SPORTS FLASHBACK 1995: Quad athlete Jared Funk is off to world championships

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/09/2023 (585 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 1992, Jared Funk was one of the starting six on the Niverville Panthers high school volleyball team. Today, just three years later, the 21-year-old is an inspiration to all who come in contact with him as he gets ready to travel to Europe as a member of Canada’s quadriplegic rugby team.

Just months after Funk graduated from high school in 1992 his life changed forever, as he became a quadriplegic after a car accident in Winnipeg. As a passenger in a car that was struck by another vehicle on Pembina Highway, he was the only one injured.

Funk spent 8½ months in hospital and rehab following the accident. “I had a blast in the hospital,” was one of his comments to Carillon sports editor Terry Frey in a recent interview.

Funk explained that during his time in hospital he made many friends. Friends he still has today.

They were in similar predicaments. In a sense, the hospital became a safety net for Funk as he went through the gruelling rehab, and developed a close relationship with his new friends.

Many of the things the doctors said he would never do, he is already doing, such as driving his own car, and not using specially made utensils for eating.

Jared Funk is driven by the pessimism as he continues to prove the doctors wrong with the little things on a daily basis.

While in hospital Jared came to the realization that due to the extent of his paralysis, there would likely be no sports in his future. But a friend in the hospital told him about quad rugby, a sport designed for quadriplegics.

It is played on a basketball court, four-on-four. According to the rules, each player on the team has a different level of handicap. Funk has the least amount of mobility on his team.

He started playing the sport earlier this year, and was part of Team Manitoba’s 10-player contingent at the Canadian championships in Winnipeg in May. Manitoba finished third at the nationals.

Tryouts for the national team were held at the completion of the championships and his teammates urged him to try out for the national squad. He didn’t give himself much of a chance, but in the end, was named to the Canadian team.

This will be Funk’s first trip to Europe, a 10-day excursion to Notwil, Switzerland, near Zurich, for the world championships.

Funk, a top volleyball player with the ‘AA’ Panthers in high school, for the past two years has coached the senior high girls’ volleyball team in Niverville, leading the team to the provincials in 1993.

He is not coaching this year because he doesn’t have the time. He is as busy, or busier than many other young people his age. Funk is currently in his second year of education studies at the University of Winnipeg.

He has new-found freedom in a car that is specially outfitted with brake and accelerator hand controls. Since he finally got his driver’s license two years after his accident, in quite an arduous process with the Manitoba Motor Vehicle Branch, he has put on about 70,000 kilometres, which included a trip to northern Saskatchewan with friends. He also commutes daily to school in Winnipeg.

The Niverville athlete says he was inspired by a meeting he had with Rick Hansen earlier this year.

“I love what he did, wheeling around the world in his wheelchair.”

A common occurrence during the summer would see Jared wheeling around Niverville in his new marathon chair, and one of his friends trailing along in his spare chair, or jogging alongside or on a bike.

Jared and a couple of able-bodied friends will all go to the movies, in wheelchairs. He says it’s a lot of of fun, watching as his friends try to manoeuvre a wheelchair.

“I like pushing myself; I hate things that limit me.”