4 • SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021 • CAREGIVER
COURTESY OF LEXI BRANDA COON
COVER STORY
Liz Dunn practices wheelchair rugby with the U.S. national training squad at Lakeshore Foundation in Alabama.
Perseverance & the Paralympics Just being
“
by KAREN PRICE Liz Dunn is only the second woman to play
People often have questions when they find out
Liz Dunn plays wheelchair rugby.
They have even more when they find out she’s
a member of the USA Wheelchair Rugby training
squad — which is where the team that represents
the country at the Paralympics this summer in
Tokyo will be selected from.
“Definitely a lot of people are surprised,” said
Dunn, a 31-year-old native of Warren, Pa., who
works as a research assistant at the University
of Pittsburgh. “It’s always exciting when someone’s
interested and wants to learn more about
what I do, just because it’s something you don’t
see often.”
Although wheelchair rugby — also known as
quad rugby — has always technically been a co-ed
on the U.S. Wheelchair rugby training squad
sport at the national level, Dunn is the only woman
on the team and just the second ever to play with
the national squad. If selected for the Paralympic
team, she will be the first woman ever to represent
the United States in the sport. The team will be
named in late May.
“Just being able to represent women in my sport
is incredible, even in the position I’m in now as a
member of the training team, because it’s only
the second time,” Dunn said.
Dunn was always an athlete growing up, enjoying
soccer, snowboarding, kayaking, hiking and
other outdoor sports. In 2010, however, while a junior
at Gannon University in Erie, she was asleep
in the back of a friend’s car when they got into an
accident. Dunn sustained a spinal cord injury that
left her a C6 quadriplegic and has been a full-time
wheelchair user ever since.
Shortly into her recovery, she started searching
for things that she could do to be active and
athletic. Kayaking was one of the first sports she
tried. With adaptations that allowed her to hold
the paddle, she found she was able to get back to
at least one of the sports she’d always loved.
able to
represent
women in my
sport is
incredible,
even in the
position I’m in
now as a
member of the
training team,
because it’s
only the
second time.”
LIZ DUNN