Patriot Wheelchair Football team provides community and compassion
Up two touchdowns with the clock ticking in the fourth quarter, the New England Patriots Wheelchair Football team awaited their first-ever program win against the Las Vegas Raiders on August 20.
The 37-year-old quarterback Vaughn Pfeffer, who suffered from an aortic dissection two years ago forcing open heart surgery and paralysis from the belly button down, couldn’t stop thinking to himself, “Don’t screw this up.”
Las Vegas scraped one touchdown back but the Patriots won 20-14 and would eventually take third place at their first USA Wheelchair Football League tournament.
In May of 2023, the NFL and the Bob Woodruff Foundation partnered with Adaptive Sports New England to assemble the first wheelchair football team in the area with the New England Patriots branding.
In this partnership, the Patriots provide jerseys, training grounds, PR, wheelchairs, and other supportive efforts.
The Patriots started with a roster of 15 men all over 18 years of age as per the rules. The contact could be a deterrent for youth leagues in the sport, however, Adaptive Sports New England President Joe Walsh believes there is a path to creating a space for it.
“We want to figure out how to engage youth in wheelchair football,” Walsh said. “I don’t know what that looks like because of the lack of regional competition. At the moment nobody is dedicated to working on that.”
Wheelchair football has gained traction in recent years with Move United founding the wheelchair league in 2020 with just four teams. Now there are 13 with the prospect of more coming next season. The sport plays similarly to its able-bodied counterpart with points scored via touchdowns and point after touchdown attempts of passing (one point) or rushing (two points).
In this seven-on-seven competition, all kicking plays are thrown with field goals not counting as a scoring play. On a 60-yard field, teams get four downs to travel 15 yards to create a new series of downs and are deemed down on incomplete plays or via one-hand touch.
The players race their chairs and all types of route play and the contact can get intense. Member of the team Joseph LaMar detailed the mental and physical players endure in the sport.
“The opponent is looking to break your chair,” he said. “The trash-talking there, the nonsense is there, the cheap shots are there. It's our highest level of sport.”
First-year coach Nathaniel Star added to this notion.
“I thought with one-hand touch it would be a bit different, but these guys are hitting each other hard,” Star said.
One of the most significant characteristics of wheelchair football is the functional classification system which ensures a mix of ability on the field. Players are graded on a point scale from 1-4.5 relating to their impairment. The composition of players in play can never reach above 21 points.
Star wanted to have players rotating on and off the field but positions became more set after the first practices.
“A lot of individuals have been playing adaptive sports for a couple of years now and know their classification,” Star said. “There's tryouts for individual positions and I hate to say it but the slower guys are typically on the line and the more agile are in skills positions.”
With little to no wheelchair football experience on the team, players rely on athletic ability in other sports to push for success. LaMar is a two-time Paralympian winning gold in the 400 meter in Barcelona (1992) and bronze in the 800 meter in Sydney (2000). He looks to bring his experience in other wheelchair sports such as football, basketball, and softball to the team.
“I’m always going to go and mentor new players that come out in any of the sports that I do,” LaMar said. “It's just my way of giving back.”
Many players on the team including Pfeffer found out about the wheelchair football team through LaMar.
Adaptive sports have many benefits both physical and mental, according to the players. New England wheelchair football member John Paul Jones was a victim of gun violence in 2018. Suffering from other illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, joining wheelchair sports early in his recovery was pivotal in building courage.
“Having adaptive sports as an outlet to engage with other guys in wheelchairs has been somewhat remarkable and unexplainable for me,” Jones said. “To be amongst our community, which is such a small percentage of our society, enabled me to gain confidence as a wheelchair user.”
When making the transition to playing in the wheelchair league, Pfeffer and many others would be joining their first organized league sport. The players are dedicated; Jones who commuted from Hartford attended all games and practices in Massachusetts.
“The commitment of each individual is outstanding,” Star said. ‘They have taught me a lot about the grit of adaptive sports."
Traveling is one of the toughest aspects these athletes face when competing. The league hosted tournaments in Chicago and Buffalo, it was a logistical journey for the Patriots each time having to log expensive equipment back and forth through flights.
Despite complications, teams arrived at tournament locations ready to battle. The atmosphere is as competitive as any and Omar Benitez who played on the 2018 and 2019 National Wheelchair Basketball Association Championship-winning Rollin Knicks noted the environment of tournament play.
“I think we are always trying to push each other out there,” he said. “We are all aware of the challenges we face, but we will also do all we can to win.”
LaMar challenges able-bodied individuals to try and compete in any adaptive sport.
“I always say whether it's basketball, softball, or now football, that I would love to see an able-bodied person come out, put themselves in a chair and try to play with us and then see their reaction afterward,” he said.
Throughout its first year of league play, the Patriots got better and are now hoping to recruit some more talent ahead of the 2024 season. Adding team after team, Move United has also continued to expand its league and player base which LaMar is hopeful for its popularity.
“I look at it and it's like I can't see it being stopped,” he said. “If the backing is there from the NFL, then I’m sure it will continue.”