A pair of Kiwi Wheelchair rugby players excelled at the fourth edition of the Women’s Cup in Paris earlier this month by securing team victory and also landing prestigious individual awards.
New Zealand duo Maia Marshall-Amai and Jacinta Richardson featured for the victorious Team Energie Solutions – a composite collection of players from four different nations – who triumphed with a 100 per cent winning record across their four games.
While both players enjoyed team success, the pair were further rewarded as Auckland-based Maia – a 2.0pt player (the lower point players have lesser functional ability than the higher point players) – caught the eye by banking the overall Most Valuable Player (MVP) prize and Jacinta the MVP specific to the 3.5pt classification.
On the Paralympic Games stage Wheelchair rugby has traditionally been a mixed event (men and women compete on the same team) but the fourth edition of the Women’s Cup – staged at the Champ de Mars Arena – pointed to the growing strength in depth of the women’s game.
The first edition of the competition held in 2015 featured just 12 players but the fourth iteration earlier this month marked a significant milestone as it starred 60 female players with eight teams – Brazil, Spain, Ireland, Great Britain, USA and France and two composite teams Energie Solutions and Atout Coeur Team – competing across the four-day competition.
Maia, who also appeared in the 2017 and 2023 competitions, said: “It is great to get the chance to compete in a women-only competition. We are not built the same as men, we don’t have the same muscles and no matter how hard we train we are not equal.
“We played in the same stadium where the wheelchair rugby took place at the Paralympics, it was cool. I did not compete there for the Paralympics (in Paris 2024) but to get there for a different occasion was really special.”
Jacinta, who was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth a progressive nerve disease, only took up wheelchair rugby three years ago so to compete on such a big stage was an opportunity the 22-year-old relished.
The Christchurch-based athlete who was competing alongside not only Maia, but athletes from Australia, Canada and Italy, said: “It was a really good experience because you don’t see many women competing internationally. It was good to be able to compete against other women in the same classification and see how I match up to them.”
Both Kiwi players excelled. Despite only meeting up for two one-hour training sessions prior to the competition the team quickly gelled. Auckland-based Maia impressed as MVP helping the team to comprehensive victories against the USA, Brazil and host nation France before a victory in their final match against the Atout Coeur Team.
Maia, who has appeared for the Wheel Blacks in previous World Championships, said “Victory in Paris was one of my biggest accomplishments. I’ve never won MVP before there are usually so many boys to compete against to win MVP.”
Christchurch-based Jacinta also had many great memories of competing in the French capital. Despite having previously played with Maia it was her first time on court with the others on her team, so to claim victory, particularly against six national teams, surpassed her expectations.
“I really enjoyed the Games, and we played well together,” explains Jacinta, who works as a medical laboratory scientist. “I felt I played reasonably well but the main reason I enjoyed the event was to play against so many others I’d not previously faced.”
For Maia, who suffered severe burns in a car fire as a toddler and who then missed out on selection for the Wheel Blacks at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games after a bone infection led to half her pelvis being removed and her right leg amputated, the Women’s Cup offered a very different opportunity.
“It allows me to score more tries and to do different roles, not just the one or two roles I’m set when playing with the men,” she explains. “Ever since I started playing wheelchair rugby my main goal has been to make the Paralympic Games. I still haven’t achieved my main goal yet and I am going to keep on going until I do it.”
Jacinta has found joy in the “physical outlet” of Wheelchair rugby and the sport has given her confidence and a sense of pride.
“It is a step forward to have a women’s only tournament, it is important more women get involved in the game,” explains Jacinta, who like Maia harbours ambitions of featuring at a Paralympic Games. “In some ways the sport felt more low pressure (in Paris) everyone was really supportive of one another. I was happy to be there.”
****To find out more about Wheelchair rugby go here.
