Bailey Moody was ten years old when she was diagnosed with stage four osteosarcoma, a cancerous tumor that later led to the amputation of her right leg. She was introduced to adaptive sports with BlazeSports at the age of 12, where she began playing wheelchair basketball for the BlazeSports Jr. Hawks in 2014. BlazeSports gave this young girl the confidence she needed, and she has risen to become a young talent on the U.S. women’s wheelchair national team.
Bailey represented the United States at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. The team finished sixth place in the tournament out of the twelve teams that represented 19 different countries. The following year, she competed at the 2019 Parapan American Games in the wheelchair basketball tournament and won a silver medal. She was also a part of the 2019 U25 World Championships in Suphanburi, Thailand where she won a gold medal. Bailey also represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in the wheelchair basketball women’s tournament and won a bronze medal.
She is now attending the University of Alabama, where she plays basketball and is a three-time champion from 2021, 2022 and 2023. Bailey is one of the NCAA’s first adaptive athletes to sign a name, image and likeness deal. Moody and Alabama basketball players Nimari Burnett and Abby Bauleke have scored NIL deals with Degree as a part of Degree’s new #BreakingLimits team.
“Degree’s whole campaign is about showing active people, sharing their stories, breaking limits,” Bailey said. “It’s not really me advertising the product per se; it is just me telling my story and sharing that with people. Telling them how I got to where I am, what I do and how being a college athlete has brought me to break limits and overcome adversity.”
Bailey gained confidence from her experiences with BlazeSports and the community around the organization. She trusted the process and, with that, has accomplished many things. Her Degree campaign brings awareness to the adaptive sports community and shows that anything is possible with the right team and support.
