24 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} worked harder than me? That you deserve this more than me and my teammates?’… I play with a chip on my shoulder.” From the start, the six-foot-three athlete fought for her place on the roster. Born without a fibula in her right leg, Katie underwent amputation as a toddler. While that didn’t keep her from playing sports (trying basketball, T-ball and soccer at the age of four), she wasn’t as fast as the other children. “I was cut from a lot of sports teams growing up and just felt like I always had to prove myself,” Katie says. And the other kids weren’t always kind. “I was the tallest girl, I had one leg—you name it, I was ‘the other,’” observes Katie. Middle school girls could be particularly mean, especially behind the closed doors of the locker room. Katie took to hiding her prosthetic with tall socks and long pants. “I got out of high school swimming when I was a freshman because I was terrified of taking my leg off and being in front of people.” But competition is in her blood. Katie’s father played football for Central Washington University, When Katie Holloway Bridge lists off her sports injuries, she does so with the casual air of one who recognizes this comes with being a professional athlete. “I’ve had dislocated pinkies. I broke this bone in my eye and I’ve broken my right hand,” says the sitting volleyball athlete and five-time Paralympian. She shrugs off a torn hip. “It’s not something I take time off for. It’s just going to be there.” When Katie takes to the court, her inner warrior awakes. “It’s not me at all!” she promises. But “when I get angry, I play better. I’m like, ‘How dare you think that you’ve PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: USA VOLLEYBALL
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