Katie Holloway remembers wearing long socks to hide her prosthetic. She recalls never wanting anyone to think she was less than or needed special treatment because part of her right leg was amputated before she was 2 years old.
She stopped trying to hide that part of herself, however, while she was at California State University, Northridge, where she played basketball from 2004-08 and graduated with a degree in sociology. Her coaches viewed and treated her like the rest of her teammates, a promise they made during the recruiting process that sold her on playing there. It's a decision that set her on an unexpected course. Now, she's a four-time Paralympian in a completely different sport, sitting volleyball, and a captain for Team USA's squad going into the 2020 Paralympic Games.
"Being a college athlete really gave me a foundation of values that I hold today and what I believe has really helped become a Paralympic gold medalist," said Holloway, who's also won two silver medals.
Holloway played four years at CSUN, where she was a two-time Big West Sixth Woman of the Year. CSUN is also where she was introduced to sitting volleyball. (Photo courtesy of California State University, Northridge)
That foundation included values typically attributed to participating in athletics, such as respect, discipline and hard work. Holloway, the first female amputee to play Division I basketball, named another value she gained at CSUN that's unique to her story.
"I think one of the things I feel really strongly was instilled in me at Northridge was the value to show up as myself," Holloway said. "The reason I chose them was because on my recruiting visit the coaching staff really explained how they would hold me to the same standard as everyone else, even being an athlete with a disability. I could show up as myself and be who I was at Northridge, and they would support me in that. And I think that's really unique.
"As an athlete with a disability who was trying to hide it from everyone and try to basically prove myself, I really felt like Northridge was the place where they helped show me that I could be my whole self. And becoming a Paralympian, I was finally able to do that. I was able to be an athlete and an athlete with a disability, and Northridge started me on that path."
This transformation did not happen right away for the two-time Big West Sixth Woman of the Year. It got accelerated by a little bit of luck, too.
In 2006, Team USA's Paralympic volleyball team trained at CSUN's facility. Witnessing these athletes in action and being wowed by their abilities, Holloway said, was a turning point in her life. The weight of constantly trying to prove herself, of trying to hide part of her identity, was lightened that day.
"I started to become more open about sharing my disability. I never took my leg off in front of the girls (before). I actually showed them my leg my senior year," she said. "Almost immediately, that transformation happened where I was actually able to look outside myself and say, 'I am doing something incredible. I don't want to just be forcing everybody to not talk about it and not be open about it.' I did a whole 180."
A few months after that encounter with those elite Paralympic athletes, Holloway was invited to train with them in Atlanta. It was the first time in her life she had to take her prosthetic off to play a sport. Despite a volleyball background in high school, sitting volleyball was a completely different challenge. Holloway described that first training camp as "incredibly scary," but the 6-foot-3 talent impressed enough to earn more opportunities. During her senior season, she split her time between CSUN and Team USA leading into the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
As she enters her fourth Games, she can't help but think of how far she's come as an athlete and as a person. She hopes others, especially young girls who may have disabilities, can learn from her story and embrace their whole selves.
"I would love to be that example," she said. "I crossed over to that able-bodied environment, but I am just as happy and content being in the Paralympic environment, if not more, actually. And I want young girls to be able to look up to me and say, 'I could do that if I wanted to,' or, 'I can compete in the Paralympics because I'm an athlete with a disability,' and be just as proud of that."
Holloway (middle), the first female amputee to play Division I basketball, comes from a family of successful athletes. Her father played college football, her sister played college basketball and one of her cousins spent time on the PGA Tour. (Photo by Adam Pretty / Getty Images)
