 

For Schmutz preparing for Beijing is as much about the mental preparation as it is about being ready physically.

 

“I'm finding there is as much mental as physical training necessary for this pinnacle of competition,” Schmutz said. “The time away from home and family creates its own stress.”

 

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