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| OMNI celebrates the game of Wheelchair Rugby! |
| Posted
on Monday, August 31, 2009 - 07:40 PM |
With one year to go until Vancouver hosts the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships, OMNI Television is proud to celebrate Canada’s participation in the game – and Canada’s role in its development – with the airing of the independently produced documentary, Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop to audiences in BC, Alberta and Ontario.
The English language version of Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop will air on OMNI stations, Sunday, September 20th as follows:
8pm PT in Vancouver, Victoria – OMNI in BC (CHNM-TV)
10pm MT in Calgary – OMNI in Calgary (CJCO-TV)
10pm MT in Edmonton – OMNI in Edmonton (CJEO-TV)
9pm ET in Ontario – OMNI.1 (CFMT-TV)
 From Toronto-based JR6 Productions, Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop follows Ian Chan and other elite Canadian Wheelchair Rugby athletes as they work for the chance to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Chan, co-captain of the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby team, was introduced to the sport as part of his rehabilitation, following a motorcycle accident that left him a quadriplegic at age 15. The documentary’s title, Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop refers to a mantra Ian Chan repeats to himself while training and is the motto for his life.
“I’d worked with Paralympic sports and Paralympic athletes previously and yet it was “Murderball,” an American film on Wheelchair Rugby that sparked my curiosity to know more about what is actually a Canadian invention,” says Joe Recupero, Producer/Director/Writer of Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop. “The need for this story to be told was obvious -- and fortunately, OMNI Television came to the table with 100% funding from their Independent Producers’ Initiative. Without their assistance this project would not have been possible.”
Wheelchair Rugby was created and developed in Winnipeg over 30 years ago. A group of five quadriplegics led by Ian Chan’s recreational therapist and mentor, Duncan Campbell, began “chucking a volleyball around at each other” (hence the name “Murderball”) as part of their physical rehabilitation. They used volleyball and some of the rules from rugby, basketball and hockey to come up with an alternative to Wheelchair Basketball -- which requires a level of hand function that many quadriplegics do not have.
“Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop tells a story of triumph over adversity in a real-life Canadian context that reflects diversity in its many facets,” says Madeline Ziniak, National Vice President of OMNI Television. “OMNI is pleased to support Joe Recupero’s project for its inspirational portrayal of Canada’s spirit, athleticism and ingenuity, especially as we count down to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
The next big challenge for Ian Chan and his teammates will be September, 2010, when the world's top Wheelchair Rugby players from 12 countries come to Vancouver to battle for the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop was exclusively funded through OMNI's Independent Producers Initiative, a $32.5 million independent production fund that to date has supported over 200 new documentary programmes. Interested producers can access funding criteria at OMNI Television’s web site www.OMNItv.ca .
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