Sarah Adam makes history as first woman on Team USA wheelchair rugby Paralympics team

this is St Louis on the air from St Louis Public Radio I'm elain cha the 2024 par Olympic games begin today in Paris featuring some of the world's top athletes in adaptive sports that includes wheelchair [Music] rugby if you think rugby is rough playing it in wheelchair puts it on another level of intensity it's also known as murder ball for good reason played on a basketball court wheelchair rugby combines elements of basketball and ice hockey two teams go four on four racing across the floor battling to get a ball across a goal line that means there's a lot of tackling and crashing involved and since this aggressive full contact sport debuted during the 199 six par Olympic Games Team USA has had only male players that will change tomorrow when the American team's roster includes its very first female player St Louis University assistant professor Sarah Adam in a few minutes one of Sarah's biggest fans will share how Sarah embodies the spirit of the par Olympics and her chosen profession and how St Louis will be cheering her on [Music] but first earlier this year St Louis Public Radio morning newscaster Abby Loro went to a gym in Maryland Heights to meet with Sarah during her Olympic Training they spoke about what it means to Sarah to represent her country and women in her sport here's their conversation what is it about this sport that you first fell in love with I think really more of the community of the people that play it and getting a chance to see how important adaptive Sports was to improving you know their quality of life not only physically um and but also socially and having peer support um in a way that's just really real and authentic and and just going through life like how do I drive a car how do I travel on an airplane as a quadruple EIC how do I get myself up and ready to go in the morning like some of those basic things that they learned how to do straight out you know they come out of rehab and they come to practice and they're surrounded by all these guys that have a lot of physical limitations and are still out there being independent and living life and living it happily and successful and so I loved being a part of that community that that helped bring other people up um and so that's what what drew me to it at the beginning a lot of people come to the sport because they are athletic they are interested in team sports and then something happens they have an injury they are diagnosed with something and wheelchair rugby winds up being a new outlet for them but that's not exactly how it happened for you no so I came down to St Louis uh back in 2013 to go to school at Washington University in St Louis for occupational therapy had no idea that I had Ms but I wanted to combine my love of sports with my new love of OT and so adaptive Sports was a perfect fit I went to our local wheelchair rugby practice with the disabled athlete Sports Association Dasa uh fell in love with the community fell in love with the people they're all really welcoming had very interesting stories fell in love with the sport obviously highs speed full contact really exciting to watch but I loved learning about the chess match and the strategy and how to utilize these people with disabilities in sports and so absolutely fell in love with rugby and um joining that community and it wasn't until maybe a year and a half later that I started having symptoms of multiple sclerosis got my diagnosis in 2016 um and even then I mean still was very able still you know moving around running active um playing like recreational Able Body Sports but I'd say sometime around 2018 2019 was when that started to get harder for me to do and classified into wheelchair R me and became a player instead of a volun your coach uh talk a little bit about your day job if you will so I'm a professor over at St Louis University for occupational therapy so um practiced clinically occupational therapy for 5 years working with people with stroke and brain injury and then you know my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis makes it harder for me to move my body and uh do some of the physical things that I needed to do as a therapist so got as many years of clinical experience as I could and transitioned to being a professor which I love getting to to teach students how to be fantastic OTS and and teaching and mentoring in the classroom kind kind of fit really well with um you know my love for coaching and teaching and mentoring I think it was always going to be the plan um so just did it and a little bit of a different way wheelchair and rugby for people who have not seen the sport or heard of the sport but know a little bit about rugby might not think the two go together very well but adaptive is very important because it's not just a different version of the sport there are true changes to it to make it something that people with different levels of physical ability can do whether it's this or other sports so your love for adaptive Sports in general talk about that wheelchair Rugby's unique and a little bit hard to explain because truthfully it doesn't have that much in common with the Able Body rugby so you know Able Body rugby on a on a field a grass field uh a lot more players there's some similarities like the full contact obviously and scoring a try um but it tends to be a little bit different when I'm trying to explain how wheelchair rugby is adapted to uh be able to be played for us obviously being on a basketball court and some of the rules being it's more of a mix of like hockey basketball football rugby all sorts of different sports to come into a brand new sport that's really different than any sport that's out there so but adapted obviously um to be