Heather Nicole Erickson (born May 9, 1993) is an American

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

sitting volleyball player.

Early life

Erickson was born in

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Ba ...

with a bone that prevented her leg from fully developing. In 2002, after 18 failed surgeries, her parents decided to have her right leg amputated. She received a

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

leg a month later. In 2011, she graduated from

Jack Britt High School Jack Britt High School is a public high school located in southern Cumberland County, North Carolina. It is attended by approximately 2,000 students in grades nine through twelve and is a 2018 Winner of U.S. News & World Report Best High School ...

in Fayetteville,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Career

She started competing for Paralympic Games in 2007 where she won a silver medal for her participation at Sitting Volleyball Invitational. In 2008, she participated at

World Organization Volleyball for Disabled World ParaVolley, formerly the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD), is an international organization that is for people with physical disabilities. It is affiliated with the International Paralympic Committee(IPC). The World Organizat ...

where she won bronze medal and the same year got another silver one for her participation at

2008 Paralympic Games The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. In 2010, Erickson won gold medal at Parapan American Championship which was held in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and the same year got another gold and silver ones for a WOVD Championship and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. In 2011 and 2012 respectively she won three gold medals at ECVD Continental Cup, Parapan American Zonal Championship, and Volleyball Masters. She also got 4th silver medal for her participation at 2012 Paralympic Games in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Erickson was a member of the USA Paralympic women's volleyball team which won the gold medal at the

2015 Parapan American Games The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for Disabled sports, athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tra ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Personal life and interests

Erickson likes to listen to such singers as Maroon 5 and

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

. She also enjoys watching such films as ''Game Plan'', ''

Gridiron Gang ''Gridiron Gang'' is a 2006 American sports drama film directed by Phil Joanou, and starring Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell and Kevin Dunn. It is loosely based on the true story of the Kilpatrick Mustangs during the 1990 season. The ...

'' and ''

August Rush ''August Rush'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. The screenplay is by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, with a story by Paul Castro and Castle. A co-production between the United State ...

''. She likes to watch TV shows as well such as ''House'', and ''

WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

''. Her other hobbies are reading

Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and philanthropist. He has published twenty-three novels and two non-fiction books, some of which have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers, with over 115 m ...

books, and playing

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

References

External links