Katie Pegg: From SMU to The Paralympics

Written by Soha Mohammadhanif

Thumbnail & Banner Photo by Katie Pegg

She started playing shot put when she was in third grade and ranked seventh in the world for the Paris Paralympics 2024. She’s an athlete who remained strong in spite of her disability, a biology major studying forensic science at Saint Mary’s, and a football player. She is SMU'S very own Paralympic Champion: her name, Katie Pegg 

Katie has been involved with shot put since she was about 9 years old and continued to play until grade ten when COVID hit. These unforeseen circumstances forced Katie away from shot put, as she was not a part of a club. Coaches were hesitant to restart training given how sports conflicted with the new health guidelines. Nonetheless, shot put was Katie’s destiny and as the saying goes, “what is meant for you will find you”. Katie took her first year to settle in to get comfortable with university life and during her second year she found shot put again and started training at Saint Mary’s. 

Photo by Katie Pegg

Katie was born missing the radial bone in her right arm (radial longitudinal deficiency), which results in significant shortness of her arm and also restricts the motion in her elbow. Radial longitudinal deficiency can cause many problems in a person's life, such as (people in general) despite this, Katie doesn't let her disability hold her back.

This year, the Canadian Paralympics team was able to earn 10 quota spots for both female and male Para athletes. Katie feels lucky that she was in the top 10 female Para athletes in the country, and because she was among the Top 10 she qualified for Team Canada in the F46 category, a category for individuals with upper limit impairment.

During the interview with Katie, she discussed her life as a student-athlete, her academic interests, her future with shot put, her coping mechanism for failure and so much more.The following paragraphs are Katie’s opinions on each of these topics. 

University Life from Katie’s Perspective

When discussing university life at Saint Mary’s, Pegg said that one of the best resources offered by SMU was “a supporting community”. She is filled with gratitude for her coach, without whom she feels she couldn’t have progressed as rapidly. She was also grateful for academic advising who helped her to get updated with her school work as she missed a lot of school due to all the traveling she had to do last year. Katie feels that she was able to catch up with all her school work because above everything else she is surrounded by a positive environment at Saint Mary’s. 

While SMU has been extremely accommodating, Katie still finds herself trying to find “the perfect balance” between sports and college life, and sometimes finding this balance means learning how to be a little ‘selfish’. Katie moved on to state that the word selfish is generally thought of as having a negative connotation, but she has recently realised that selfishness for her, means taking care of her mind and body so that she doesn’t let the opportunities received by her go to waste. But at the same time she says it’s also important sometimes to separate herself from the sporting world, as it can get overwhelming, and she finds moderation by making time for the important people; to her, that is what a perfect balance is all about.

Coping Mechanisms and Failure 

For this year's Paris Paralympics, Katie started training last September. Katie described that while people normally practice for at least two years, she only had one. In spite of starting late, she ranked 7th in the world. Still, she expected better from herself, but whenever she starts feeling down she reminds herself of the opportunities that she has gotten and the fact that she is “just getting started.” She can cope with moments of failure because of her parent’s teachings to believe in herself and “become the best person possible.” They showed her that the way to live a full life is to be foolish sometimes and laugh out loud. Katie is inspired by the story of Inky Johnson, who was a football player at the University of Tennessee. Unfortunately, his left arm from the shoulder down became paralyzed and he couldn’t play football anymore, which shattered his dream of making it to the NFL. The doctors told him that He was told he was going to die, but still he remained resilient, fighting for his life every day until eventually he pushed through and started to recover. Post recovery he decided he was going to turn his pain into power and help others navigate life through faith and positivity. He became a motivational speaker. Katie relates to Inky’s story, as she too was told that she wouldn’t be able to play football because of her disability. Katie says that the only way to pass these boundaries is to not let other people's limits define you.

“If you want to do something in life go ahead and do it. Prove other people wrong because you can’t let other people write your stories. This is your world and it is up to  you to do everything you want to do to make sure that you have the most impactful life that you want for others and yourself” - Katie Pegg, 2024

Photo by Katie Pegg

Academic Interests

Moving forward in her career, Katie wants to pursue her initial dream of being a homicide detective when she receives her Forensic Science Certificate. She will definitely be continuing her shot put career too. She also aspires to coach shot put someday, wanting to teach the sport to kids with and without disabilities. Katie has come a long way but there is still a long way to go. She leaves our readers with a final quote that keeps her going.

“It’s your story, not theirs. It’s your life, not theirs. Limits don’t exist, it's just an idea that someone is putting in your head, all you have to do is go out and break that barrier.”