able to make it accessible for a lot of people that have more significant injuries um hard for us as quadriplegics to compete effectively in some of the other Paris Sports out there or adaptive Sports out there like basketball we just don't have the function really to to be an elite athlete in that sport so we created our own one with wheelchair Roby you've mentioned by the way Elite level a couple of times what do you consider Elite level yeah I I maybe overs say it but I think there's it's important to note that the par Olympics are no different um as far as the elite athlete level than the Olympics we are parallel to the Olympics so we train just as hard we are the best at our sport in the world we're the best of the best that are competing in their Sport and I I love that atmosphere I'm actually really excited to go to Paris to be around other Elite athletes who are just um you know amazing at their CFT and obsessed with their Sport and the best at what they do I love being around those type of people and when you say full contact we mean pretty full contact here yeah so there people are coming in as fast as they can push uh and and to give you an idea of how fast we push my full court Sprint is about 6 seconds so I can get from one end to a basketball court to the other in six seconds and you'll go that fast and crash into another wheelchair full speed flip over in our chairs um so it's exciting to watch in a metal chair flying and these are sometimes really big guys that you're playing against just crashing right into you yeah and wilter rugby is unique in that it's co-ed it's one of the few co-ed Sports in the par Olympics so when I'm out there I'm out there with the with the males 180 PB 200 lb guys coming in and hitting me um and and flipping me over and so I think as exciting as that part of the game is for me being a smaller female I actually tend to focus more on the strategy and tactics and and trying to think three steps ahead um certainly giving the hits and taking the hits and being being physical out there cuz you have to be um but I do love you know that the fact that it's full contact and even like they're going in and reaching in with their arms and trying to grab the ball out of your lap and punch you in the face and whatnot um it kind of breaks down that stereotype of what people typically think of when you hear about a disabled athlete um or even for me with someone with Ms I'm often told like I'm put in a bubble like told be careful don't overdo it take care of your body you're fragile and wheel rugby shows that we are not um people with disability can be active we can be physical we can live lives just as anybody else there things that we do that look a little bit different in the way that we achieve them but um I think wilter rby again is just a great way to kind of Smash some of those stereotypes smash them at high speeds yeah quite literally but you fell in love with this sport because of so many aspects of it that weren't necessarily personal at the time and one might say wow how lucky you were to have found some kind of Outlet before you even really needed it is that fair absolutely I think you know I I almost went to school uh up north in in a different University and I would have never been as connected to Adaptive Sports because there weren't as many adaptive Sports opportunities up there so I would have still had Ms and a lot of the challenges that I have today but I would not have already been connected to an Adaptive Sport and a community of people with disabilities that helped me feel comfortable with my identity as a person with a disability and you know I often say even my background is an occupational therapist like who better than an ot to have to manage this this disease that kind of has ups and downs and things that just get thrown at you and figure out how to to turn the page and figure out how to still live life despite some of the challenges so absolutely give a ton of credit to where I'm at today was being connected with adaptive Sports um and and quickly connected because it was a pretty quick uh shift to you know I used going to the gym and and running through Forest Park and shooting basketball hoop like all that was my mental Outlet my like being physical and active and I really quickly didn't wasn't able to do that in the ways I was used to doing it and so I could if I did not have access to the Adaptive sports equipment and knew that it was available I I would not have had access to that outlet that physical activity I wouldn't know how to do it um and so being able to have that quick access changed changed my life and put me on a better trajectory right away and I mean shouting out St Louis here a little bit it sounds like the community here has been really good for you yeah and we're very fortunate I think there's more popping up but um to have daa as I mentioned earlier the disabled athlete Sports Association is our local adaptive Athletic program and they've got all sorts of equipment from rugby chairs basketball chairs Power Soccer cycling track you name it and it's really expensive equipment my Rugby chair is about $10,000 so it's not something you just go like pick up at a local sports store um and and you don't want to just like oh let me go buy a $10,000 chair for a sport that I don't know if I'm going to like or be good at and so having daa and other programs like it available and people in the community that are other adaptive athletes to learn from is it rare um but really really helpful so I can go try wheel TR but I can go try basketball I can go try track I can be surrounded by people that know the sport and can teach the sport um and then also that be around people that have the mindset that I do as an athlete um that want to go out there and be