By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

FREEPORT – Young, free-spirited Andy Stewart didn’t get a rush from disabled skiing. So he moved from his native Vermont to Tucson, Ariz., where Stewart discovered that the state university actually awarded scholarships to wheelchair athletes.

One day, Stewart visited a gymnasium where a few of those new friends played a game that was part basketball, part football, part ice hockey and part demolition derby.

“They’ve played quad rugby forever, and they expect you to be ready,” Stewart said.

He wasn’t. From learning to trust hand-crafted harnesses that hold you steady to understanding that the shortest distance between two points might take you smack-dab into a 300-pound former football lineman’s chariot, Stewart picked up lesson after painful lesson on the job.

And so it was with a knowing smile that Stewart, a member of the Casco Bay Navigators quad rugby team, watched young Ashley Perkins of New Gloucester get his first dose of quad rugby last Sunday afternoon in the Freeport Middle School gym. It was the first open practice by the team in two years.

Perkins was assigned a defensive position in the four-on-four game. He didn’t smile as much as other, more experienced players. The rookie was too busy getting the hang of turning left and right and surging backward and forward without getting pummeled.

“He’s here to check it out and see what it’s all about,” said player-coach Bill Bouffard of Portland. “It takes a while. I visit counseling and rehabilitation groups all the time. They’re usually too busy adapting to a new life to think about playing a game.”

Recruiting was a little easier this time. Perkins was hooked after seeing the new documentary “Murderball,” a behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. national quad rugby team that won a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

The movie is now playing at the Nickelodeon Theater in Portland and Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville. With its release comes unprecedented exposure for one of the original “extreme” sports and new life for Bouffard’s own team.

Once ranked as high as seventh in the nation, the Casco Bay Navigators held a screening party last weekend.

“We probably needed the time off,” said Bouffard, who grew up in Lewiston and made a three-hour round trip commute to Bangor when he began playing the game in 1996. “Now it’s time to see what interest is still there and try to develop some new players.”

Quad rugby is played on a basketball court. By definition, each player must have some impairment in all four limbs. The wheelchairs are purpose-built with two large, angled tires and two sets of smaller wheels in the front and back.

After a full examination by a physical therapist who is approved by the United States Quad Rugby Association, players are assigned a number rating from .5 (lowest function) to 3.5 (highest function). Each team of four must have a combined rating of 8 or less on the floor at all times.

Generally, two players on each team with the strongest hand function try to work the ball across the goal line while the other two “set picks” or run interference. Yes, there’s plenty of opportunity to knock the daylights out of the guy in the chair next to you. As you might expect, however, the game is more chess match and less free-for-all than the movie depicts.

“It was great, but of course it shows the extreme of it,” Bouffard said. “We aren’t always flipping over like they show in the movie, but that probably sells tickets. I mean, if you came in here and watched one of our tournaments from start to finish, you’d probably fall asleep. It’s fun for us, but there’s also a lot of strategy involved.”

The game has changed. The three Canadians who invented it in Winnipeg, Manitoba, almost 20 years ago definitely had hockey in mind.

Players used regular wheelchairs with nothing resembling a seat belt, and they fell out frequently, leading to quad rugby’s in-your-face nickname.

“‘Murderball’ doesn’t work too well at the corporate level. It’s kind of hard to hang posters at work and the supermarket with that name,” Bouffard said. “I tell the guys to call it whatever they want among themselves.”

Other private jokes keep the mood light. Every Navigator has a nickname. There’s Brad “Big Hit” Williams, whose shaven head and burly appearance hint at Red Sox pitcher David Wells. Stewart, a tattooed, bear of a man himself, is “Big Hit Jr.” and touted on the team’s Web site as “most likely to rip a ref’s head off without using his hands.”

Williams’ wife, Renee, met Brad after he became paralyzed. She recently gave birth to their second child.

“This game forces players to do things they never thought they could do,” Renee Williams said. “They learn to rely on their strength.”

Bouffard hopes the movie will help the Navigators rebuild a full roster of 15 players.

He encourages occupational therapists or “people who know people who know people who know people who are quadriplegic” to spread the word about the film and the team. For information about the movie, people may go to www.murderballmovie.com. There’s contact information on the team’s Web site, www.mainequadrugby.com.

The Navigators also promote clinics at school field days.

“Kids love it,” Stewart said. “It’s just like bumper cars to them.”

And some grown-ups never outgrow it.

Navigators co-coach and player Donnie Wright of Bangor continues to play the game with a devilish grin, silver hair and battle scars.

“I broke and dislocated my leg in a tournament down in Tampa, Florida,” Wright said. “You can look at it and see that it didn’t heal right. But I don’t care!”