NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Wheelchair rugby matchups begin the day after the Paralympic Opening Ceremony in Paris on Aug. 28. Several local athletes are chasing Olympic gold, which the U.S. hasn't won in the sport since 2008 in Beijing.
But Team USA's secret weapon might be the first female wheelchair rugby player hoping to steamroll the competition and stereotypes in the male-dominated sport. That woman is Sarah Adam, an assistant professor at Saint Louis University.
She hopes that with her putting on a wheelchair rugby uniform can show "people that we're not fragile," Adam said. "We're out there competing as an elite athlete."
Adam, a Naperville, Illinois, native was in graduate school for occupational therapy when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016.
"It kind of flipped my world upside down," Adam said. "What is my future going to look like? How long am I going to practice clinically?"
The answer: Five years.
Adam became an assistant professor of occupational therapy at SLU in 2020.
"Obviously with multiple sclerosis, I'm no longer able to practice clinically, but I can find that meaning and that purpose in teaching students," Adam said.
Now, she's able to practice in a SLU gym on a weekly basis to pursue her new passion, wheelchair rugby.
Eric Newby, co-captain of the U.S. National Team, introduced Adam to the sport.
"Me and Sarah go way back," Newby said. "She and my wife went to college together. Before she was diagnosed with her disability, she was a bridesmaid in our wedding."
Rugby saved his life, Newby said. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound weightlifter got into a car accident the night of his high school graduation which broke his neck. Yet, the accident led him to win two silver Paralympic medals.
"What do you hope your kids understand when they look back at photos, look back at videos of you playing?" 5 On Your Side's Annie Krall asked Newby.
"When I'm looking back at it, I just want them to be proud of me," Newby said. "I don't want them to think of their dad as a guy in a wheelchair. I want them to think of their dad as an athlete."
Newby calls Godfrey, Illinois, home and does some form of wheelchair rugby training every day.
He hopes children will see him as "a guy that showed what hard work can do," Newby said. "I come home everyday from my workouts. I get up at 4 a.m. and workout, get home, wake my daughter up, get her ready for school, get her breakfast..."
Now, Newby is taking on the world with the first U.S. female wheelchair rugby Olympian in Paris.
"She proved to the world that she could play with the big boys," Newby said. "She was fast enough to be there and smart enough to be there."
"You have this fantastic life," Adam said in retrospect of her rugby career. "Look at you traveling around the world internationally and competing at the highest level. I just go about my day and allow people to see that."
Both Adam and Newby will be pushing to bring what they say is a long overdue gold medal home to the St. Louis area.