National wheelchair football league hosts tournament outside of Arrowhead Stadium
Matt Bollig was not sure if he’d be able to play football again. A weight room injury in 2012 paralyzed him when he was a junior quarterback at Ottawa University.
But nearly nine years after the injury, Bollig was at Arrowhead Stadium, a quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs team for the USA Wheelchair Football League (USAWFL).
“It’s a dream come true because it ended so abruptly,” said Bollig, 30. “I didn’t finish my career, it was kind of taken from me.”
The USAWFL, a program with nonprofit para sports organization Move United, held its second competitive tournament of its inaugural season Oct. 29-30 in the parking lot of Arrowhead.
The first tournament was held in Phoenix in September — and was won by the Kansas City Chiefs.
While this is the inaugural season for the USAWFL, it was founded in 2019 with four teams: Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Kansas City. The league’s first season was supposed to be in 2020 but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the league added five more teams (Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland, Tampa and New Orleans) and is now composed of nine teams.
“I think for a long time football was a sport that athletes with disabilities just didn’t have access to, and so now they get to get out here and hit just as hard, run just as fast and score all the touchdowns,” said Karalyn Stott, commissioner of the USAWFL. “For Move United, our goal is really to show that athletes with disabilities can do anything.”
The league’s rules are similar to the NFL rules: There’s four 15-minute quarters and athletes are required to wear a helmet.
But the rules are also different. Instead of 11-on-11, the USAWFL plays 7-on-7. Games are not played on a field but a hard surface. For kickoffs, players throw the ball downfield. A tackle is a one-hand touch above the waist.
“It’s really all the things you expect from football,” Stott said. “It’s hard hitting, it’s fast paced, it’s got passing, and running and blocking, and all the things that everyone expects just on a slightly different field surface.”
The league runs from August to October and many athletes on the different teams also play other sports.
Kolton Kincaid, 24, plays wide receiver for the Chiefs and is also the director of the Kansas City program. He played football in high school but a farming injury paralyzed him at 16.
Playing outside of Arrowhead Stadium and representing the Chiefs is a great feeling for Kincaid because he grew up watching the NFL every week.
“It’s a very important part of life for a lot of people,” he said. “Your team loses, it ruins your whole day so it’s awesome to get the rep the brand out there and represent Kansas City.”
He did not start playing adaptive sports until four years after his injury, first starting with softball.
He plays softball, basketball and football now.
“Team sports were a big part of my life and that was something I didn’t think I’d be able to do again,” Kincaid said. “And here I am playing all year round.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 3:29 PM.