physical and be active uh not let their disability slow them down so I think it it's a combination of a lot of things within our community here in St Louis that have really help me out this is St Louis on the air we're listening to St Louis Public radio's Abby Loro in conversation with Sarah Adam Sarah is an assistant professor at St Louis University who will compete this week in the 2024 Paralympics as the first woman on the Team USA wheelchair rugby team Ms is a complicated complicated condition that manifests itself in so many different ways in people and then sometimes it manifests itself one way and then it changes into something different um how does Ms look for you right now right now pretty stable thankfully I should knock on some wood because it is it can it it's random I have a relapsing and remitting which means at any time I could have a relapse that takes away some function um in my body and uh Sometimes some of that function comes back at the end of an episode and sometimes it doesn't and so sometimes you know it's even like things with my body's overstressed or tired or hot or whatever like little CH physical changes in my body can really set off some MS symptoms and so I have to be really mindful of what's going on in my body listen to it take care of it um in some different ways but again like who better than an ot to to be able to kind of adjust and adapt to whatever my body throws at me uh that day or that week and that that being said though it must be quite complicated because it's not like you're saying oh here's my specific limitation and here's what I'm working around and then I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's going to be the exact same limitation it could be really different day to day it could also be very different week to week month to month game to game how do you deal with training around that it's scary and it's something I you know obviously have to think about um as much as you kind of want to push that aside and not think about it not understand that that's your reality but uh I mean the reality is I could have a relapse that makes it that I can't even go compete in Paris or we can be in Paris and I have some days where I'm feeling really good we're playing five games in five days that's a lot to put my body through I think we know that it's going to e and flow and there's be games where I'm feeling really good and games where my body's not responding the way that I wanted to and so being really close with my teammates and transparent with them on where I'm at and we adjust how I'm playing and my role on that Court depending on how my body's feeling and we kind of do the same thing with day-to-day training is I'm I'm certainly listening to my body but I'm pushing it trying to figure out how to like mentally overcome some of when it's not responding the way that I necessarily want it to so uh I think it's like visualizing for the future on what that might look like and being prepared for as many different possibilities as you know just don't know there are so many analogies quite often about a team being a family and being there for each other even from afar where you're all training right now in various parts of the country only getting together in person every once in a while but in a sport like this one that is inherently so tough and so gritty in a lot of ways but that also you're all there because you're dealing with some sort of physical limitations what is that team Vibe like then how do you give each other the support that you need need to say you're having a tough day and you know you might be in a different type of pain but they also encouraging each other and saying come on we got to get out there and we got to win this yeah I think the Paralympics is a really interesting dynamic in that uh respect that we've all got something really tough that we're working through we all have some sort of disability adversity that we've lived through and um have just a different understanding and respect for what every athlete goes through to be able to train and compete and and I think you see that within a team and in my team and also with other teams as well I mean when we're on that Court we're battling and and there are no friends out there um but off the court I think there is just an added level of respect um but also like that's part of what I love about finding a sports Community is they're like-minded they're like me that I'm saying I'm not going to let my disability stop me and like there are days where I'm feeling horrible and it's like no you've got to get up you got to move you got to put put in the work um and and not let your body or not let your circumstances slow you down or be an excuse let's talk about this this journey to Paris that we are really you know looking forward to practicing for everything all signs are poting to Paris all the practice and the training first off just kind of give me how did this all happen how did you get to this Elite level like this that we can even be talking about competing at that high high high level yeah still very surreal I don't know that when I started playing wheelchair rugby team USA and the Paralympics was really on my radar I got invited to a Team USA try out in 2021 and even then you go and you think ah just that'll be fun I get to see kind of how I match up with some of the best in the world and uh an interesting experience and then you know made it through the first day of tryouts and then the second day of tryouts and then the third day of tryouts and like I make this team holy cow uh and I did and that first year I thought oh I'm not going to travel I didn't even tell my boss cuz I was like I'm not going to travel to the competitions I'm new and uh once every competition that year and then slowly kept