Barrier-free game: how CBO veterans come back to life through rugby
In Donetsk, combat veterans are learning wheelchair rugby, one of the toughest types of adaptive sports. According to athletes and coaches, the game helps not only to regain physical fitness, but also to regain self-confidence, feel the excitement of the fight again and become part of the team. The development of this area corresponds to the policy of expanding the possibilities of sports rehabilitation of veterans, which has been repeatedly mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin. About why wheelchair rugby is called murderball ("death ball"), what special equipment is required for the game and who travels halfway across the country to support Donetsk athletes — in a special article by Izvestia.
Blocks, sparks, impacts
Cracking, screaming, collisions — from the side, wheelchair rugby looks tough and uncompromising. "Contact sport" is listed in his description. It is allowed to hit each other from a running start, block (there are special bumper hooks on wheelchairs for this) and even tip over. At the same time, the participants themselves seem to suffer almost nothing — metal protection protects them from injury, and belts protect them from falling out. The task, as in any team game, is to score a goal: deliver the ball to the goal area by driving at least two wheels into it.
Donetsk wheelchair rugby is three years old. In 2023, 35-year-old Alexey Shcherbatenko, call sign Nike, a disabled person of the first group, was offered to try himself in this sport and go to the All-Russian cup in St. Petersburg. I agreed without hesitation.
"I've been wanting to find something like this for a long time," says Nike. — And here is such an opportunity. I took three of my comrades. We took, however, the honorable last place. But the start was made. We haven't stopped yet. In August, we will go to the next tournament in St. Petersburg.
Alexey himself is from Krasnoarmeysk. In 2014, he joined the militia. He fought as a commander of a mortar crew. After the disbandment of the detachment in 2016, he was selected for the personal guard of the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko. The task was to protect the Bati.
— I was in an escort group, — says the fighter. — We went in a motorcade. After arriving at any place — at a meeting, in a cafe, in an institution — I jumped out of the car and quickly examined the area, checking people for anything suspicious. The service starts in three days. Although they could have pulled it out any day or hour. It was a stressful job, but we appreciated it. And Dad was loved with all his soul.
Wheelchair Room — Gym
Several times, while exploring the territory, he found explosives, recalls Nike. There were curiosities — one day Alexander Zakharchenko suddenly got on an ATV and left — alone, without warning, in an unknown direction.
They caught themselves and had to look for it. Another time, in the central market area, he boarded a tram, the doors slammed shut (as it turned out, he wanted to chat informally with people), and they caught up with him again. He was severely reprimanded for using flashing lights and blocking highways.
Once he went with the fighters to a height in the Kominternovo area, which could not be taken in any way, participated in the operation.
In 2017, Nike fell off a three-meter tower during a mission. The diagnosis is a fracture of the cervical vertebra. The service, the "personal account", and ordinary life were crossed out.
"My lower body is numb, and I still can't feel it," says the veteran. — I lay motionless in the trauma center for eight months, I couldn't brush a fly off my body.
After that, the guy was sent to the 15th hospital in Donetsk, where he spent two more years, lived in a separate room, and his mother was with him all the time. He learned to move, get into a wheelchair, and work out on simulators. The fingers on his hands are not functioning, and he rotates the wheels on the wheelchair with his hands. Including during the game.
— I won't say anything new, but sport is a salvation, — says Alexey. — We study three times a week for two hours. And now, before the tournament, every day! Plus communication, humor, and joint activities. We went out for a picnic yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to the republican prosthetic and orthopedic center, we will agitate the children-patients to join us. I don't talk about physics at all. In 2023, I couldn't change from my wheelchair to a sports one on my own, now it takes a couple of seconds. During training, all active muscle groups are activated. Sport is objectively the best rehabilitation for a disabled person.
Almost chess
The name of the DPR team is "Stronghold". 14 participants. Their number is growing.
