Nakamura Shuhei (now 27) was paralysed from the head down during a ruby match in 2002. He was playing for his University team. He remembered being tackled and being pushed down. Then someone fell on him and he heard his neck cracked.....
Nakamura is not looking for apologies or compensations, he wants a safer system to protect players from injuries and a proper compensation system for injured players.
According to Professor Uchida from the postgraduate school of Nagoya University, there were a total of 870 cases of deaths arising from sports accidents from 1983 ~ 2011. The highest accident rate occurs in secondary schools' Judo teams, and in high schools' Judo and ruby teams. The causes of deaths are head injuries in Judo; head and neck injuries in ruby.
In 2007, the ruby association in Japan set up a task force to prevent serious injuries in the sport. Proper tackling tactics are explained to teams and since 2008, deaths and injuries have reduced tremendously. Japan Judo association has also started a project on promoting safety in the sport.
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