Baron gets birthday surprise — an invite to Rio

Shelby Baron set her sights on the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo when she accepted a scholarship to play wheelchair tennis at Alabama two years ago and transferred from the University of Hawaii.

As fate — and Baron’s tennis game — would have it, the 2012 Punahou alumna is now part of the U.S. team in Rio de Janeiro.

The Paralympic Opening Ceremony is Wednesday. Action at the Barra Tennis Center, where Andy Murray and Monica Puig gathered gold medals last month, runs Sept. 9-16.

Baron got the astonishing news Aug. 12 — her 22nd birthday. A German player had just withdrawn and she was first alternate.

“Three U.S. women were already going, so when I qualified, I also created a second doubles team,” Baron says. “I was completely shocked. I was volunteering with my tennis team and I got a call from Dan James, my national coach. It was my birthday, so my first thought was that he was wishing me a happy birthday.

“When he told me that I had received a wild card, I didn’t believe him and thought he was joking. I was speechless when it started to sink in that he was telling the truth.”

Baron will play singles, and doubles with Emmy Kaiser, the top-ranked American woman at No. 11 in the world. There are 100 players from 29 countries in the seventh wheelchair tennis competition. More than 4,200 athletes are competing in the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Baron stayed in Alabama to train and compete this summer, coming home for just a week. She expects to graduate next spring in communicative disorders.

A year ago, the national coach challenged her to take her game to the next level to stay on the national team. “I knew I wasn’t performing to my potential,” acknowledges Baron, who has been part of Team USA since she was a junior in 2011.

She looked long and hard at the game she took up in 2010, when adaptive PE specialist Lolly Romano introduced her to a wheelchair. Baron was born with spina bifida, which causes weakness in the legs. Until third grade, she walked at Punahou on crutches and sat out most PE activities.

She began playing wheelchair basketball with coach Jeff Sampaga weekly and discovered a Tuesday night wheelchair tennis class. She took it seriously enough, and got good enough, to join a U.S. Tennis Association junior team with able-bodied players.

She has traveled all over the world, played in four World Team Cups and risen as high as 36th in the world in singles (34th in doubles). Last summer she won her first ITF singles title, where the U.S. Open is now being played.

After her coach’s challenge, “I took a step back and thought about my goals,” Baron said. “I came back into this season stronger than ever, and it really paid off.”

She also came back with a new and improved wheelchair for tennis, after spending hours applying for grants and scholarships to fund the $4,000 investment.

“It really has helped with my speed and turning on court,” Baron says. “Movement is the most important thing in wheelchair tennis, because if you’re not in the right position, you cannot hit the ball exactly the way you want to.”

The only other Hawaii athlete listed on the U.S. roster is Mililani’s Ann Yoshida, competing in Paracanoe. For her and Baron, watching the Olympics last month took on special meaning.

“I started thinking about the fact that I would be there,” Baron said. “I would be competing at the same venue as all of these world-class, world-renowned athletes. I only hope I can perform in a way that represents our country in a good light.”

That has never been a worry for those who know her. Baron, planning a career in speech pathology, is now surrounded by the best Paralympic athletes in the world. Clearly she belongs, even if she did think her coach was joking on her birthday.

“My goal in Rio is to play hard and strong, and to represent my country as best as I can on and off the courts,” Baron says. “When I get back to Alabama, I want to finish off my year strong so that I can graduate in May and move on to graduate school next fall.

“Wherever I go, I hope to be able to continue my tennis since it is at such a high level right now.”