Princeton University Athletics
Playing Doctor
September 21, 2001 | General
To hear Debbie St. Phard '87, M.D., tell it, the most important thing she learned at ultra-competitive Princeton was the need to specialize. Yet, as St. Phard gets further away from her record-breaking years as a shot and discus thrower for the Tiger track and field teams, she also realizes more than ever the importance of being well-rounded.
Such a conflict is common in the world of competitive athletics, a world that still interests St. Phard in her role as a physiatrist for the Women's Sports Medicine Center at New York City's world-renowned Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). On one level she might spend her day treating injuries of a top professional athlete, or examining the topspin serve or golf swing of a recreational player to help find out why there might be back pain or tennis elbow. On yet another level, she remains equally interested in the psychological impact of those injuries on athletes of almost any status.
"For many athletes their identity is very much invested in their sport," says St. Phard. "If they get hurt and can't compete, they begin to wonder who they are. And the more their self-worth is invested in athletics, the more depressed they can become if they are unable to perform. It becomes very important to have a support system for athletes to help them get through these injuries."
The only four-time indoor Heptagonal champion in the shot put as well as a three-time outdoor Heps winner, she still holds Princeton's outdoor (51' 10.5") and indoor (48' 8") records in that event. She also was the outdoor Heps champion in the discus her freshman year. An All-America her junior and senior years at Princeton, she began throwing the shot in seventh grade while living in Kansas and already had broken several county records by the next year.
"She was extremely quick, balanced and explosive, just a tremendous athlete," says Princeton women's track and field coach Peter Farrell, who helped coach St. Phard along with current men's coach and former Olympic decathlete Fred Samara. "On the other hand, she was also an intimidating competitor who had a real knack of being her best when she stepped in the ring."
St. Phard also joined in Samara's footsteps and became an Olympian herself. Born in Haiti, she moved with her parents to the United States as an infant. Retaining her Haitian citizenship, she competed in the shot put at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis and at the World Track and Field Championships in Rome that same year. Ranked among the top 20 in the world in the shot, she fulfilled a lifelong ambition the next year by competing for Haiti in the Olympic Games in Seoul.
"Competing in the Olympics was everything I ever dreamed it would be," says St. Phard. "Just hanging out in the village with all the other athletes was a tremendous experience. It was also amazing to train and be around other female shot-putters daily because that was something that I wasn't able to do very often at home."
All the while St. Phard was gaining knowledge that would end up helping her in the future.
"A lot of times I stress to my patients that we are correcting injuries not just to correct them but to help them improve their games as well," says St. Phard. "Once they become sport-ready again, I'll suggest that they hook up with a professional. Many times the reasons people are getting injured are problems with technique that can be corrected by a good pro."
A graduate of Temple Medical School in Philadelphia, St. Phard then did her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver. Before coming to HSS, she also completed a one-year fellowship in sports medicine at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. In addition to serving as medical coordinator for marathons and track and field events, St. Phard and the Women's Sports Medicine Center will also serve as the sports medicine specialists for the New York Power of the new WUSA professional women's soccer league when that league begins this summer.
St. Phard also played soccer at Princeton her freshman year, but stopped playing that sport to concentrate on throwing full time. Though that might seem like a long way back for St. Phard, she says that she still uses times like those at Princeton to keep her life, and the lives of others like the church youth group with which she volunteers, in the proper perspective.
"I mostly sat on the bench during soccer, and I started realizing some lessons in mediocrity," she says. "It forced me to reevaluate. You're better off focusing your energy on doing things that you do well. Become excellent at those things."
Whether in the shot put ring or in her still young medical career, St. Phard has always directed her energy and focus with a great deal of success.
by David Rosenfeld