28 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} the Beijing and London Paralympics, Katie’s team took gold at the following three games. After winning in Rio, there was more pressure to be perfect, she notes. “In Tokyo and then in Paris, we were who people were going after. All the eyeballs are on you.” The best countermeasure? “Trust the process and trust your teammates,” Katie says. “Trust you’ve done everything you can—and just play the game.” After the glamour of the games fades away, it’s back to business as usual. Katie trains at the Riekes Center in Menlo Park, a multipurpose space with athletic facilities and recording studios that supports veteran and adaptive sports. “Whatever you need, we’re here for you,” they told Katie when she first moved to the area. “And that’s been true ever since,” she says. “They’ve been my center and my rock!” The center even lent her a studio to record Inside Parasport, a podcast Katie hosted with Paralympic swimmer and cyclist Kelly Crowley. What does Katie wish more people knew about Paralympians? “We’re elite athletes, and it’s not just about our sob story,” she declares. “We operate at the highest level in our sport with a very unequal amount of resources so we often have fulltime jobs.” But the persistence of these Paralympians pays off when they’re proudly standing before the world. Nothing beats that charged moment of walking into the opening ceremonies at your very first Paralympic Games, says Katie. “The lights come on you and you walk out of the tunnel and it’s just this wall of sound. All you can hear is ‘U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!’ It gives you goosebumps.” PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: TEAM USA / WORLD PARAVOLLEY / SWEET WILD PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE (bottom right): Katie poses for a family photo with her daughter, Claire, and husband, Ryan Bridge. Ryan is director of operations and head brewer at Strike Brewing Company in San Jose. The couple’s first date started with a tour of his brewery, followed by a Stanford women’s volleyball game. Invented in the 1950s in the Netherlands, sitting volleyball was first introduced as a Paralympic event for women in 2004. Played on a smaller court with a lower net, athletes must remain seated at all times.
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