Saturday 19 October saw the South Australian Paralympic Sate Team take part in the annual Phoenix Cup. 

The Phoenix cup is an inclusive event for people with a physical or mental disability which has been held annually since 2008. The event is a 7 a side football tournament played in a blow up pitch at the Mobury Jets Football Club. 

This years Phoenix cup was broken into group stages followed by semi finals, where the top two teams from each group would then have a chance to play off for a chance to play in the final.

The Paralympic team this year was in group A. They had to play in 5 pool matches and try to be in one of the top two position of group A in order to move on to the semi finals. They played vey good football through all 5 of these pool matches and confidently beat their opponents with score lines of 5-0, 5-1, 5-1, 6-1, and 4-1 to finish top of their pool with the maximum 15 points. 

The team were also the only side in the whole competition to still be undefeated and also had the best goal difference in the competition with an amazing 25 goals scored and only 4 goals conceded.

But the team knew that group standings and goal difference meant nothing when it came to the finals. In the semi finals they faced off against the Orana Titans who had finished in the second place of group B with 10 points.

The Paralympic Team, who all have either cerebral palsy or an acquired brain injury, were starting to show signs of fatigue leading into the game against the Titans. This showed up early in the semi as Orana took an quick lead.

The boys managed to fight back though and with about 5 minutes left the match score was locked at two a piece, with neither side looking dangerous around goal. The game looked destine for penalties before two quick goals for the SA Paralympic boys put the game out of the Titans reach with the final score being 4-2.

The other game between the Special Olympic state team and the Torrensville Tigers ended in a one all draw with Special Olympics winning 3-1 on penalties.

The final between the Special Olympic State Side and the SA Paralympic State Side then provided a great end to top the day for both teams. 

With both teams trading early goals, the Paralympic state team led the Special Olympic team 3-2 going in to the second half. 

At the start of the second half both teams scored a goal each to put the Paralympic side still ahead 4-3. The Paralympic boys were in for a struggle though as the Special Olympic team scored an equalizer with around 3 minutes to go.

However the Paralympic team were up to the challenge, as they quickly scored another goal to win the game, 5-4.

The tournament win was the first time for the team after being runners up in the 2010 edition. The win was topped off by Paralympic player Ryan Kinner winning the player of the tournament trophy. 

This win was icing on the cake for the team that won the bronze medal at the National Championships only two weeks earlier.