Pam Carey
Contributor | 2014
Hometown: Atlanta, Louisiana
Although short in stature, Pam Carey was the “Little General” of Junior Nationals…as recognizable as any official, holding court in the staging area with her cowboy hat and clip board, barking orders in her southern drawl. Pity the coach who decided the rules regarding no coaches in the staging tent didn’t apply to them! A Junior Nationals competition would not be the same if Pam weren’t in the tent, ensuring that every athlete was in the correct race and correct lane.
Pam, as much as anyone, was always willing to roll up her sleeves, helping wherever, staying up to the wee hours of the morning to ensure that youngsters would experience quality competition. Pam served as a National Technical Classifier for USOPC in athletics starting in 2010. She also got her certification as a Regional Classifier for USA Boccia in 2016 and continued to classify throughout her career. Pam became a Classifier for USA Table Tennis, Class A in 2016 and served in that role at Junior Nationals. Pam was selected to serve as an Official for the 1996 Paralympic Games and continued her USATF officiating career serving as Chief Clerk of the Course for multiple US Paralympic Trials and most Junior Nationals. She obtained her USATF Level 1 Coaching certification in 2015. Pam was the Powerlifting Coordinator for Adaptive Sports USA starting in 2018 and also a Powerlifting Referee for US Para Powerlifting. She was the Team USA Coach for IWAS Junior Teams in Australia in 1999, Stoke Mandeville in 2014, the Netherlands in 2015 and Ireland 2018. Pam was the Head Coach for Team USA at CP-ISRA Games in Spain in 2018.
Pam was one of the driving forces behind the GUMBO (Games Uniting Mind and Body) organization in Louisiana. The GUMBO program was a chapter of the NWAA/Wheelchair Sports USA/ Adaptive Sports USA since that time. Her leadership and dedication provided countless opportunities for young athletes to experience competitive sports and for many to go on to international and Paralympic competition. She was a catalyst for Louisiana being on the cutting edge of inclusion of athletes in disabilities in interscholastic high school sports as members of their respective track teams. And the GUMBO team tradition of cooking a giant pot of gumbo in the parking lot of the Junior Nationals venue became as much of an institution as the games themselves.
No one has contributed more time, sweat or tears to junior programming for Adaptive Sports USA than Pam.
