Jodie Symington to receive Breathing Life Award

Fundraiser Jodie is an inspiration

Jodie Symington battles cystic fibrosis, which attacks the internal organs and the digestive system, clogging the body with a sticky mucus, while climbing Mt. Everest. She does this to raise money for CF Trust and on May 28th she will be honored in London.

An awards spokesman said: "Jodie is a true inspiration to the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) community.

Please submit your inspirational stories to - stories@trustedsports.com


Jodie Symington

Full article can be read at The Shields Gazette
By Terry Kelly

Jodie Symington, 24, from Hebburn, has been put forward for a prestigious Breathing Life Award, partly for conquering the world's highest marathon.

Despite her medical condition, Miss Symington last year completed a gruelling 10-day trek on Mount Everest, to raise cash for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

An awards spokesman said: "Jodie is a true inspiration to the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) community.

"Despite suffering all the usual symptoms of CF, as well as diabetes, reflux and gallstones, Jodie continues to push herself to the limit and raise funds for the CF Trust and prove that CF won't hold her back.

"In the past year alone, she has taken part in the gruelling Everest marathon, her sixth Great North Run, and the Great North Swim.

"With her family and friends, she has helped raise more than a phenomenal £100,000 for the CF Trust.

"As well as all this, she still finds time to study for her BSc in applied biology at Newcastle University."


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Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Soccer Team's Parents Penalized 100yds

100-Yard Penalty on Players' Parents

Another Technical Foul Story reported by the Washington Post about a 7th grade girls soccer team's PARENTS who were kept 100yds away for two games. Sportsmanship is not dead with youth sports...but parents are not helping things much.

When I was a kid, my parents taught me that if I didn't have anything nice to say, then I shouldn't say anything at all. I'd like to hear youth sports participants teach their parents the same lesson.

100-Yard Penalty on Players' Parents
Fans of Md. Soccer Team Banned After a Few Berate the Referee

By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer

As the 13-year-old girls chased the soccer ball around the verdant field Sunday, one set of parents watched from the sidelines in comfy collapsible chairs, sipping coffee. The others were banished to a nearby hill, straining to see the action with binoculars.

The parents rooting for Bethesda's Legacy travel team at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds were being punished for behavior at the end of last season, when a referee was berated for a call. Saying their actions were "nothing less than egregious," the Washington Area Girls Soccer League took the unusual step of banning them from the sidelines for two games, and a referee made sure they stayed back.

The soccer league, home to many of the area's best soccer players with 600 teams and more than 15,000 participants, has a strict disciplinary system, in which players and coaches receive yellow or red cards for rough or unsportsmanlike conduct. Some have to explain themselves at disciplinary hearings. There are also sportsmanship liaisons on each team, who are supposed to keep fellow parents in check.

Aggressive or otherwise inappropriate behavior by individual parents at soccer games or other youth sporting events happens with regularity these days. But this case was unusual because the whole team's parents were punished.

Kathie Diapoulis, league president, said the parents had gone too far. The league's disciplinary board has had better luck barring individual parents from attending games in the past three years rather than fining them, because the parents would pay the money and continue the bad behavior.

"We have taken a strong stance," Diapoulis said. "It's important. This isn't the World Cup. . . . And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do. . . . It's not acceptable behavior."

At Sunday's game against the Montgomery Soccer Club's Xcel, a referee was assigned to make sure the Legacy parents did not come within 100 yards of the field. Managers were equipped with emergency cellphone numbers in case of another altercation.

Elisa Chetrit, 43, a Potomac resident and a Legacy parent, said that at the game last fall during which the unsportsmanlike conduct occurred, the parents were "all frustrated together" about what they perceived to be bad calls by the referees. "There are many reasons why [the incident happened], but the point is we've got to shut up and keep going. . . . You can't let those things get to you. You just have to sit on the sidelines and not say anything."

The trouble began when a parent from the Springfield Youth Club's Xplosion working as an assistant referee raised a flag in the air and called an offside violation on a Bethesda player, according to the minutes of the disciplinary hearing. After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the referee and accused him of making the wrong call, the report says. The parent "started to raise his voice," according to the report. More sniping occurred, and "the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive." Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the referee's daughter, "Your father should be fired!"


The league's disciplinary committee ruled that the Bethesda parents had violated the league's code of conduct -- which asks parents to refrain from questioning referees' calls -- through "egregious" behavior that "has no place in youth sports." They ruled that the parents could not be on the sidelines for the first two games of this season.

"There was a game where our parents were a little bit vocal about the refereeing. . . . Things can get emotional, but you have to keep up the sportsmanlike spirit," said Legacy's manager, Mark Lauda, an Olney resident. "We're not a problem team at all. It was just one thing that happened."

