ADAMS Lisa

Classification
F37 (IPC, 19 Feb 2021)

Type of Impairment
Cerebral Palsy (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Impairment Details
At an early age she was diagnosed with left-sided hemiplegia. (nzherald.co.nz, 10 Apr 2019, 14 Mar 2018, 05 Aug 2017)

General
SISTER AND COACH
Her sister Valerie, a multiple Olympic and world champion shot putter, is her coach. "In competition, she's my coach first. We're pretty good at defining that personal-professional relationship - training, gym, throw circle, she's all coach. It's all about not over-thinking everything, not taking too much on and not over-analysing everything. She's not one of those intense kinds of coach, she's a really firm coach, she trains me like she trains herself. Everyone has those expectations like, 'You have the same last name and your sister has done this so you're automatically going to be world champion and get medals and stuff' - it's not the way it works. At the end of the day, it's still up to me to work my ass off. I've got to get myself there." (nzherald.co.nz, 21 Mar 2019; stuff.co.nz, 09 Mar 2019; newshub.co.nz, 03 Mar 2019; tvnz.co.nz, 15 Feb 2019)

PARA RUGBY
In 2018 she became the first woman to play with the New Zealand national team at the Physical Disability Rugby League [PDRL] Commonwealth Championship. She played with the New Zealand men's squad that finished second at the tournament, and was selected as flag bearer for the opening ceremony. She had previously played able-bodied women's rugby. "It was the first time I had played with other physically disabled people. It was hard to transition, but it was all good. I thought it was weird that I was allowed to play, being the only girl, but I liked it. It was cool. I think what was cool was more than half the people there didn't know PDRL existed and heaps of people actually liked watching the games. I'd like to see it grow and get more girls involved if possible." (nzherald.co.nz, 14 Mar 2018)

ABLE-BODIED RUGBY
In 2017 she played rugby with the Waikite women's able-bodied team, after being spotted by team member Janina Khan who was impressed by her size. She adapted her playing style to tackle and pass the ball using her stronger right side, and helped Waikite win the Baywide competition in New Zealand. "People on the sideline would say, 'Why are you playing that injured girl? She's limping'. They don't realise it's permanent. I was really happy for the girls, like Janina, who have been playing here for a long time, to win the competition. And I was happy as a rookie to start the final and be a part of it. It was a real privilege. I like the contact and doing something different." (nzherald.co.nz, 05 Aug 2017)