Rams' Chuck Melton (left) is upended as he collides with Texas' Austin Cogar.

A few months ago I worked on a Health and Fitness story about a pair of coaches who work with able-bodied and disabled athletes, the photo gallery is here.  While attending one of their training sessions, I met Kerri Morgan, an occupational therapist at Washington University who was the first female member of the US quad rugby national team and is the team captain of the local quad rugby team, the St. Louis Rams.

Rams' Kerri Morgan inbounds the ball in second half action.

I saw the Oscar-nominated documentary movie “Murderball” a couple years ago so I had heard of the sport but I’d never seen it in person.  What’s not to like?  A collection of Type A personalities in human-powered armored vehicles ramming into each other at breakneck speeds (insert your own quadriplegic joke here) while trying to advance a ball across a goal line.

Rams' Eric Newby races down the court with possession of the ball. Although the ball can be carried, it must be passed or bounced once every ten seconds.

Fast forward a couple months and the Rams are hosting their annual event, the Crazy 8’s Tournament, this weekend at Southwestern Illinois College in nearby Belleville, Ill.

I stopped in to check out one of their games.  It was everything I imagined and more.  These are real athletes racing up and down the court and the collisions are very real.  It was a tight game throughout and the Rams had possession with three seconds to go down by one, but the “Hail Mary” pass to the endzone was intercepted.  The St. Louis Rams were edged out by the Texas Stampede 36-35 in the third of six games played today.

Rams' Chuck Melton (left) tries to power his way out of a jam with Texas' Austin Slaymaker (right).

Here is a gallery of images from the game.  I hope to catch up with Kerri and the rest of the St. Louis Rams team to do a more complete story on them in the future.

Texas' Austin Cogar (left) offers a handshake to Rams' Kerri Morgan after a hard-fought game.