Wheelchair rugby athlete wants to complete a journey from the base of Mount Everest to the pinnacle of the Paralympics podium

TOKYO - Once American wheelchair rugby ace Adam Scaturro sets his sights on a goal there is no going back.

He completed a 62 kilometer trek from Lukla to Mount Everest Base Camp in 1999 to reach an elevation of 5600 meters on the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Everest.

Scaturro, 42, whose USA side opened their Tokyo 2020 Paralympics campaign with a rousing 63-35 win over New Zealand on Wednesday morning at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, was part of his country’s mixed team which claimed silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at London 2012.

The Arizona native completed the Mount Everest mission with his father Pasquale Scaturro, a famed explorer who in 2004 became the first person to lead an expedition down the entire length of the 3253 mile Blue Nile River, from its source in Ethiopia to its end in the Mediterranean sea.

“I wanted to do it because nobody else in a wheelchair had gone up there before,” Scaturro said.

“Back in 2001 the National Federation of the Blind decided they wanted to send the first blind man to the summit of Mount Everest. As they were doing it they started saying, ‘well what other records can we break?’ So they ended up having the first father-son duo getting up to the top, then they had the oldest man summiting at the same time and then they kind of looked at me, because my dad was the expedition leader, and they said, ‘well let’s try to get a quadriplegic to Base Camp’.

“But there was no blueprint for this. A horse wasn’t going to work because of the geology (and) yaks weren’t going to work because they’re not very good in high altitudes.

“So then we thought, ‘Hell, these Sherpas carry at least 70 kilos on their head when they bring supplies up’. It’s like a bandana strap they have, with a basket hanging on the back of it. And they kind of leaned forward and I just sat there.

“I asked them, ‘Am I heavy?’ and they said, ‘No, this is easy, we’ve done far more weight than this before’.”

A year after his Mount Everest exploits, the 2010 world champion started playing wheelchair rugby and was accepted onto the USA national squad after his third tryout in 2009.

“I really wanted to accomplish something great after coming back,” he said. “Nepal opened up my eyes to how anything is possible in a wheelchair.”

Now, at his third Paralympics, and with 21 years of experience in the game known as ‘murderball’ for its thrills and spills, the only medal missing from his Games collection is gold.

“The motivation is that at London 2012 we got bronze, and then Rio 2016 we got silver when we lost by one goal in double overtime to the great Australia team, and that really motivated us to keep together as a team and keep building, knowing that we were so close to getting that gold.

“Also for me personally, it’s something I love to do. It’s what got me independent when I was originally injured and it’s something that I want to progress with, especially with this team and these guys that I have around me.”

Scaturro was a promising high school wrestler until he suffered a freak accident in 1995 which left him with spinal cord injuries.

A friend from the wrestling team unexpectedly flipped Scaturro onto the mat and the impact was so hard that he dislocated his neck and he has been a permanent quadriplegic ever since.

The three-time Paralympian admitted that he was struggling “emotionally, psychologically and physically” before he discovered wheelchair rugby.

“Rugby confirmed the idea that I could do anything I put my mind to.”

Scaturro, who has played for the Denver Harlequins team along with two other current USA team members, is intent on leaving Tokyo with a gold medal and believes that his team are well-placed to mount a major title bid.

“As a team we’re getting a lot better. We’re starting to really polish up our game and sharpen our weapons a little bit. Throughout this whole entire Covid season we haven’t had the opportunity to play any other nations so we’re chomping at the bit to get out there and show what we can do.”

In an ominous message to their opponents, Scaturro believes there’s only one team that can beat the USA: themselves.

“I honestly feel that we are the only team that can beat us. So if we put it all together, play as a team and stay as one unit, there should be nothing to hold us back from bringing home the gold.”

Scaturro and his teammates will face arch-rivals Canada on Thursday before taking on Great Britain on Friday in their final pool game.

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