The 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics are quickly approaching and are highly anticipated by many. As the first Olympic and Paralympic games since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Paris arenas will be filled with fans and sports-enthusiasts. Athletes will once again compete with the support and energy of a crowd cheering them on. One athlete looking forward to competing in this lively atmosphere is Sarah Adam, a member of Team USA Wheelchair Rugby as well as a professor of occupational therapy here at Saint Louis University.
Sarah Adam is an assistant professor and academic fieldwork coordinator of occupational science and occupational therapy at SLU. She earned her Doctor of Occupational Therapy at Washington University in St. Louis and has practiced as an inpatient occupational therapist and certified brain injury specialist. When talking to The University News, Dr. Adam said that she specifically enjoys the active component of occupational therapy because she has the opportunity to aid her patients’ recovery right alongside them.
Aside from her educational career, Dr. Adam is a dedicated member of Team USA’s wheelchair rugby team and is currently vying for a spot on the U.S. Paralympic team. Accomplishing this goal would make Dr. Adam the first woman ever to be a part of this team. Dr. Adam told The University News that her goal for the team while in Paris is to bring home gold, seeing as Team USA has not brought home a gold medal in wheelchair rugby since the Beijing 2008 Paralympics. In the last few Paralympics, Team USA has claimed bronze in London (2012) and silver in both Rio (2016) and in Tokyo (2020). Dr. Adam knows that her team is eager to bring home gold once again and sees the potential they have at proving themselves to the world in this way.
As a personal goal, Dr. Adam hopes to promote adaptive sports through her status as both an athlete and an occupational therapist, as she has perspective about how beneficial athletic involvement can be for individuals with disabilities. Dr. Adam hopes that her presence in the sport will encourage other women to become involved in adaptive sports and will motivate her fellow healthcare professionals to do the same for their patients.
Being a female in a male-dominated sport is often viewed as quite an impressive feat, but Dr. Adams views her role as a female on the team as the quality that distinguishes her from others. She says that being a female in the sport does not make much of a difference if a player adds value to the team and works alongside others for the overall benefit of the team.
Juggling both a professional career and an elite athletic career makes for a very busy day-to-day life for Dr. Adam, who trains five to six times a week in the mornings before switching gears to her responsibilities as an occupational therapist and professor. Even when Dr. Adam leaves St. Louis for team training camps once a month, she continues to work remotely and prove her dedication to both her professional and athletic duties.
Although balancing a career as a professor and as a Team USA athlete must be overwhelming at times, Dr. Adam undoubtedly has the support of both the Billikens and enthusiasts of Team USA. As she looks ahead to making history in the sport, the SLU community wishes her the best and is excited to follow along on her journey to Paris.