working and I mean I'm somebody who once I put my mind to something that I want I'm going to work really hard and and figure it out and find a way and so you know with the support of my teammates and coaches and personal trainers and family and friends and like it's taken a village but figured out um you know how to prepare my body and study a bunch of film and train hard and yeah now it's all like coming to fruition and really excited I've got less than a 100 days before we're in Paris and feeling really good about where we're at not only like learning the game and and understanding the game plan and the strategy and tactics and relationship with my teammates and my body feels really good good so I think we're excited to I'm just excited to get there quite frankly kind of wish it was right now I can't imagine anybody getting to represent Team USA in anything and not being just thrilled at the St the stage the level the opportunity but Team USA in this sport is has a history I mean this is an elite team you're an elite Athlete on an elite team so how has that been feeling how have you worked to kind of make sure that you're I don't want to say fitting in but finding your groove with that team yeah Team USA for wheby is steeped in history and we've been on on the podium at every par Olympics so there's certainly that pressure to uh to go out there and win and we're ranked number one in the world so when you hit that Court there's the teams that are going go after you and give their best and uh there's a level of expectation of Excellence out of each of us and I love that I think that's what really bring we bring each other up with that expectation hold each other accountable um you know gives me an extra level when I'm in bed and don't want to get up and go out and work out early in the morning it's like no that you got to put in the work cuz when you're on that stage when you're on that Court um you want to be able to perform and you want to be able to perform for yourself and your team and in the US and um you know it's a phenomenal motivator and I try to look at it more as that a motivator and an opportunity than uh letting some of those nerves creep in on on what that really means and the pressures of it well not to add more pressure to it in this conversation but you are also representing women um you are the first woman to make this team and go this far to I mean it's a stereotypical standard question I have to ask what does that mean for you yeah and you know when I was first kind of getting some recognition for being one of the only females and it's a male-dominated sport and it's an exciting story particularly right now with the rise of women in sports and female Sport and the equity of it which is really exciting and I love being able to be a part of a small part of that conversation um but two or three years ago when I first started and was getting some attention for being a female I didn't have a big role on the team yet and so I was kind of felt uncomfortable with some of the attention and it actually forced me to work harder I was like if I'm going to get the attention for being a female on this team I want to make sure it's because I'm a relevant Athlete on this like athlete first um a contributor for this team and oh yeah she's a female you know and so I think that's something that's motivated me to work harder but I love the opportunity as I said to to be able to speak about women in sports and the importance of it and particular playing a sport that's not necessarily seem typical for a woman to play in I think just add an extra level um that can show future generations of young girls like don't be limited by what's typical if it's something you're passionate about and something you enjoy doing go out there and do it anyway what do you want people to take away from your story yeah I think it's a great opportunity to utilize people's love for sport to help them better understand disability and disability sport and understand that our lives aren't less than just because we move different ly we play a sport a little bit differently um we still have very fulfilling exciting lives and purpose and um yeah I think that's what I hope people can see through watching paralympic sport what do you want people to not say about your story I don't want people to say that we're an inspiration or that I'm an inspiration uh I think we're just out there competing and and being an athlete and doing what we love and and doing it at a high level and um you know if you want to say that whatever we're doing and achieving at that Elite level is an inspiration that's fine but just like going out and living life as a person with a disability that's just my circumstances um I don't know that's necessarily anything inspiring so you want the the attention to the sport and the ability to persevere and all of that it's not with the asterisks of you know with their disabilities with what's going on in their lives it's look what I'm doing period exactly I wanted to be I'm an a I'm an elite athlete first I have the disability second um so you know we're we're achieving amazing things and it's exciting and and um you know wanting to highlight that versus the our disability aspect of it that was St Louis Public radio's Abby lorico speaking with Sarah Adam the first woman to make the USA's wheelchair rugby team Adam is set to compete in the par Olympic Games starting tomorrow we need to take a short break when we come back we'll meet a slew colleague of Sarah Adam who's also one of her biggest fans this is St Louis on the air on St Louis Public [Music] Radio welcome back I'm elain cha when slooh professor and Team USA wheelchair rugby player Sarah Adam hits the floor for her first Paris par Olympics match tomorrow morning there will be a