By Shawn Moran, Sun Devil Athletics' Feature Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Elijah Warren refuses to focus on his rare medical condition when he is in the pool. An All-American high school swimmer from Colorado, Warren has improved and impressed during his first season in Tempe while dealing with an uncommon ailment that is "just natural for me to not think about."
In the United States, there are an estimated 20,000 Americans that are affected by hemophilia. This illness is a rare, inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood doesn't clot normally.
Warren has dealt with severe Type A hemophilia, which is caused by a missing or defective Factor VIII protein, his entire life. While growing up with this disorder was tough, he never let it hold him back from achieving his goals and never let it dictate what he could achieve as an athlete.
"I wouldn't say it limited me," Warren said. "I would just say it always made things sometimes a little more challenging where I had to think about things differently and go about things sometimes a different route. Just be safer and think about things a little smarter."
This included not participating in any contact sports growing up, sometimes making Warren feel left out of that part of being a kid.
"It was definitely tough," Warren said. "Especially being a kid, wanting to go out and mess around with the guys and kids my age. Kind of having to be more aware of things that I was doing, making sure I wasn't being too rowdy or get into things that could potentially be a risk for getting injured."
But while Warren could not play sports such as football or basketball, his athletic prowess found a way to stand out as a young swimmer. When Warren was seven, he joined his local club swim team. Since then, he was named a five-time All-American in high school for three different events: the medley relay (twice), 100 Breaststroke (twice) and the 200 Individual Medley.
Since arriving at ASU, Warren has continued to impress his coaches and teammates with his work ethic and skills in the pool.
After Warren committed to the Sun Devils, assistant coach Herbie Behm had some important homework to do on the incoming freshman. Without a strong understanding of hemophilia, Behm did what any logical thinker in this age would do.
"I honestly had to Google what it was," Behm said.
Through the first half of the season, Warren has shown versatility in the pool while expanding his event repertoire and improving his times. According to Behm, "he's improving just as quick, if not quicker, than everyone else on the team."
With a confidence that stretches from the pool to the classroom, where he is an outstanding student and a part of Barrett, the Honors College, it is unlikely that new competition would ever be able to tell that he had any kind of disorder. In fact, if it were not on his disclosed medical file, his own teammates and coaches might not know about it.
"You wouldn't know he has it if you talked to him or saw him at practice," teammate Joely Merriman said.
"There hasn't been any issues at all yet," Behm added. "Honestly, I wouldn't know about it if I weren't already informed of it."
Warren does not make a big deal of his disorder, and does not expect any special treatment because of it. One of the deciding factors on his decision to attend ASU, however, was the respect shown to him by the program throughout his recruiting process.
"I definitely felt that the coaches here were very understanding and were willing to do whatever to make sure I felt comfortable and had the best resources for help, talking to the doctors and making sure everything is under control," Warren said. "The way they handled it and responded to me telling them I think was a huge deciding factor for me as well in the recruiting process knowing that I'd be taken care of here."
Warren receives an IV three days a week before his early morning weight training session. This takes about 15 minutes and has become a structured part of his weekly routine. Because of the constant help he has received from doctors and physical therapists, Warren has developed an interest in sports medicine and hopes to attend medical school upon his graduation from ASU.
Even with those future plans, if Warren had the opportunity to represent his country in the Olympics, and the hemophilia community, he would undoubtedly jump at the chance.
"Just thinking about the community of people with hemophilia and kind of inspiring the kids and people who have this to know that you're not limited by this condition," he said. "There are ways to be active and get involved in the things that you still love in life."
With this severe condition, it would be easy for Warren to sit at home and never allow him even the slightest chance to be injured. As an athlete, there is no advantage in complaining about shortcomings. Since he was very young, and since his arrival in Tempe, Warren has not allowed hemophilia to dominate his life.
"I feel as athletes, most of us, even if we do have a medical condition, we keep it to ourselves," Merriman said.