As the cost and competitiveness of youth sports have increased over the years, so have incidents of parental misbehavior, experts say, despite efforts to institute codes of conduct and "Silent Sundays," when parents agree not to talk at all during games. According to a Sports Illustrated Kids poll, 74 percent of children have witnessed out-of-control parents at their games.

Amid the thump of soccer balls and shouts of encouragement Sunday, the Xcel parents kept an eye on the sanctioned parents, even saying later that they thought a reporter snapping photos on their sideline might have been a Bethesda parent violating the 100-yard setback.

"It's embarrassing," one of the parents said. "This is seventh-grade soccer."

Across the way, Potomac lawyer Philip Page watched his daughter Jacqueline play through binoculars, which was "very maddening." Especially because he wasn't even at the game where the unsportsmanlike conduct occurred.

"We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it," Page said. "One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."

The Legacy team lost, 2-0. Their parents filed glumly off the hill, their timeout completed. They put their sweaty daughters in SUVs and minivans and quickly left the parking lot.

Many of the vehicles had stickers with the league's motto: "Lasting Friendships Through Soccer."

Please submit your Technical Foul Stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

Aaron Curry Will Bring 12 yr old St. Jude Patient to NFL Draft

NFL prospect Aaron Curry visits St. Jude; invites patient for once-in-a-lifetime experience

"Wake Forest University senior linebacker Aaron Curry will soon experience something about which many young men can only dream. On April 25, 2009, he will hear his name called by National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell as one NFL team selects him as their top draft choice for 2009.

As the winner of the 2008 Butkus Award, Curry is the top college linebacker in the nation and enters the NFL Draft as one of the highest-rated players. As such, he will be one of a few select college players invited to Radio City Music Hall in New York City to walk across the stage and shake Goodell’s hand once his name is called. It is the culmination of a lifelong dream.

But on a day that so many kids dream of happening, where the discussion should be all about him and the work he has put in to reach this pinnacle of success, Curry wants to share the spotlight with another. He wants to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy the experience of a lifetime.

That someone is 12-year-old Bryson, a patient of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In an unprecedented gesture, Curry invited Bryson to join him in New York City and sit at his table in the green room for what is expected to be the short wait before Curry’s name is called."

Read the entire story HERE

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Danny MacAskill - Sick Mountain Bike Skills

The CEO of our company's mom sent in this video of some insain street riding.


Filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby, this video of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill features probably the best collection of street/street trials riding ever seen. There's some huge riding, but also some of the most technically difficult and imaginative lines you will ever see. Without a doubt, this video pushes the envelope of what is perceived as possible on a trials bike.

Little League Parents Pay Major League Player's Fine

Little League Parents Pay Major League Player's Fine

Washington Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes was fined $500 and benched for arriving two hours and 55 minutes early to Saturday's home game against Florida instead of the mandatory 3 hours early. He ran 5 minutes late because he was signing autographs at a little league event in Great Falls.

So the Great Falls little league parents raised the $500 to pay for the fine. This is an awesome thing to do by the little league and kudos to them for doing it.

"The point is, this guy gave back to our community, and now he's in a hard spot. We need to help him," said Jim Mraz, the Great Falls LL president, according to The Washington Post. "It's not a question of whether this guy can afford the 500 bucks. We're just trying to send a message to our kids: He was here for us. Now we've got to be there for him."

Excellent. Elijah Duke has a great PR opportunity here and the only thing the article has to say is "Dukes had no comment." That's not cool.

What also sucks is even team manager Manny Acta acknowledges how stupid this fine is:

"... Acta said, according to MLB.com. "It was a bizarre situation, because he was doing something that we encourage our players to do. He was out in the community doing something for some Little League program and he just showed up late for work."

MLB - fail.

Full story at ESPN - HERE

Please submit your Technical Foul Stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

Taylor Fisher - Softball Player Plays Through Cystic Fibrosis

Taylor Fisher

"Typical teenage pastimes are some of Fisher's favorites. But when she applies those same fingers to a softball, Fisher can roll it around in her right hand, grip the seams and propel it forward with at least six different pitches.

Not everyone knows that one of Western North Carolina's brightest young prospects has cystic fibrosis.

The disease puts Fisher at risk of overheating during games with the Warlassies, affects her ability to break down and absorb food and puts Fisher at risk of life-threatening lung infections.

“I hate it when people feel sorry for me,” said Fisher, who was diagnosed with CF when she was 11 months old. “I don't let CF stop me from doing the things I want to do.”


Read the entire article at the Citizen's Times.

Please submit your inspirational stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

Tae Kwon Do Black Belt is a True Inspiration

Here's an inspirational story about Tommy Riendfleisch, a 25 year old, 3rd degree black belt who was born with scoliosis, a heart murmur, and autistic with Asperger's Syndrome.

Health-Challenged Tae Kwon Do Black Belt is a True Inspiration



Read the story HERE.

