GRIMES Kylie

Classification
0.5 (IWRF, 20 Jan 2020)

Type of Impairment
Spinal Cord Injuries (dailymail.co.uk, 23 Mar 2013)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (dailymail.co.uk, 23 Mar 2013)

Impairment Details
In 2006 she dived into a swimming pool and hit her head on the bottom, which resulted in a broken neck and quadriplegia. She has no mobility below her breastbone, although she has retained some feeling in her arms that allows her to control her wheelchair. (insidethegames.biz, 23 Mar 2013; dailymail.co.uk, 23 Mar 2013, 04 Aug 2011)

General
MIXED TEAM EXPERIENCE
She says playing with and against predominantly male teams makes no difference to her. She was one of only two women to compete in the sport at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. "I don't consider myself as anything other than a rugby player. [The men] hit me just as hard, make me work just as much as them, they don't treat me any differently and that's exactly the way it should be. Of course there's a bit of testosterone flying around and you have to go, 'Calm it down, come on' sometimes, but I can deal with that. I'm empowered to be a female in this sport. Some people say, 'Do you feel intimidated? Nervous?' Not at all. I absolutely love it. When I first started in 2009, I think there were only two or three women, then they dropped out of the sport and I was on my own. But over the last few years [speaking in 2019] we've had more and more females come through - there's young, developing talent and it's great to see. One day it would be a dream to go to a major tournament and have a strong all-female line-up in the mix." (skysports.com, 08 Mar 2019; independent.co.uk, 02 Jun 2021; spabusiness.com, 01 Jan 2019)

RETURN TO WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
She left the sport in 2015 to pursue Para athletics, but returned to wheelchair rugby in 2018 as she enjoys the team element. "To be back with the boys and in my team just feels like coming home. It's the best feeling in the world. They didn't have a hard job convincing me to return, to be honest. Athletics is amazing and I love individual sport, but I've played team sports my whole life and come from a big rugby family - it's in my blood. I also got excited when I saw our high pointers coming on so well and I thought, 'This is my chance to go back and join the boys', because as much as I enjoyed it before, as a low-point player I need high pointers to play my line, so if I don't have them, there's not really a space for me. But now [speaking in 2019] we've got so much depth and variety in the team it's definitely looking strong for the next year and beyond." (skysports.com, 08 Mar 2019; independent.co.uk, 02 Jun 2021)