Cerebral palsy no barrier for Waikite rugby player Lisa Adams

ROOKIE YEAR: Lisa Adams has never used her disability as an excuse to not give something a go and has just finished her first season with the Waikite women's rugby team. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

The Baywide women's rugby competition is full of athletes who kick stereotypes for touch.

Waikite, who were crowned champions last weekend, had a handful of players who had never played the sport before, but week-in, week-out they improved and helped their side make a sensational late run to the title.

One of those women is Lisa Adams who, despite having a couple of famous siblings by the names of Steven and Valerie, is paving an incredible journey of her own.

She was diagnosed early in life with left hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that affects the movement and growth of muscles on the limbs of one side of her body.

"People on the sideline would say, 'Why are you playing that injured girl? She's limping.' They don't realise it's permanent," Adams said.

"I'm so reliant on my right side. What I'm used to is you send your brain messages to do things, like wiggle your fingers, and the brain sends a message back. On my left side it sends that message slower."

Adams adapted to playing rugby by tackling and passing with her strong side. Adapted so well in fact, that despite covering multiple games during the season this reporter did not even notice.

The 26-year-old has played netball and basketball for years, but had never considered playing rugby.

That is until she was approached by one of Waikite's leading players Janina Khan.

Khan said she saw Adams at a mutual friend's house - at 1.87m she is often hard to miss - and immediately thought she had the build to play rugby.

"As a rugby player, when you see someone who fits a type of profile, at her height and size, you think 'we could use you'.

"She wasn't sure if she could play, because she has cerebral palsy. I started asking her about it and she said she would give it a go.

"[Throughout the season] I thought she improved 100 per cent. Lisa was eager to learn, she asked lots of questions and took that away to work out how she could put it into the game.

"I think it takes a special person to play women's rugby for one - it's not a sport anybody can play - but it takes someone special to take the learnings they are given and use them with their own flair and with a disability.

"A lot of players get injured or play carrying an injury, but they don't start the season with something permanent," Khan said.

Adams said her first thought when Khan asked her about playing rugby was, "How am I going to find boots that fit?"

Which is not surprising when you consider she wears a size 15 men's.

But, she found boots and became an integral part of the Waikite team, starting at lock in the final against Rangataua.

"Janina really sold it to me - she could sell you your own belly button fluff.

"The club culture here is amazing, it's a real family culture and they made me feel welcome. Everyone in general was really helpful.

"I said I was going to suck and Janina said, 'Yeah you will suck, but you'll get better.'

"I was really happy for the girls, like Janina, who have been playing here for a long time, to win the competition. And I was happy as a rookie to start the final and be a part of it. It was a real privilege.

"I think I do want to give it another go next season, just to see if I can improve some more. I like the contact and doing something different," she said.

When asked about having famous siblings she simply said: "Do you have siblings? It's exactly the same as that."