Para-ice hockey: Dani Czernuszka-Watts finds 'normality' through sport after being paralysed in rugby tackle

1 year ago 18

Dani Czernuszka-Watts playing para crystal hockey for Great Britain

Dani Czernuszka-Watts' spouse was trying to instrumentality her caput disconnected the concern astatine manus erstwhile helium showed her a video connected YouTube.

Grainy footage of a crippled of crystal sledge hockey astatine the Paralympics filled the screen. She was drawn to it, a spark was lit - but world bit.

It was 2017, and Czernuszka-Watts was successful hospital. She had precocious go paraplegic aft a "revenge" tackle during a rugby lucifer near her with a imperishable spinal injury, for which she won a compensation case astatine the High Court earlier this year.

Nearly six years connected from that day, she is an planetary jock and a history-maker. Sport, she says, has brought her "normality".

"I deliberation my archetypal brace of trainers was a brace of Mitre shot boots," she tells BBC Sport, looking backmost astatine her "football-obsessed, Dennis Wise-obsessed" Chelsea-supporting younger self.

An wounded astatine the property of 18 enactment paid to her footballing dreams but, aft spells moving for the Metropolitan Police, situation work and surviving successful Germany, a aboriginal vocation arsenic a idiosyncratic trainer brought rugby into the picture.

"It was everything that I felt similar I was built for, though I was 5ft 3in. I was fast, nippy and not frightened to get stuck in," she says.

Czernuszka-Watts joined the recently formed Reading Sirens, Rams RFC's women's side, successful 2016, and was rapidly absorbed into the rugby family. They "held her hand" when, arsenic a past azygous mum, she struggled to wage her subs, made definite determination was idiosyncratic to ticker her kids portion she trained and obliged erstwhile she needed a reminder of rugby's rules "for the umpteenth time". That enactment would soon scope caller levels.

The team's archetypal competitory crippled was acceptable for 8 October 2017, but the Sirens were tense - much truthful than mean pre-match jitters.

They had played the aforesaid opponents, Bracknell, 5 months earlier, successful a developmental affable that was acold from it. Bracknell skipper Natasha King allegedly punched a Sirens subordinate and broke another's arm, astatine the aforesaid clip being verbally intimidating and encouraging her team-mates to play aggressively.

When the teams met again successful October, Czernuszka-Watts, past 28 years aged and playing arsenic a flanker, wore the fig 7 shirt. She recovered herself astatine the centre of the attraction of King, who urged her team-mates to "smash the fig seven".

Towards the extremity of the game, King was "humiliated" aft being near winded by her ain tackle effort connected Czernuszka-Watts. "That [expletive] fig seven, I'm going to interruption her," she was heard to say.

In the last minutes, during a ruck and acting arsenic scrum-half, Czernuszka-Watts bent down to prime up the ball. King executed a "belly flop", throwing her afloat 16-17 chromatic value connected to Czernuszka-Watts' backmost portion holding connected to her legs.

"I heard my backmost snap," Czernuszka-Watts tells BBC Sport. "It was the loudest interruption I deliberation I've ever heard and I instantly shouted, 'She's broke my back'.

"I retrieve shouting, 'Put my legs connected the floor, enactment my legs connected the floor'. A person of mine, who was a physio, she conscionable looked astatine maine dormant successful the eyes and past I retrieve looking astatine her saying, 'I'm hurt, aren't I?'

"It was then, looking astatine everyone else, erstwhile I knew that thing rather superior had happened."

Her legs were already connected the floor.

Images showing the rugby tackle connected Dani Czernuszka-Watts

Two months astatine Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital followed, past 4 months astatine Stoke Mandeville - the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

Czernuszka-Watts knew "life was ne'er going to beryllium the aforesaid again" earlier doctors had told her the grade of her injuries. It was a stark realisation "when you're looking astatine your legs and you're giving everything to determination them and they don't move."

Nearly six years on, she is simply a full-time wheelchair idiosyncratic and lives with chronic pain, acknowledging that anterior to her wounded she had "no idea" however hard beingness tin beryllium for those with disabilities. She holds nary resentment towards rugby, though her lad has stopped playing due to the fact that helium doesn't privation to get hurt.

"It has its acheronian days. There are times wherever I'm truly aggravated astatine myself for playing [rugby] and determination are times wherever I tin accidental I had a bully life, this wasn't my fault, this was an enactment that could person been prevented," she says.

"Now, you acceptable caller challenges, beingness is what you marque it and I'm trying to marque it the champion that I can."

Czernuszka-Watts has conquered the challenges she has acceptable herself truthful far. Twice she has completed the London Marathon, and sailed astir Antigua with different wheelchair users.

It was aft the archetypal marathon that she decided to capable the spread successful her beingness that athletics had antecedently occupied. That video of sledge hockey - present known arsenic Para-ice hockey - lurked successful her representation and truthful she went to her archetypal league with the Cardiff Huskies.

"I went retired the adjacent time and bought my kit. It was similar freedom," she says.

In 2021, she answered a telephone for women with lower-limb disabilities to beryllium a portion of the Great Britain women's Para-ice hockey programme. She pulled connected the red, achromatic and bluish - the fig 7 connected her backmost erstwhile again - for the archetypal clip astatine the inaugural Women's World Challenge successful Green Bay, Wisconsin, past year, an accomplishment made each the much singular fixed she had fixed commencement to her 3rd kid 8 weeks earlier.

In December, she was selected for GB's mixed squad astatine the World Championships C-Pool, and it was determination she made history, becoming the archetypal pistillate subordinate - of immoderate federation - to people astatine a Para-ice hockey World Championships.

"You're sitting determination with the best, these guys person been playing similar 20 years and you're inactive virtually falling implicit and thinking, 'I americium a very, precise small food successful a large pond'. I had truthful overmuch self-doubt, each time I was telling myself, 'OK, I'm bully capable to beryllium here'.

"And past scoring the goal, I didn't cognize however bully that would consciousness until it happened, due to the fact that I deliberation my extremity was conscionable to past each game.

"I've scored a batch of bully goals [in football] and converted a batch of bully kicks [in rugby], but I would accidental that was the sweetest one."

From 31 August, Great Britain instrumentality to Green Bay for the 2nd variation of the Women's World Challenge, a tourney that hopes to enactment arsenic a stepping chromatic to a archetypal Women's World Championship successful 2025 and, further down the line, a women's tourney astatine the Paralympics.

Czernuszka-Watts says she and her team-mates - who are each self-funded - person "grown a lot" since their past tourney and volition spell successful with confidence, yet careless of the result, it's wide to spot what returning to athletics has brought backmost to her life.

"It's precise casual to consciousness atrocious for yourself astatine times, sometimes I bash consciousness atrocious for myself and I let those days due to the fact that immoderate days bash suck," she says.

"Since 8 October 2017 there's not been a time wherever I've not been successful symptom and if you don't person a affirmative outlook successful beingness that could instrumentality you into many, galore acheronian places.

"Who knows what the aboriginal holds? I deliberation I'll ever springiness everything 101%. And I'll ever effort and bring my A-game successful anything. From hoovering to playing successful a match, it's going to beryllium done to the champion of my ability. I tin lone springiness beingness my best."