Canada’s Sarah Melenka, competing in her very first Paralympic Games, was quite pleased that her team secured its place in the final four of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games women’s sitting volleyball, following their defeat of Rwanda on Monday at North Paris Arena.
Talking to World ParaVolley after the match, while holding a bouquet of flowers from her fiancé, the Canadian star reflected on balancing her focus between the game and drawing comfort from loved ones.
“It’s nice to have that reset in the crowd whenever you need, if you do need them. And it’s also easy to just be able to ignore them and just do the thing that you came here to do. It’s great to have a mixture of both,” Melenka said.
Reaching the semi-finals of the Paralympic Games has been a significant milestone for Melenka. “It feels so good,” she said. “I was sitting on the court thinking that I just want to play more volleyball, and even more, because this only comes around once every four years. You’ve got to enjoy every single point, no matter how good it feels or no matter how bad it feels. Honestly, I’m just embracing every single point and every single moment that Paris has for me.”
After suffering a stress fracture in her right leg while playing volleyball, she shifted to sitting volleyball, eventually earning a place on the Canadian national team.
Melenka recently graduated from acupuncture school and is both a massage therapist and an acupuncturist—a career she was inspired to pursue after experiencing the benefits of these therapies during her own injury recovery.
“I just graduated from acupuncture school as well, so I am a massage therapist and an acupuncturist,” she explained. “I went into that field knowing just how much they have helped me after my injuries and just getting back into sport. I just want to help all the other athletes out there feel their best and be able to compete at their best. I really love my job.”
But for now, her focus is on winning Canada’s first-ever Paralympic medal in sitting volleyball. Speaking of the rigorous preparations that brought her team to this point, Melenka added: “Our team centralises out of Edmonton. The team is all over Canada, but our home base is Edmonton, and I’m just lucky enough to be living there. We have the head coach and assistant coaches in Edmonton with me, along with three other athletes. It’s easy for us to get together for practice,” she said.
“Before we came here, we were practising five days a week on court, along with additional training. And then, we have some other able-bodied players coming to play along, like my fiancé and a couple of our best friends. They come and compete with us just to give us that extra game pressure.”
Whether on the court or in her work as a therapist, Melenka is driven by a commitment to give her best and support those around her, knowing that both her passions fuel each other.
Photo: WPV/Sinisa Kanizaj.
