Joe Soares is a former all-star

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player for the

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, a Paralympic gold medallist, who later coached the Canadian

paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

team after he was cut by the U.S. in 1996. This episode figures prominently in the 2005 documentary film '' Murderball''.

Biography

Soares was born into a poor family in Portugal, and moved to

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, at the age of 11. Soares lost the use of his legs after contracting childhood

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at the age of nine. He used crutches until he was in high school, when he switched to a wheelchair because he says it gave him greater mobility and he said the girls liked it.Quote from Murderball Soares began playing rugby in 1969 and, as of 2005, was the only player to have participated in 13 consecutive United States National Championships. He was a member of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team that won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...

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. He was also a finalist in singles and a champion in doubles at the 1996

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for

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in the Quad "A" Division. Soares was cut from the U.S. team in 1996 and lost a lawsuit in an attempt to make a point soon after. Soares then applied to coach the United States team but was rejected. Due to wishing to continue with rugby Soares went on to coach the Canadian wheelchair rugby team, leading them to victory against the until then-undefeated United States team in

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. Soares was fired by the Canadian wheelchair rugby team in 2005 and moved on to coach the British team. Soares was released by the Great Britain Team in June 2008. In 2010, Soares began coaching the German national team. During his work for them, he failed to improve the German's IWRF World Ranking; instead, they dropped at the 2010

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from 7th to 10th place. Soares coached Germany at the 2011 Europeans Wheelchair Rugby Championships, leading them to their worst historic placing and failing to qualify for the London 2012 Paralympics. Soares and his wife Patricia have two sons, Joseph and Robert. Through the time that he coached Team Canada, he resided in the United States.

References

* Shapiro, Dana.
"Murderball"
',

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

. November 2002.

External links

*
Murderball player profiles
(murderballmovie.com) {{DEFAULTSORT:Soares, Joe Living people Paralympic wheelchair rugby players for the United States Wheelchair rugby players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Providence, Rhode Island Wheelchair rugby coaches American wheelchair rugby players Paralympic coaches for Canada Coaches at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic wheelchair rugby coaches Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Paralympic medalists in wheelchair rugby American people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent