WEBVTT - S1/E9: Sarah Adam (USA Wheelchair Rugby) 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.600 If you're listening to this podcast, we know one thing 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.840 for absolute certain you are a fan of women's sports. 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.600 And there's nothing better than enjoying women's sports with community, 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.480 and no better place to find that community than the 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:17.640 Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the very first women's sports. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.120 Bar in the world. 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Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.040 I'm your host Aja McCord. 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.240 In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women who 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.080 are changing the game in and outside of their field 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:55.560 of play. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.000 These are women's stories. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.840 Women who happen to be doing things that many of 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:02.320 us us can only dream of, but the lessons and 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.760 inspiration they share is universal. 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.759 Welcome back to the Powerful Podcast, where we are highlighting 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.760 a few of the amazing women competing for Team USA 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.600 this summer in both the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.520 I am so thrilled to be joined by our next guest. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.680 This is a woman who is making history this summer. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.800 She is a doctor of occupational therapy, a native of Illinois, 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.520 and the very first woman ever to make the US 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:36.640 Paralympic wheelchair rugby team. Sarah Adams, Welcome to the Powerful Podcast. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:38.319 I'm so excited to have you here. 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.000 Yeah, thanks for having appreciate it. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.000 So let's start with the history because I want to 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.480 get into your story and the sport that is known 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.640 as murder ball for those who follow it closely. But 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.280 first let's talk about you becoming the very first woman 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.600 to make the US Paralympic rugby team. Since the sport 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.680 joined the Paralympic Games in two thousand in Sydney, there 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.200 have been a handful of women, but you're the first 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.840 for Team USA. How did that feel when your name 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.200 got called that you were officially on the roster. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.520 Honestly a surreal moment. You know, put in a lot 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.280 of hard work in those last couple of years, still 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.360 relatively new player, but very surreal, and then to be 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.480 named as the first woman, you know, especially with everything 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.079 that's going on in the world right now and in 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.720 the United States, with the growth of women in sports 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.200 and female and sports, with Kaitlyn Clark and all these 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.000 wonderful female athletes that are finally finally being highlighted in 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:30.840 the media in the way that I think we've deserved 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.760 for a really long time, and you know, to continue 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.239 to be a part of breaking down those barriers has 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.120 been just a surreal moment and really excited to be 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:40.920 named and head to Paris. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.240 Yeah, let's talk about the moment that is happening right 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.639 now for women's sports, because obviously you and I have 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.960 been in it for a really long time. It's been 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.760 something that I've highlighted throughout my ten plus years in 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.760 broadcasting and tried to, you know, talk to the Sabrini 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.280 and Escuz, Satu, Sables, like the list goes on and 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.360 on of the women that we've gotten a chance to 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.799 work through. But what do you think has made this 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.880 moment in women's sports so contagious, so electric. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.400 I think people are falling in love with our stories. 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.480 We're finally getting to tell our stories, the human side 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.639 of things. What we're doing off the court as well 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.640 as on the court. And then you know, really women 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.360 having the opportunities to elevate our game on the court 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.160 and show that we can be just as exciting, just 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:26.120 as competitive as our male counterparts. And you know, to 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:28.919 add to that that we're joining sports that have been 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.760 considered male dominated for years in saying no, we have 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.600 a place in this space as well. And that's I 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.480 think really what's unique for me with wheelchair ugby that 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.640 is so significantly male dominated. We've had a couple of 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.320 women's first here and there, and you know, even on 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:46.680 TMOSA we've had a couple of women that have made 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.040 the training squads. But to be able to really compete 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.320 and show that we can compete at that elite level 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.360 as females right alongside our male counterparts has been fun 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.360 and really exciting, I think really necessary to show right now. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.760 Well, and that's something that is unique even to wheelchair rugby. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.480 It is one of the few mixed gender sports that 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.600 we have in the Paralympics and the Olympics. So explain 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.880 to people who may not know about quote, I don't 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:14.640 even know if it's like the two thousand and five 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.000 documentary was called murder ball, and when you watch it 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.880 you understand why the collisions are fierce. So how would 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.720 you describe your sport of wheelchair rugby. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.800 Yeah, obviously called murder ball for a reason. It's the 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.080 only full contact wheelchair sport in the Paralympics. So we're 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.479 in chairs that are kind of fully armored up like 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.360 a mad mass and then it's it's like full speed 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.480 bumper cars. So very exciting to watch everybody going in 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.200 full speed hitting each other, flipping over in our chairs. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.400 Really an opportunity to break down multiple stereotypes of you know, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.000 people with disabilities, that they're fragile and we need to 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:49.880 protect them. And it's like I'm getting in a chair, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.839 I'm going to go full speed head on with my 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.200 opponent with the goal, like one of the goals being 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.200 to flip them over in their chair, and that that 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.480 high speed, full collision is really exciting for anybody, even 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.440 if you don't know the ins and outs of the game. 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:04.839 Certainly fun to watch. 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.680 Well, yeah, because with the wheelchairs that you guys are using, right, 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:10.680 it's not the same kind of wheelchair as what you 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.040 just get around in day to day. This is a 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.719 battering ram like this is a full force. Give me 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.760 like the specs of a wheelchair that is used in 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.880 wheelchair rugby, in terms of the adaptations that you put 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.040 on it to be prepared to go head on into 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.680 whoever is in your way and try to flip them over. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:31.719 Yeah, And it's one of the things I love is 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.640 the evolution of the sport. We can't talk about the 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.039 evolution of the sport without talking about the equipment that 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.839 we use. And it certainly started with something that looks 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.880 similar to what you see in everyday wheelchair user using. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:43.919 But obviously if I go out on the court in 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.120 my everyday chair and go hit somebody, it's probably gonna 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.720 break my chair and myself. So it's evolved not ideal, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.040 not ideal, not ideal at all. It evolved to look 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:54.560 a little bit more. I know a lot of more 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.840 people are familiar with the wheelchair basketball and what those 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.960 wheelchairs look like, where it's just you know, a little 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.320 bit more base, a little bit wider, wider wheels, so 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.840 we can do these really quick turns without flipping ourselves over, 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.240 go really really fast, obviously in a straight line. But 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.520 even the basketball chairs were falling apart and breaking when 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.599 we were going full contact into each other, and so 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.200 we added a whole bunch of armor to the front, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.159 in the back, and even on the wheels, there's some 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.520 armor on there to take that hit because the guys 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.680 are coming to really really fast, really hard, as well 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:25.640 as the females. But you know, there's something about a 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.560 two hundred pound male comeing full speed for you that 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.240 I appreciate a chair that's going to take most of 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.240 that hit, because I wondered, break on me certainly is okay. 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.479 So let's dive into that a little bit more. The 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:42.000 collisions that happen in wheelchair rugby. How did you develop 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.600 the instinct to a like absorb that blow but then 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.839 maybe even more impressively go out there and do the 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.480 flipping yourself. Yeah. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.560 So I think something that's a little bit unique about 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.640 my role on TMUSA and internationally is on one of 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.039 the first female high pointers. So within our sport, there's 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.520 a whole range of functional abilities to people who like myself, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:06.520 have quite a bit of function in our hands and 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:08.200 our arms, so we can go really fast and we 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.640 can catch and throw, and then there's people with a 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.880 little bit less function. That's the whole purpose of the 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.280 Paralympics is to give people with various abilities the opportunity 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.320 to compete and compete at the high level. So there's 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.400 a lot of strategy and being able to utilize those 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.200 folks who are a little bit have a little less function, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.600 less arm strength, less core strength, and they're in a 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:30.960 slightly different chair. And so a lot of our females 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.080 that have been in this sport are in those lower 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.760 function sort of defensive roles where they're not handling the 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.200 ball very much. So I'm one of the first ones 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.200 out there that is a primary ball candler for our team, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.240 and so the other team has to come hit me 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.000 and try to get that ball out of my lap 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.080 before I go score that goal. And I have to 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:50.840 do the same thing. 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:51.040 You know. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.760 My role on the team defensively is to go attack 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.000 their number one player and their most functional player and 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:58.840 try to get the ball off his lap or flip 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.360 him out of his chair. And so I think to me, 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.000 you know, it's a lot of strategy involved because I'm 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.920 not I'm not a very large individual. I think it's 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:11.040 pretty strong given my smart you are, but the strength 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.680 only gets you so far. So it's a lot of 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.760 the strategy in using my brain and thinking three steps 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.600 ahead and really thinking of rugby as a chess match 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.680 and kind of out smarten the guys. I guess I 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.120 would say, Okay, we. 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.880 Like that, we like the ability to outsmart your opponents 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.320 in addition to flip them over. So I want to 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.080 come back to just sort of how you have gone 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.000 from a good wheelchair rugby player to one who is 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.360 making this history. But first let's go all the way 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.680 back to the beginning. Because you talk a little bit about, 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.240 you know, just your athletic background and you played softball 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.280 growing up. You had brothers as well, which you know, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.240 as an older sister, I definitely had a little bit 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.160 of an impact on my brother's ability to navigate in 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:54.720 the world because of the you know, sibling sibling razzing 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:56.679 that I put in there growing up as well as 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.040 my little sister. Give me a little bit of an idea, 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.880 what was it like growing up in the Adam household. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.880 That sounds very familiar to Maybe they were simply rivalry 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.800 going on, but it's certainly super competitive, very very competitive. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.439 Our whole family was my mom and my dad or 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.400 were both athletes, really great athletes, and you know, a 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.160 lot of people in our family are my brother is 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.400 and so growing up I honestly played sports a lot 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.960 with him. He's a year older than I am and 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.760 playing on his team. So I was rounded by a 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.280 bunch of men playing soccer in basketball and baseball and 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.200 any sport that we could possibly get our hands on, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.280 and that's what our family did on the weekends, where 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.160 you know, going to the baseball field or the soccer pitch, 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.880 are all over the place, And thankful to have those 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.679 opportunities and that outlet to be able to compete, and 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.440 then didn't switch to being mostly with females until honestly 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.640 late middle school early high school, and that was when 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.000 things got were able to be really competitive for me 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.000 throughout high school and then playing college softball for a year. 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.680 So I can't even imagine a world where sports isn't 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.080 a part of my life. So I think that was 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.280 really important for me when we talk about the diagnosis 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.959 with MS and I can no longer play REX softball 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.120 and rec kickball and had that sport outlet to be 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.160 able to play adaptive sports and reconnect with my identity 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.120 as an elite athlete was everything I needed that in 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.080 that moment and did I ever think it was going 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.760 to end up being an elite athlete at the TSA level. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:28.160 Absolutely not, But such an honor and an amazing opportunity 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.880 to compete at the elite level as an adult. And 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.440 I've been reflecting on that quite a bit lately of 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.840 what that needs to deal with, a little bit of maturity, 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.360 more maturity under my belt and something that not a 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:39.640 lot of adults get to go do. 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:44.280 Yeah, let's talk about your transition from collegiate softball player 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.160 to then your introduction to wheelchair rugby, because it wasn't 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:49.200 first as a player. 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.920 Yeah, it was actually I'd been playing one year of 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.640 college softball, threw my shoulder out, decided to go coach. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.959 I love coaching to this day. I still love coaching 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:00.760 and the mentoring aspect. You see a lot of that 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.400 in the way that I teach as a professor at 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.680 Saint Louis University. But you know, I wanted when I 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.000 came down to Saint Louis for school for occupational therapy, 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.080 I wanted to combine that love of occupational therapy and 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.040 my love of sports and continue coaching in some way, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.600 And for me, adaptive sports was the clear way to 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.959 do that, and so reached out to some local Saint 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.240 Louis organizations and connected with our local wheelchair rugby team 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:28.080 that just happens to be filled with Paralympic athletes. Were 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.640 starting house for the for Paralympic Usain Wilcha rugby. But 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:34.679 got to learn so much from them and being on 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.439 the sport and film in love with the sport as 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.800 enabled body before I even knew that I had MS. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.400 It just had all those components again, of the highest 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.000 being collision, but also for me, it's kind of like 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.280 softball when you get to know it really intimately and 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.520 you know the game really really well. You see, there's 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.200 so much strategy involved in thinking three steps ahead and 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.840 using your brain and thinking to have the advantage the 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.800 small advantages over your opponents. And that's what I love 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.000 about wheelchair rugby and fall in love with as enabled body. 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.199 Yeah, so you were volunteer, right, and then you were 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.959 training to be a coach when you got your diagnosis 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:08.120 in twenty thirteen. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.680 I started the diagnos in thirteen and then got officially 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.439 diagnosed okin of sixteen. It takes a while with MS. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.200 They're ruling out other things. There's a lot of diagnostics 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:18.920 that have to happen at two sixteen. 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.160 So what were the first signs for you that you 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.840 started thinking, hey, something's not right here. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.320 It took a while I had ignored a lot of 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.360 signs to actually think I was a pediatric case. I 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.679 was playing baseball when I was nine years old and 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.960 got hit in the mouth of the baseball kind of 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.280 turned my glove and then it hit me and the 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.080 teeth came out, and yeah, so I think when they 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.640 put those in, I got an infection, and that's what 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.000 they think may have sparked that overreaction with my body 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.760 which resulted in MS. So when I look back, there's 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.000 actually symptoms when I was in high school, like some 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.800 numbness in my hand. I stopped playing some of the 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.160 sports that required a lot of running, like basketball and 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.920 soccer stuff with just softball and golf and some of the. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:01.640 You know. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.800 And when I was in graduate school, they talk about 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.760 med school syndrome and people that are studying different conditions 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:09.560 think that they have it, and I was like the 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.400 complete opposite. I could explain away just about any symptom 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.640 that came my way. But you know, I was in 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.040 graduate school for OT and we were doing some assessments 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.800 on each other, and my professor said, hey, that what's 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.480 going on with your hand? I was treated for a 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.040 hand injury for a little while, and then some other 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.560 symptoms pop up that were clearly neurological that I couldn't 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.880 really ignore. And that's me down that pathway of an 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.240 MS diagnosis right in the middle of like all these 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.000 hopes and dreams and excitement of what am I going 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.439 to do as an occupacial therapist, And I was like, Wow, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.120 this is going to be a big life change. But 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.440 I guess who better than an OT to handle such 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.440 a complex diagnosis and all the unknowns that kind of 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:48.880 come with that. 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.680 Yeah, how how did you process that? In the midst 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.959 of right grad school? Like you said, that's you go 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.120 there because you've got all these big dreams and you 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.480 think you have You're like, yes, this is it dialed 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.200 that I'm going to grad school for this and I 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:03.880 know this is what I'm going to do with my life, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:08.320 and like this exciting sort of clarifying step and then 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.040 you get this diagnosis in the middle of it, and 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.200 you go, oh, I might have to rethink everything. Like 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.160 how do you navigate a life change like that? 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.760 Yeah, there is a moment of like what what now? 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:23.160 But I think for me, you know, once you get 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.320 through that denial phase, so this isn't what's really happening, 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.640 and like, Okay, this is actually happening. This is your 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.360 life at sports, if I can be honest, was what 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.120 helped me with dealing with it. You know, your whole 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.720 life in sports teaches you how to have an error 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.040 or your way behind, you're you know, you're trying to 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.600 catch up in the scoreboard, and it's just like this 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.080 is this is our situation. Let's you got a couple 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.680 innings to come back or you know, yeah, you made 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.760 an error and now you need to make up for it. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.200 And I think that mentality of just like next play 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.680 mentality is what helped me get through my MS diagnosis 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.520 of like all right, next play. So I quickly switched 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.880 to getting my doctorate, knowing I wouldn't be able to 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.720 be a clinician for very long, and switched to teaching. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.520 And I've mean, teaching was always probably going to be 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.120 in the cards, knowing I love coaching, I love mentoring, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.280 and so having a little sooner than I expected but 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.960 a fantastic alternate for me. But Yeah, that sports. That 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.480 next play mentality I think was so important for me. 