A disabled UK athlete who visited Uganda to help set up the country’s first wheelchair rugby tournament has described the trip as a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience.
Sarah Burrows, captain of Cumbria’s Penrith Pumas, spent two weeks in Kampala with a wheelchair rugby team.
As part of the visit, coordinated by Welsh Fury Wheelchair Rugby, two specialist wheelchairs were donated, along with two chairs for day-to-day use and a number of medical supplies.
Burrows, 26, said she returned home to Carlisle with “a different appreciation of how easily we can access things – not just in terms of disability sport, but standard disability equipment”.
The trip saw the visitors stage workshops, teach the rules of the sport, mentor players and put games on.
The Pumas play wheelchair rugby fives, which indicates the number of players on the court at any one time.
Games are played over two 12-minute halves and contact can be made with other chairs but not with players.
A player holding the ball must bounce or pass it at least once every 10 seconds and a try is scored when a player in control of the ball crosses the opponent’s try line.
Burrows said the sport “brings a sense of community and friendship”.