"We just believe that we can overcome that, so even though he does have this condition, it doesn't make him any different from the rest of us."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Elijah Warren refuses to focus on his rare medical condition when he is in the pool. An All-American high school swimmer from Colorado, Warren has improved and impressed during his first season in Tempe while dealing with an uncommon ailment that is "just natural for me to not think about."
In the United States, there are an estimated 20,000 Americans that are affected by hemophilia. This illness is a rare, inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood doesn't clot normally.
Warren has dealt with severe Type A hemophilia, which is caused by a missing or defective Factor VIII protein, his entire life. While growing up with this disorder was tough, he never let it hold him back from achieving his goals and never let it dictate what he could achieve as an athlete.
"I wouldn't say it limited me," Warren said. "I would just say it always made things sometimes a little more challenging where I had to think about things differently and go about things sometimes a different route. Just be safer and think about things a little smarter."
This included not participating in any contact sports growing up, sometimes making Warren feel left out of that part of being a kid.
"It was definitely tough," Warren said. "Especially being a kid, wanting to go out and mess around with the guys and kids my age. Kind of having to be more aware of things that I was doing, making sure I wasn't being too rowdy or get into things that could potentially be a risk for getting injured."
But while Warren could not play sports such as football or basketball, his athletic prowess found a way to stand out as a young swimmer. When Warren was seven, he joined his local club swim team. Since then, he was named a five-time All-American in high school for three different events: the medley relay (twice), 100 Breaststroke (twice) and the 200 Individual Medley.
Since arriving at ASU, Warren has continued to impress his coaches and teammates with his work ethic and skills in the pool.
After Warren committed to the Sun Devils, assistant coach Herbie Behm had some important homework to do on the incoming freshman. Without a strong understanding of hemophilia, Behm did what any logical thinker in this age would do.
"I honestly had to Google what it was," Behm said.
Through the first half of the season, Warren has shown versatility in the pool while expanding his event repertoire and improving his times. According to Behm, "he's improving just as quick, if not quicker, than everyone else on the team."
With a confidence that stretches from the pool to the classroom, where he is an outstanding student and a part of Barrett, the Honors College, it is unlikely that new competition would ever be able to tell that he had any kind of disorder. In fact, if it were not on his disclosed medical file, his own teammates and coaches might not know about it.
"You wouldn't know he has it if you talked to him or saw him at practice," teammate Joely Merriman said.
"There hasn't been any issues at all yet," Behm added. "Honestly, I wouldn't know about it if I weren't already informed of it."
Warren does not make a big deal of his disorder, and does not expect any special treatment because of it. One of the deciding factors on his decision to attend ASU, however, was the respect shown to him by the program throughout his recruiting process.
"I definitely felt that the coaches here were very understanding and were willing to do whatever to make sure I felt comfortable and had the best resources for help, talking to the doctors and making sure everything is under control," Warren said. "The way they handled it and responded to me telling them I think was a huge deciding factor for me as well in the recruiting process knowing that I'd be taken care of here."
Warren receives an IV three days a week before his early morning weight training session. This takes about 15 minutes and has become a structured part of his weekly routine. Because of the constant help he has received from doctors and physical therapists, Warren has developed an interest in sports medicine and hopes to attend medical school upon his graduation from ASU.
Even with those future plans, if Warren had the opportunity to represent his country in the Olympics, and the hemophilia community, he would undoubtedly jump at the chance.
"Just thinking about the community of people with hemophilia and kind of inspiring the kids and people who have this to know that you're not limited by this condition," he said. "There are ways to be active and get involved in the things that you still love in life."
With this severe condition, it would be easy for Warren to sit at home and never allow him even the slightest chance to be injured. As an athlete, there is no advantage in complaining about shortcomings. Since he was very young, and since his arrival in Tempe, Warren has not allowed hemophilia to dominate his life.
"I feel as athletes, most of us, even if we do have a medical condition, we keep it to ourselves," Merriman said.
"We just believe that we can overcome that, so even though he does have this condition, it doesn't make him any different from the rest of us."