How to Find a Wheelchair Rugby Club in Canada and Start Playing

Wheelchair Rugby Canada's website has a Find A Club tool that lets you filter by province, covering every province and territory from Alberta to Yukon. From there, the Start Playing and Get Your Start Today sections explain how to begin. The practical path is: pick your province, identify the club nearest you, then contact that club directly to ask about intake, equipment, and eligibility.

Using the Find A Club Tool

The club finder is the main entry point on wheelchairrugby.ca. It works as a province selector rather than a searchable database, so the steps are simple:

1. Go to the Find A Club section of the site.
2. Open the province dropdown, which defaults to All Provinces.
3. Select your province or territory.
4. Review the clubs listed for that region.

The dropdown includes the full country:

If you leave the selector on All Provinces, you get the complete national list — useful if you are willing to travel or are moving. If your province returns no nearby club, try neighbouring provinces and ask the clubs you find whether they know of a program closer to you.

Starting to Play

The site frames entry through two related sections: Start Playing and Get Your Start Today. The stated goal is to "partner with other organizations in offering a progression of development opportunities" — meaning wheelchair rugby in Canada is often delivered through partner clubs and provincial organizations rather than a single national intake process.

That has a practical consequence: your first contact is usually a local club, not the national body. When you reach out, ask specifically about:

• Whether they run a learn-to-play or introductory session before full competition
• What sport wheelchairs are available to borrow, since rugby chairs are specialized and expensive
• Classification — the process that determines your eligibility and sport class
• Practice times, location, and any fees the club charges

The site does not publish club-level fees, schedules, or equipment policies, so these questions have to go to the club itself.

Other Ways to Get Involved

Beyond playing, the site lists several adjacent paths:

• Become a Coach — with a Coaching Resources section
• Programs — development opportunities run with partner organizations
• Get Involved — including Job & Volunteer Opportunities
• Resources — including the Canadian Anti-Doping Program

If you are not sure yet whether playing is right for you, volunteering or coaching at a club is a low-commitment way to see the sport first.

Staying Connected

The site offers a newsletter signup for scores, event updates, and news. This is worth doing if you are waiting for a season to start or want to hear about come-and-try events. The news feed also carries announcements — for example, a Community Town Hall and a Canadian Paralympic Committee investment in wheelchair rugby — which sometimes signal new or expanded programs.

What to Do Next

1. Open Find A Club and select your province.
2. Note the clubs listed and pick the closest one.
3. Contact the club and ask about intro sessions, loaner chairs, classification, and cost.
4. If nothing is near you, contact a club in a neighbouring province and ask for referrals.
5. Sign up for the newsletter to catch events and program announcements.

The one thing the website cannot tell you is whether a club near you is currently accepting new players — that changes by season and by club, so a direct message or phone call is the only reliable check.