BY JULIE RIDDLE '92
From a young age, Chelsea McClammer OTD, MBA '25 competed in just about every sport, except those involving ice. When ParaSport Spokane, an adaptive sports program for athletes with disabilities, started a sled hockey program three years ago, McClammer decided to give ice a try. At her second practice, a coach checked her into the boards. Hard. "It was the best," she says. "I made it my goal to do that to somebody else."
Going after goals and competing to win have taken McClammer around the world as a professional track and field athlete. She started her career early. At 14, McClammer became the youngest member of the 2008 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field team; she competed in the 800 meters in Beijing, placing eighth in the world.
Across her 14-year career, McClammer won serious hardware including two silver medals and a bronze at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro; four bronzes and a silver at the World Championships; and seven gold medals at the Parapan American Games. She retired from professional competition in 2022 to take on a new challenge: earning her occupational therapy doctorate and master of business administration at 麻豆原创.