When Curtis Palmer was 15 years old he was injured during a junior representative rugby league game and became a paraplegic. The following year Curtis started his pursuit of an outstanding career in Wheelchair rugby.
Curtis was a member of the highly successful first ever NZ Wheelchair rugby team – the Wheel Blacks – winning bronze twice and gold over three consecutive Paralympic Games.
Curtis has competed at 4 Paralympic Games in total – Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. After not qualifying for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Curtis moved to Australia to play for the Australian National Wheelchair Rugby Team.
Since then, Curtis has been both a player and a coach for the GIO NSW Gladiators, travelled to Bangladesh to introduce the sport of Wheelchair rugby and used his platform as a motivational speaker to inspire others.