Team-USA-Low-Point-Practice-Squad

Burch, Marchiano Selected to 2022 USA Low-Point Wheelchair Rugby Practice Squad

RICHMOND, VA – (Tuesday, February 15, 2021) – Sportable, Central Virginia’s premier adaptive sports club, is proud to announce that two members of the Sportable Possums Wheelchair Rugby team, Josh Burch and Mandy Marchanio, have been selected to the inaugural USA Low-Point Wheelchair Rugby practice squad.

“We are incredibly proud of Josh and Mandy,” commented Hunter Leemon, Sportable Executive Director. “They have worked extremely hard and are one step closer to representing Team USA on the Low-Point Team. We are excited to follow their progress over the next few months.”

Burch and Marchiano were among nearly 40 players nationwide invited to try out at the Lakeshore Foundation February 9-13. Sixteen players were chosen to continue training with the team throughout the spring and summer before the final eight-member travel roster is selected. The USA Low-Point Wheelchair Rugby team will compete against international Low-Point Teams from across the world at the World Games in Birmingham, AL July 14-17, 2022.

Burch was introduced to wheelchair rugby in 2017 at the National Veteran Wheelchair Games in Cincinnati, OH, and has since traveled coast-to-coast and internationally for tournaments. A perennial award winner and Marine Corps veteran, he is from Chester, VA and graduated from Thomas Dale High School.

A native of Colonial Heights, VA and graduate of VCU, Marchiano began participating in Sportable programs in 2017. She joined the Sportable Possums two years later and has since been recognized multiple times at wheelchair rugby tournaments across the east coast. Most recently, she earned the low pointer, lower division award at the PVA Wheelchair Rugby Invitational in October.

Established in 2019, the Sportable Possums Wheelchair Rugby Team trains year-round in Richmond, VA. Composed of individuals with quadriplegia with impairments in all four limbs, the Possums compete in tournaments against other wheelchair rugby teams throughout the east coast as members of the US Wheelchair Rugby Association. Wheelchair rugby is a fast-paced, full-contact Paralympic sport developed in the 1970s.

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