WAXHAW — A car accident over Christmas break left Matt Crisp in a wheelchair at the age of 18. The former wrestler and football player was a student at Appalachian State University and will never walk again.

Nearly two decades later, he spends many Thursday nights playing rugby. A spinal cord injury put him in the wheelchair, but can’t keep him away from sports — and for Crisp, that means quad rugby.

Marvin Ridge High School will host the second annual Carolina Collision Quad Rugby Tournament this weekend. Crisp is one of 10 quadriplegic players on the Carolina Crash team. According to its Web site, the team includes players with “complete and incomplete quadriplegia.”

“It’s a great outlet as far as just being physical and being able to compete,” he said.

Quad, or wheelchair, rugby is often called murderball, a name it picked up from the documentary of that name, which followed paraplegics who compete in full-contact rugby in the Paralympic Games.

Many Carolina Crash players are from the Charlotte metropolitan area, but the youngest, Marvin Ridge junior Sam Robb, is from Waxhaw.

On the opposite end of the age range is Greg Taylor, who will turn 58 in November. Taylor has played on the team since it began in 1996, just a couple of years after a mountain-bike accident fractured his neck.

“It didn’t take long before ... I got involved in wheelchair racing and then rugby,” he said minutes after rolling in from tennis practice. Taylor is also involved in hand cycling. “If I don’t do something for a couple of days, my body doesn’t like me very much.”

The quad rugby season runs from September to May. Teams practice once a week.

Crisp’s wife and 6-year-old son often cheer him on, but the team itself is a great source of support when dealing with everyday struggles of quadriplegia, Crisp said. “There’s always people to lean on.”

Carolina Crash currently has only male members, but anyone is welcome to play. Taylor warns that the fast-paced sport can get competitive.

“This should be a really close tournament for everybody,” Taylor said. “Come see what the disabled can do.”

Want to go?

The tournament will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Marvin Ridge High, 2825 Crane Road. Admission is free. Visit www.carolinacrash.org for more information.