Dan Buckingham (born 25 September 1980) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

wheelchair rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for Disabled sport, athletes with a disability. It is practiced in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic spor ...

player, and was a member of the national team, the

Wheel Blacks The Wheel Blacks are the national wheelchair rugby team of New Zealand. The team won the gold medal at the 2004 Paralympic games in Athens. The Wheel Blacks squad is made up from players from different regions around New Zealand. They include Au ...

for 16 years. He worked as CEO for the Television Production Company

Attitude Attitude or Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), a disposition or state of mind ** Attitude change * Propositional attitude, a mental state held towards a proposition Science and technology * Orientation ...

, and is now the CE of Able (www.able.co.nz).

Early life

Dan was born in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

, and grew up in rural Southland. He is the youngest of 3 siblings. He was educated at St Kevin's College (1994–96) and

Verdon College Verdon College is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school in Invercargill, New Zealand, teaching students from year 7 to 13 (ages 11–18). The College is named after Michael Verdon, Bishop Michael Verdon (1838–1918) who was the second Cat ...

(1997-98) where he captained the schools First XV rugby team. In 1999 while attending

Otago University The University of Otago () is a public research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania. The university was created by ...

he sustained a fracture dislocation to his C6/7 vertebrae while playing club rugby, resulting in paralysis from the chest down, with some loss of function to his hands. He completed his rehabilitation at Burwood hospital, where he learned to use a manual wheelchair for mobility.

Domestic wheelchair rugby

Dan began training with the Canterbury wheelchair rugby team while still in the Burwood hospital spinal injury rehabilitation unit in 1999. While living in Dunedin he continued to play for Canterbury in 2000, and played his first Nationals tournament for the province that year. He moved to Christchurch in 2001, and continued to play for the club until 2007. In 2008 Dan began playing for Auckland after moving to the city at the end of 2007. He coached the team from 2014 - 2016.

International wheelchair rugby

Dan first made the New Zealand team in 2001, playing a 5 test series against Australia for the Chris Handy Cup, held in Christchurch. He has competed in four World Championships: Gothenburg 2002, Christchurch 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Odense 2014. He was part of the team that won Silver at the Christchurch 2006 World Championships; the Wheel Blacks lost to the US in the final. He competed as part of the Wheel Blacks in the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games where they won the gold medal, as well as the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games where they finished 5th. Dan captained the Wheel Blacks from 2007 - 2013, and again from 2015 - 2016. Dan has also competed for domestic clubs internationally, including Victoria in Australia, Denver and Lakeshore in the US, and Quebec in Canada.

Education

Dan attended boarding school at St Kevin's College in Oamaru from 1994 to 1996, before changing to

for his final two years from 1997 to 1998. In 1999 he began studying to be a Surveyor through

, but his studies were cut short when he broke his neck playing rugby in August of that year. He returned to Otago and completed a Certificate in Fitness Management. In 2003 Dan began a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

. He studied part-time while training and competing internationally in wheelchair rugby, and completed the degree at the end of 2006.

Career

In 2008 Dan began working for

as a researcher and presenter. He became CEO Producer in 2019. In 2022 he became Chief Executive of Abl

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckingham, Dan 1980 births Living people Paralympic wheelchair rugby players for New Zealand Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand Wheelchair rugby players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics People educated at Verdon College People educated at St Kevin's College, Oamaru Paralympic medalists in wheelchair rugby