squad of fans cheering and not only because she's the first woman to make the US team among them will be Wendy stav she's professor and chair of the Department of Occupational science and occupational therapy at St Louis University and she's here to share why she'll be among that crowd Wendy welcome to the show hi thanks for having me so before we get to that watch party we just heard STL P's morning newscaster Abby Loro talking with Sarah in an interview from a couple months back now something that didn't make it into the final cut of that interview is that Sarah kept the fact that she' made the 2024 Paralympics wheelchair rugby team and as the first woman to make that team on the down low so Wendy what was it like to find out well we didn't we didn't really know she was in contention but she did get notification when she was at work and it was a little surreal when she popped out of her office and said I'm going to play wheelchair rugby for Team USA and what was the reaction like among all your colleagues we were a little stunned it was it's not something we're accustomed to hearing um so we were shocked we were surprised we were excited to have a celebrity amongst us right now Sarah's being an occupational therapist and what she's done since she received her multiple sclerosis diagnosis I mean these come together in a really poignant way doesn't it why is that the case well occupational therapy is grounded in the idea that you can achieve Health through doing through meaningful doing and for Sarah playing sports is very very meaningful um it's something that she's always loved it's an occupation that's part of and part of her identity so Along Comes This multiple sclerosis diagnosis and subsequent Health declines but she's continued to pursue health and well-being through active engagement in something that she loves and that actually promotes her health yeah so she embodies the values of the profession mhm and how is it that that affects the the kind kind of Rapport Sarah has with the students that she works with at slooh I think because she presents as so capable um even though she travels through the department with a disability she's really exemplifying the potential that clients can have and I think that's really important for the students to see that their future clients aren't fragile and incapable but rather they need to look for what are the capabilities that we can help enable now one of the things that I saw um on your Department's Instagram is that there have been people in Chicago for example and they've taken selfies or pictures with these big Billboards that are around the city that feature Sarah I mean how meaningful is that not only for the students at the school but for this profession of Occupational Therapy that stands to grow over the next 10 years well hopefully it puts us on the map even more and really highlights how our role facilitates doing so those selfies are students who travel around the country and do internships and they're you know away from their home base because they're not at school and yet they see that familiar face of Sarah Adam and it's it is exciting it's really exciting and occupational therapy is not necessarily something that many people know about right I mean do you have any ideas as to why this profession is one that is not recognized sort of the way that other professions like nursing are I think that you don't see us portrayed as much in popular media and movies and those sorts of things and part of it is because what we do looks so commonplace so we'll help somebody with their ordinary everyday lives things like using the restroom and taking your dog for a walk and driving your car things that we all take for granted um so when we do the work it looks so ordinary and commonplace yet we're using a very honed skill set to be able to analyze that doing and figure out what modifications they need um I so I think that's why it's it's a complicated history right right so as far as the Olympics is concerned I mean something that's uniquely inspiring about it I think is that it celebrates people who are so good at something but does that celebrating in a way that sort of highlights how extraordinary and ordinary a person is all at once how does Sarah embody that wow I think it's it's interesting because she's such a humble person yet anybody who's an Olympian or Olympian is an elite athlete that is you know we're not talking about your average person who goes to play pickle ball on the weekends these are Elite athletes and it it really just highlights the range of of capability of people regardless of your disability or health status so the watch party the last question here what's the mood around it and is there anything special prepared uh yeah we're excited for the watch party so most of the department has special shirts t-shirts that we had made up that have a Sarah Adam logo on it it has a a diagram of a wheelchair rugby player but has her signature ponytail coming off the back of her head oh that's great and so it'll be in the department we're having it catered by our nutrition and dietetics department so there will be breakfast for everybody um and we're really really excited to um to just celebrate Sarah Wendy thanks so much for joining us today and have a great time at tomorrow's party thank [Music] you this episode was produced by Emma Woodberry and by Elaine Chaw audio engineering and podcast design by Aaron Dore our executive producer is Alex Hoyer St Louis on the air is a production of St Louis Public [Music] Radio understanding starts here do you find yourself regularly listening to episodes of St Louis on the air suggest us to a friend you think might enjoy or conversations and leave us a review and rating 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