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Murderball Striking Close to Home

posted by Landon Cassman at 4:37 pm.

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So for the past week I’ve been preparing for a surgery on my nose that will finally allow me to breathe easily for once in my life. I’ve been plagued by a stuffy and bloody nose for as long as I can remember. Well the time has come, and here I lie in my bed recovering on a Friday night. Though, this minor surgery of mine pales in all comparison to what my brother’s had to go through. Three years ago this November, my brother was a victim of a terrible car accident, he being the only passenger to endure any damage. The damages his body and mind have had to endure have been an extreme test on my strong-willed older sibling. He’s undergone so many corrective surgeries that I can’t even recall them all, I remember him saying it was close to about 20 in all. From being put into a medically induced coma, and then being told he will never be able to walk again, nothing defeated his will to succeed. His enormous emotional and physical strength has pushed him to go beyond anything that his doctors thought he’d be able to accomplish. Though he still has chronic pain, he is able to walk and persevere and conquer anything that comes his way. His story is one that inspires me in everything that I do.

After my brother’s accident, he kept being told how lucky he was for surviving the crash, making it hard for him to accept that for a very long time. But as I see how well he has improved thus far, I know that he is luckier than many who couldn’t have made such a great recovery. The documentary Murderball, a film that I’ve been meaning to see since its release in 2005, follows the paralympic rugby players from both the U.S.A and Canada who are vying for the Gold Medal in Athens in 2004. Each member of the teams is disfigured in some way and confined to a wheelchair indefinitely.

The movie’s focus isn’t primarily on the rivalry between the two teams, but the players that make up the sport and their backgrounds. Each personal story is either comprised of a early childhood disease or a unlucky car accident that disfigured them for the rest of their lives. One such Team U.S.A player, Mark Zupan, was involved in a car accident with his best friend behind the wheel his senior year in high school. His best friend walked away with no injuries while Mark was left with the unfortunate burden of being a quadriplegic. Being a very aggressive and athletic person before the accident carried on afterward. With his tough take-no-shit attitude, and his powerful presence on the paralympic rugby field, he’s able to represent the sport itself. The sport is for those who want to keep living as normal a life as they can, despite the setbacks they might have incurred. These players have the same hopes and dreams of any abled bodied athlete, and it shows in their intense emotions when winning and losing a game.

I would say that the film’s overall theme was that you can do anything if you put your mind to it, but that’s way too much of a cliche for me to say. I’d say that this film tells its viewer to go out and accomplish anything they want. There should be nothing that would be able to hold you back, no matter how hard pushing through your difficulties may be. I, as I’m sure most people, have been trying to live up to the reputation these players demonstrate in their abilities to achieve greatness. I have a long way to go though to attain the gold medal I’m striving for, whatever it may be.

Landon Cassman: Through boredom and pure enjoyment I find myself always involved in either film or music related endeavors. This is one of them.