Eric Furtado-Rodrigues

Biography

Eric Rodrigues-Furtado became a quadriplegic following a snowboarding accident in 2009. While recovering at a rehabilitation center in Ontario, he was introduced to wheelchair rugby through watching the Murderball documentary. The film caught his eye and on instinct, Eric decided to seek out the Ontario Para Network in pursuit of the sport.

At first, wheelchair rugby was an opportunity for Eric to once again, play a contact team sport. However, as he became more and more engaged in the sport, he had aspirations of one day representing Canada on the international stage. Eric, not one to shy away from a challenge, took it on and managed to become a member of the National Team Program in 2017. From there, he would go on to dawn the maple leaf and represent Canada at several major competitions in 2018, including the Canada Cup and the World Championships. He recently made his Paralympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics where he averaged 20 minutes per game, the most among first-time Paralympians on Team Canada.

Outside of sport, “E-Rod” enjoys photography, travel, music and cheering on his local Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Blue Jays.