GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Sticks will be flying this weekend in Grand Rapids as Mary Free Bed hosts the inaugural Frenzy Fest Wheelchair Lacrosse Tournament.
Five teams from around the country— including Indiana, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin— will come to West Michigan to compete.
Nearly 60 athletes will compete in the home tournament for the Mary Free Bed Wheelchair Lacrosse team, the Grand Rapids Frenzy.
Wheelchair lacrosse is played on a roller hockey rink or box lacrosse pad with eight players per team.
Players use basketball wheelchairs and a no-bounce ball.
The sport is typically popular with sled hockey and wheelchair basketball athletes.
Teams include athletes with physical disabilities, but many also include able-bodied athletes— the tournament allows three able-bodied athletes per team to play at a time.
Tim Murray coaches the Frenzy.
He’s in his fourth year with the Mary Free Bed team and is also the head men’s lacrosse coach at Grand Valley State University.
During Murray’s tenure with the Frenzy, the program has more than doubled in size and has become a player on the national landscape of wheelchair lacrosse.
The team even finished third in a tournament in Milwaukee earlier this year.
The tournament runs Saturday, July 15, from 8 a.m.- 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 16, from 8 a.m.- 2 p.m.
It will be held at Eagles Ice Center— 2600 Village Dr. SE, Grand Rapids.
In between scheduled competitive games, the Future Frenzy, made up of 12-15-year-olds, will have scrimmages as they learn how to play wheelchair lacrosse.