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.480 If your summer is anything like mine, it is a 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.560 blur of motion, from getting the regular errands done to 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.440 making sure I play outside and soak up the sunshine 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.480 as much as possible. My favorite set to do this 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.680 in is Short Active. You really feel the attention to 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.160 detail in every stitch of this women Found brand. I've 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.840 worn my set to the gym, out on hikes, even 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.120 done some cliff diving in Al Salvador in it, and 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.120 it has never faltered and remained so so comfortable. They 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.440 also make a travel set that has been my saving 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.600 grace on all of my plane rides. The material is 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.840 high quality, breathable, and honestly so cute, which just adds 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.880 to my obsession. So check my girls out at shoractive 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.480 dot com and get your new favorite set today. That's 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.880 something that I think doesn't get touched on with sports, 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.520 Like we always talk about the lessons within sports, right, 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:12.880 and that applies to right like. I didn't even compete 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.000 in college. I was a gymnast growing up, and that's 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.720 a sport that for the most part, at sixteen, you've 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:19.960 outgrown your shelf life for right, and so I didn't 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.880 even compete in college. But even outside of you know, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.640 those childhood lessons you talk about that next play mentality. 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.520 It's something that I think in sports we always talk 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.000 about like, oh, yeah, you learn these lessons, but here 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.600 you are applying it in real time, in real life 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.600 to something that means way more than any game ever will. 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.560 Was that something that you realized in the moment, or 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.160 was it something that as you've moved forward with life 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.960 with this diagnosis, with seeing where it can go, you've 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.680 kind of looked back and realized like, oh, yeah, I 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.640 was leaning on this sports lesson that I learned at 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:58.600 twelve years old when we were trailing by two and 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.320 we only had six at back, you know, six strikeouts 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.240 left to get back in the game. Or was that 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.440 something that you had to wait until later to kind 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.679 of let sink in or were you aware enough of 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.320 what was happening at the time to be like, ah, cool, 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:12.760 I actually know how to deal with this. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.520 Yeah. I think it's just so ingrained in us as athletes. 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.200 The lesson happens over and over and over. If next play, 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:20.840 next play, and next play, you can't moull on what 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.800 just happened. We need to move forward. You need to 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.840 figure you know, take what you've got and figure it out. 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.640 That that has just become who I am and how 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.480 I deal with things. And I didn't necessarily notice that 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.439 that maybe came from sports until I really sat and 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:38.320 reflected on, you know, when I was doing some of 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.600 the coaching and now as a professor, a lot of 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.560 my teaching philosophy is based on my coaching philosophies and 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.040 just thought about what is the deeper meaning for sports? 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.719 And our head coach, Joe Delagrave, has us to reflect 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.000 on that a lot like you aren't just Paralympic athletes 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.400 are what else are you doing? How are you allowing 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:00.000 this sport to change your life and what you can 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.640 do within your community and for yourself and your families, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.600 and how are you going to let it impact you? 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.160 And that's been a huge reflection for me and honestly 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:12.040 a part of why I love advocating for females and 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.480 sports and girls to have opportunities because it's that, I 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.919 mean sports and participating in sports and participating in competitive 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:24.679 sports helps develop so many leadership skills and opportunities to 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.879 fail and know that you're gonna be okay, and that 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.840 you can learn from that failure and come out better 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.160 on the other side, and so many valuable, valuable life 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.320 lessons that I think we need to continue to have 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:40.800 opportunities for athletes, any athlete, but for me obviously with 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.080 my platform, for girls to have that opportunity. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.320 Well in the statistics show, right that a lot of 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.520 like just the reality is less women, less girls are 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.080 staying in sport longer than their male counterparts, just because 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.359 of the opportunities, because of the resources available and things 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.120 like that, and so I it's so interesting to hear 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.840 you talk about that because I think that as an athlete, 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.000 it is so important to reflect on the lessons we learned, 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.440 you know, like I think about gymnastics and now surfing 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.800