The New England Intensity suffered its first loss in the offseason as they got trampled by the Massachusetts Hospital School in a 5 v5 Wheelchair football charity event on Tuesday January 15^th in Canton, MA.  The night was a blast as the inexperienced New England "wheelers" had the crowd laughing as they chased the Massachusetts Hospital School kids team all around the gym. 

The Massachusetts Hospital School serves the more complex medical, educational, rehabilitative and recreational needs of children and young adults with the following conditions: Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy and other Neuromuscular Disorders, Myelodysplasia, Spina Bifida, Trauma based disability including brain injury and other congenital or acquired physically debilitating disorders in children and young adults from ages 6 to 22, who require medical management for a physical disability.

The Massachusetts Hospital School team was very interested in playing a real football team as for their past several games, they played charity event teams.  And they loved the bragging rights, as they dominated the Intensity from the onset and won by a score of 52 to 21. The rules are five players on the gym floor for each team.  Like the Massachusetts Hospital School the Intensity also had to play in wheel chairs.  There were two halves and the scoring is very similar to real football, except the tackling was to touch the opponent's wheelchair, which sometimes involved crashing into each other at high speeds. 

The New England Intensity looks forward to helping the MHS by creating awareness of its program to others as well as help find fundraisers and donors to help support the annual MHS class trip to Disney for a fun time while the staff evaluate how well they have prepared the children's independent living skills.

Pictures of the charity football event will be posted on the Intensity website www.newenglandintensity.com  soon.