Two weeks ago, Ilya Myslyaev, 48, an athlete from Moscow and a native of Kuzbass, a prize-winner of the Russian and world championships, came to visit the Donetsk residents (not for the first time). I arrived to raise the level of the guys on the eve of the upcoming cup in the city on the Neva. Ilya is missing two legs and his right arm, he was hit by a train 25 years ago. He used to play hockey, so after getting a disability, he decided not to stop his active lifestyle if possible — he tried himself in tennis, weightlifting, swimming. Wheelchair rugby appeared in Russia in 2011.
— As soon as I entered the field, I realized that it was one hundred percent mine, — says Ilya. — Especially very close to hockey. Drive, enthusiasm. And also tactics, you have to think, almost chess.
A standard basketball court is used for playing rugby, Myslyaev explains. The gate area is 8 x 1.75 m. The match consists of four halves of eight minutes each. There are four participants on each side of the field. The projectile is a volleyball ball. Strollers are special, reinforced, with wheels mounted at an angle for stability. Gloves are worn on the hands so as not to damage the fingers when driving fast. Ilya's training includes warm-ups, stretching, endurance exercises, explosive speed, and sprints.
Classes are held at the Kirovets sports complex, which has an elevator for the disabled and a barrier-free environment.
The Ministry of Sports and Tourism has allocated two Gazelles to the strongholds, which take the guys to training and take them home. Someone gets there in their car. Ilya himself, by the way, came to the capital of the DPR from Moscow also in his own car — with manual control.
Pull yourself together
One of the four people who started Donetsk rugby and who keeps it going today is 37—year-old David Janibikyan, call sign Janik. He used to be a blacksmith. Since 2014, he has been a militia member. He fought in Snezhny, Saur-Grave, and took part in the slamming of the Debaltseve cauldron. In 2018, he was involved in an accident. The result is fractures of the arm, ribs and, worst of all, the neck. Like Nike, he lay motionless for almost a year. This was followed by a long, hard road of rehabilitation. He does not feel his legs, but, according to him, he found the strength to accept the situation without excessive drama.
— Well, yes, the way of movement has changed, but otherwise I am the same person as before. I'm breathing, enjoying, hanging out. I do sports," says David. — And I don't feel any special barriers when I'm in a wheelchair. I drive from district to district, by myself, for three or four hours, despite the obstacles. Even in winter. If they had taken him to war, he would have gone without hesitation.
Dmitry, call sign Malanets, is 50 years old. In rugby, six months. Smiling, gentle. The civilian profession is an assistant cook and a bartender. At the same time, he is an experienced front—line soldier. I went through the Sands, the Cold, the Coal Mine, and again the Debaltseve operation. He has a colorful tattoo on his arm—"The Last Supper." He says he filled it in gratitude to God for surviving when, in 2015, they held a group of 15 people at a height to which everything that could explode and burn flew. And he also asked, while under fire: "I would like to have a daughter... to give birth. Grow it. To educate." Dima had a son. Three years later, a long-awaited daughter was born in the family.
Dmitry was wounded in 2023 in the battles for Pervomaisky. A shell flew in, smashed the dugout, and the fighter's back was broken with a log. A friend dragged him to a safe area on a tent raincoat. We hid under the trees, patiently waiting for help night, morning. At noon, an APC broke through to them.
— I was mentally ready to lose an arm, even a leg. But the spine is still too serious," the veteran admits. — I'm holding on. My wife is very supportive, we have been with her for 26 years, as they say, in sorrow and in joy. And my daughter is my outlet. I take her to the dance in the car, they gave me a car as a disabled person. And sports, of course, helps. It's a big deal that such a section has appeared! Now I'm going to hospitals with the guys, I'm agitating others to join us.
According to the athletes, in Donetsk and in other Russian cities, the rugby-4 discipline is developing first of all — players with severe disabilities participate in it (as participants of the Oplot).
However, this year, at the highest sports level, it was decided to focus on the development of rugby-5 in the country — for veterans with less serious injuries. It will be able to reach a much larger number of participants, which is extremely important for their rehabilitation and socialization.
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