Adam Ballou

Adam Ballou (born May 29, 1992) is an American soccer player and cerebral palsy football player.

Ballou has cerebral palsy as a result of an intrauterine stroke, he was diagnosed at six months old.

Ballou was born on May 29, 1992, in Virginia Beach, Virginia and has three sisters.

Ballou was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was six months old, after he had a pediatric stroke.

As a result of the stroke, when he was an infant, doctors told his parents that he might live his life as a vegetable.

The stroke had resulted in him acquiring cerebral palsy and having limited limb functionality on his left side, making it substantially weaker than his right side.

To address these physical issues, Ballou had regular physical therapy as a result until he was around 13 years old.

Ballou has been a consistent member of the United States Paralympic National Team since being invited to train with them in March 2007 as a 14-years-old.

Ballou started playing CP football in 2007 after getting invited to train with the national team in March.

At the time, he was a 14-years-old.

He came to the attention of national selectors after the head coach of the Virginia Beach Mariners asked his coach if he knew of any players with cerebral palsy and his coach replied with Ballou's name and contact details.

Because of the rules for CP football, he was not able to earn his first national team cap until he was a 16-years-old.

The United States tried but failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Paralympics.

If they had been successful, Ballou would likely have made the roster.

He has competed at the CP Football World Championships in 2009, 2011, and 2015.

He continued his national team career, and was part of the US team that finished 11th at the 2009 World Championships.

His best performance with the team was a second-place finish at the 2010 Americas Championship.

He continued to get national team calls ups, and was with the US team that finished second at the 2010 Americas Championship.

Ballou attended Norfolk Christian High School in Norfolk, graduating from there in 2011.

He went on from there to study International Affairs and Spanish at James Madison University.

The following year, he participated in the 2011 CPISRA World Championships with the national team.

He has also represented the United States at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

While attending university, he took the spring semester of 2012 off so he could train with the US national team ahead of the London Games.

He also studied abroad, spending a semester in Salamanca, Spain.

In 2012, his soccer coaches were Jay Hoffman and Mike Haas.

Ballou is a CP7 footballer and a regular fixture on the US National Paralympic Team, where he plays in the midfield.

In 2014, he completed an internship for U.S. State Department at the Embassy in Madrid in 2014 as part of his studies.

He has continued to be involved with the university following his graduation.

He attended James Madison University, graduating in 2015.

He started playing soccer when he was three years old, played rec, advanced and travel.

He also played on his high school varsity team, and was team captain his junior and senior years.

He graduated in 2015, with a minors in business as well as Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

In April 2016, he gave a workshop on Paralympic sport at his alma mater's Godwin Hall in Harrisonburg

Ballou speaks Spanish and English.

He is 5 foot 8 and weighs 155 pounds.

Ballou started playing soccer when he was a three-year-old, playing for a team that included his sister and which his father was the coach of.

He was able to compete in sports after he had a tendon transfer on his left foot.

Many people in his life encouraged him to participate in sports.

Because of his disability, he trained harder on that side of the body and sometimes feels he performs better on that side as a result.

He played varsity soccer for Norfolk Christian High School.