'Murderball' ready: 2 Windsorites suit up for Canada's Paralympics wheelchair rugby team

Canadian athletes Mike Whitehead and Matt Debly are in France, preparing for the Paralympics, which openWednesday in Paris.

The pair of Windsorites will battle it out for Canada in the rough-and-tumble sport of wheelchair rugby.

The sport, often referred to as "murderball"because of its physicality, involvesfour players versus four others on a basketball court. It was developed in Canada in the 1970s by athletes with quadriplegia, and made its debut as a medal sport at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Canada's preliminary round gets underway Thursday against the United States.

LISTEN |2 Windsor-Essex athletes take part in the Paralympics in Paris:

Windsor Morning8:292 Windsor-Essex athletes take part in the Paralympics in Paris

At 48, Whitehead is heading into his sixth games, while this will be Debly's first.

According to Whitehead, he's most excited this time around to share the experience with his teammates.

"Watching guys like Matt and my teammates have a really nice time is one of the big highlights for me," he said.

"Then competing at the world stage against the best in the world no better way to see if yourtraining and hard work has paid off."

Debly, 29, saidhe's trying to set his expectations "rather low" heading into the games.

"I don't want to sort of taint the experience going in having all these ideas of what I expect it to be," he said.

"I'm sort of being an empty page and just letting the experiences kind of happen. I'm excited for finding out what the village is like."

WATCH |'Murderball' not for the faint of heart:

'Murderball' not for the faint of heart

2 years ago

Duration 2:42

Whitehead was injured in 1999 in the Harrow area and underwent spinal cord rehab in London. There, he eventually got hooked up with a wheelchair rugby team after they came to visit him in the hospital.

Debly got started in the sport after first competing in basketball for Team Ontario at the Canada Games in 2015.

"Members of the rugby community had kind of [saw] me play basketball and thought that I'd be a pretty good fit. I went out to a couple of practices and I fell in love with it."

The physicality of the sport is what Deblylovesmost.

"It's the only para sport where you can have full chair contact, so there's a lot of hitting and bumping of the chairs, but the truth is:it's always been the rugby community. It's so very different from other sports that I've been a part of, in the sense that everybody, no matter who you are, where you are, or where you are in your journey, both on the court and off the court."

Whitehead saidhe loves how the sport allows him to travel, hangout with friends and get paid to represent Canada on a national stage calling it a "dream come true."

Turning 49 in the fall, he saidso far, he's been able to keep up physically with the demands.

"I train really hard, year round. We did a time trial, and I'm still keeping up with Matt here, who's got a few decades on me. Our sports science team keeps me fresh and keeps me young."

As for how much longer he thinks he'll compete, Whitehead saidhe'll focus on the task at hand for the next few weeks and enjoy what he can before making any decisions.

"I go year to year. I'll always play recreationally, that's for sure, at the club level. International level, it's quite a commitment. There's a lot of pressure to win. We'll see what happens in a few months."

Whitehead was inducted into the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Hall of Fame in 2017.

Debly saidif he's lucky, he'll have half the career Whitehead has had.

"Mike's a prime example of what a healthy lifestyle and lots of training can do. He's not slowing down by any means. If anything, he's getting faster."

Both Canadian Paralympic athletes feel their team stands a good chance of grabbing a medal in Paris.

"We've beaten everybody in the world, and they've beaten us. We definitely have a very solid chance," said Whitehead.