Suburban Paralympians savor the freedom to compete in the Paris Games

Sarah Adam played varsity softball at Naperville North all four years of high school, plus a couple years of basketball and a season of volleyball.

After graduating in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and neuroscience from Augustana University, she studied for her doctorate in occupational therapy at Washington University in St. Louis.

Noticing some physical quirks, she saw a doctor to get it checked out. In 2016, at 25, she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, which the Mayo Clinic tells us causes progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass.

Her focus shifted from clinical work to teaching — Adam is an assistant professor and an academic fieldwork coordinator of occupational science and therapy at St. Louis University — and she became immersed in wheelchair rugby.

She’d volunteered with the sport at Wash U., Adam told NBC News, but in 2017 transitioned to the court.

At 6:30 a.m. Central Standard Time today, Adam became Team USA’s first Paralympic female wheelchair rugby player, at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Starting with Opening Ceremonies on Wednesday, the Games run through Closing Ceremonies at 1 p.m. Central Time on Sept. 8.

Along with Adam, those with local ties include para triathletes Kendall Gretsch and Owen Cravens, graduates of Downers Grove North and Huntley, respectively.

Also, Paralympic swimmers Keegan Knott of Warren and her friend, Ahayla Lettenberger of Glenbard West; and archer Tracy Otto, a Floridian now living in Downers Grove.

A “high pointer” or ball carrier — most women play on defense, Adam said — she savored her ability to compete at Naperville North.

“That’s why after my diagnosis of muscular dystrophy adaptive sports was so important to me. It took me on a reconnect with my identity of being an athlete,” she said.

Supported in Paris by a slew of family members and friends, and at St. Louis University by colleagues and students at watch parties, Adam has fallen in love with wheelchair rugby and the rugby community. She’s been on Team USA since 2021.

“Me being in my rugby chair feels no different than lacing up a pair of sneakers,” Adam said.

The collisions, maybe that’s different.

“It’s called ‘murder ball’ for a reason. It’s the only full-contact sport in the Paralympics,” Adam said.

“Part of the strategy is to hit a person so hard they flip over in their chairs — that’s really the appeal to a lot of people.”

Adam’s ability to create and absorb mayhem is a sort of freedom. For two-time Paralympic swimmers such as Lettenberger and Knott, they find their freedom in water.

Knott, a 2023 Warren graduate from Lake Villa who competes at Northern Arizona University, finished 12th in the 400-meter freestyle within her S9 classification at Tokyo in 2021, just 16 years old.

She said her greatest accomplishment was earning three medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile — gold in the 400 freestyle, silver in the 200 individual medley and bronze in the 100 backstroke.

In Paris, she’ll swim today in the 400, both preliminaries and finals if she qualifies.

Knott was born without a right hip joint and fibula, she said, which has resulted in multiple right leg lengthening procedures. She also has a fused right ankle.

It didn’t stop her from swimming or dancing. Her mother, Michele, asked her to make a decision. Keegan picked swimming.

“I’ve always loved the water,” she said. “It’s always been a happy place for me.”

Ranked ninth in the world in her event at S9 (on a scale of S1-S10, S10 has the least impairment), Knott’s international experience makes the Paris Games a little easier.

“I’m feeling a lot more confident this time, and a lot more prepared,” she said.

Kendall Gretsch is beyond prepared. A five-time USA Paratriathlon national champion, the 2023 Downers Grove North Athletic Hall of Fame inductee is in her fourth Games.

Born with spina bifida, Gretsch has earned six Paralympic medals including four gold — two in the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018, one in the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 and one in Beijing in the winter of 2022.

One of only five U.S. Paralympians to win gold in both summer and winter Games, that Tokyo gold came in the first women’s triathlon wheelchair race in Paralympic history.

Gretsch, 32, has earned 29 World Championship medals in various events, 17 gold, dating to 2014 when she was USA Triathlon’s female paratriathlete of the year. In 2015 and 2018 she was nominated for ESPY awards.

She’ll compete Monday for a second straight summer gold in paratriathlon — a 750-meter swim in the Seine River, a 20-kilometer handcycle race, and a 5K sprint in a racing wheelchair.

Like Adam a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Gretsch in 2019 moved to Colorado Springs to join the USA Paratriathlon resident team, ditched the day job, and became a full-time athlete.

Obviously committed, totally competitive, at this point Gretsch also has the ability to smell the roses and reflect on her journey. She’s in Paris as a racer, a friend and a fan.

“It’s not always an easy thing, being an athlete. You fully invest yourself into the process,” she said.

“I think at times it can be hard when you don’t perform the way you want to, but I think through all that, the highs and lows, I’ve learned the value of hard work and resilience and, for me, just the connection that you can have with other people,” Gretsch said.

“You can have this competitive fire,” she said, “but you can also have that perspective of what is truly important to you about that experience.”

doberhelman@dailyherald.com