Six teams from across the country competed in the annual United States Wheelchair Rugby Association’s (USWRA) Low Point Tournament held at Ability360 on July 18 and 19, 2026.
This was Ability360’s first time hosting this tournament. TIRR Texans ended up finishing the tournament in first place. The weekend was full of sportsmanship, competition, and community.
The USWRA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides oversight, promotes development, and manages wheelchair rugby in the United States. The organization holds annual tournaments all over the country to accommodate the 40 teams that are featured.
We talked to low point rugby players about how their sport differs from traditional wheelchair rugby.
What is Wheelchair Rugby?
Wheelchair rugby combines elements of rugby, basketball, and hockey by using rugby-style physical contact and scoring, basketball’s court, passing, and timing rules, and hockey-style wheelchair checking and fast-paced play in addition to the concept of a power play and penalty box. These features create a fast, strategic, full-contact sport that emphasizes teamwork, speed, and skill. During a game, two teams of four compete to see who can score the most points by bringing the ball up the court through a goal. Athletes play a 32-minute game, with four eight-minute quarters.
Wheelchair rugby players are given points assigned by a physical therapist or a physiatrist based on their muscle function. Players with lower muscle function are scored lower, and those with higher muscle function are scored higher.
This number can range from 0.5-3.5. The total points of the athletes on the court must equal no more than 8.0. This is so that no team has an unfair advantage.
Using this point system, lower-classified players will typically play defensively, and higher-classified players will be in offensive roles.
What makes Low Point Rugby different?
Low point rugby is a variant of wheelchair rugby. In this variation, the maximum classification points of any individual athlete must not exceed 1.5, and there can only be 3.5 points on the court at a time.
Low point was created to give athletes who normally compete in a defensive role the opportunity to handle the ball, work in an attacking role, and tries against other low point teams.
TIRR Texans player Paul Hopkins has been playing the sport for three years now and said his favorite part of the game is how everyone gets to handle the ball.
“Low point rugby has taught me to definitely learn how to stay wide, spread the floor, and be confident with the ball,” Hopkins said.
Low point athletes tend to use wheelchairs that have a metal extension, called a picker, which can be used to slow or stop opposing athletes’ movement. It also acts as a shield for the chair when players run into each other.
“Everybody has a picker on their chair, so it just makes it that much more fun to be able to push past someone that has a pick on the floor or just staying off the pick,” Hopkins said.
Irving Outlaws player Joseph Snyder explained that the goal of each player is to create a turnover, making an opposing player get stuck behind the play in a pick.
“Turnover is when they have the ball, and then they lose possession,” Snyder said. “We get the ball, so we have a chance to score.”
The sport allows players to take on both offensive and defensive roles instead of being assigned one based on their classification, making it more accessible to individuals with lower muscle function.
USWRA President Steve Kearley said, “Low point is important to me because it allows more low point players to stay active, connected socially, and healthy.”
