It is with great sadness that we share the news that VIP # 19 Peter van Raalte passed away yesterday of a heart attack.  There are so many messages coming in from our VIP family talking of the impact he had on their lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.

In Pete’s words 

In 1980 I became a tetraplegic at the age of 16 as a result of a scrum collapse while playing for Tawa College.

I went back to school the following year and then went on to Victoria University in Wellington where I got a BS c. (Hons) in computer science. I have been in fulltime work since 1988. I was married until recently and had five stepchildren, four step
grandchildren and have my only son Matthew from that relationship.

I have played wheelchair rugby for the Wellington team but have retired due to wear and tear on my body. Highlights of my sporting life have been being in the Wellington Wheelchair Rugby team with many good friends and having many hard fought and challenging games sometimes successfully and sometimes not.

I have also had memorable success in winning the New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby Nationals with a Southern North Island Team and winning the Australian Low Point Nationals as an invitational player in the Canterbury Team. I have been privileged to be in a number of Wheel black development teams and other representative teams and travelled internationally playing wheelchair rugby.

Wheelchair rugby gave me the opportunity to travel, to learn and grow as a person, to set myself goals and achieve them and to meet some really talented players and support staff. The game of wheelchair rugby especially taught me the power of teamwork and that I could develop skills that I didn't even know I had the possibility of developing.

Article added: Tuesday 07 August 2018