Several players with Down syndrome recently featured in New Zealand’s first fully disabled rugby team in Christchurch.
The team is called Polar Bears and is part of High Schools Old Boys’ and an international organisation called Tri Trust Rugby.
The team has 20 players with intellectual and/or physical disabilities and are aged between 12 and 40.
After months of training, the players were buzzing to take the field, along with ‘enablers’ who helped facilitate the game to get everyone involved.
The team’s ultimate goal is to have other teams to play against domestically, and one day internationally.