Please submit your inspirational stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent

**UPDATED 4/20/2009**

Susan Boyle released two songs 10 years ago:

Full updated story HERE

Susan Boyle, a 47 year old, never been kissed, wanna be professional singer sings "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables" on Britan's Got Talent.

I've watched a lot of reality TV and I get their format. I watched some of America's Got Talent last summer and understand that 99% of the time, when someone that looks like Susan Boyle steps on the stage, you can expect a series of Xs from the judges followed by harsh comments about a shoddy performance.




Well Susan definitely surprised the judges, audience, and hosts with her performance. Watch Susan Boyle's audition at youtube HERE.

Please submit your heartwarming stories - stories@trustedsports.com

Adam Bender One Legged Baseball Player

Here's an inspirational baseball story about an 8 year old catcher with one leg.

"Adam Bender, 8, is one of several kids who plays catcher in Southeastern’s rookie league at Veterans Park. What makes Adam stand out is that he plays one of the toughest positions on the field with only one leg. Because of cancer, he had his left leg amputated when he was one. Adam doesn’t use a prosthesis, and only uses crutches when he reaches base for the Astros. Charles Bertram READ THE STORY

Since the story of 8-year old cancer survivor Adam Bender was published in the Lexington Herald-Leader, and on http://www.kentucky.com/, on June 1, 2008, the one-legged catcher has been invited to throw out first pitches at a Chicago White Sox game, a Cincinnati Reds game, a Houston Astros game, and has been invited to a Garth Brooks benefit in Las Vegas. On June 6, 2008, Adam threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Adam Dunn of the Reds."

The ESPN E:60 video profile on Adam Bender - View Video

Please submit your inspirational stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

CNN Heroes - Retired Navy Capt. Ed Nicholson

I was forwarded a great story from CNN Heroes about Retired Navy Capt. Ed Nicholson's Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing which helps rehabilitate wounded servicemembers.

"Through free classes and outings, Nicholson's organization, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, helps rehabilitate injured and disabled servicemembers and veterans.

Nicholson saw that the discipline of tying flies, which requires patience and training, benefited veterans recovering from injuries. And it helped them relax.





"I'm doing something that gives me as much satisfaction and gratification of anything that I've really done. I loved serving my country. I was proud to serve for 30 years. But I'm incredibly satisfied with what I'm doing now."

Read the entire article at CNN Heroes

Please submit your inspirational stories to - stories@trustedsports.com

Strikers win Sportsmanship Award

I liked this article about a girl's soccer tournament that focuses on sportsmanship. I especially liked how the coach handed out encouraging sayings for parents to hollar while they encourage their kids.

"The team, coaches and spectators have to have good behavior, and while Palmer obviously coaches the players, she also did some coaching for the parents and other spectators, passing out sheets of paper that included the 80 positive things to say while watching soccer, including, of course, “Way to go,”..."

Strikers return from tourney with the sportsmanship award

Jessica Palmer (right) of the Kaua‘i Extreme Kickers gives chase after a Hilo player in the final game for the Kaua‘i team in the American Youth Soccer Organization Kirk Banks Tournament at Waipi‘o Peninsula Soccer Complex on O‘ahu recently.
Shannon Kay/Contributed photo

Though they lost three games and tied one, playing four games in four days, a Kaua‘i American Youth Soccer Organization squad, the Kaua‘i Extreme Strikers, still came home from the AYSO Kirk Banks Tournament on O‘ahu as winners.

They not only won sportsmanship medals, but received the maximum number of sportsmanship points available, 100 (maximum 25 per game), said coach Donna Palmer in an e-mail and telephone interview.

The tournament is based on sportsmanship, and in the under-10 girls’ division, wins, losses, ties, goals scored and goals allowed, don’t figure into the sportsmanship criteria, she explained.

The team, coaches and spectators have to have good behavior, and while Palmer obviously coaches the players, she also did some coaching for the parents and other spectators, passing out sheets of paper that included the 80 positive things to say while watching soccer, including, of course, “Way to go,” she said.

Read the entire article at TheGardenIsland

Please submit your sportsmanship articles - stories@trustedsports.com

Blind Free Throw Shooter

Rick Reilly wrote an article in ESPN the Magazine about a blind designated free throw shooter in a CYO basketball tournament. This is a great inspirational story about Matt Steven and his awesome older brother Joe.

Joe Steven was able to get all the teams and refs of a CYO charity tournament to allow his brother Matt Steven to shoot all of his team's free throws throughout the tournament.


Matt Steven can't see the hoop. But he'll still take the last shot.
by Rick Reilly

A few seconds left. The game teeters on these two free throws. The shooter gulps. The packed gym goes silent, save for the tapping of a white cane on the back of the rim. That's right. The shooter's brother is under the hoop, rapping a cane on the rim. That's because the shooter, Matt Steven, is blind.

So why is a blind kid in a competitive CYO game for sighted high schoolers in Upper Darby, Pa.? Because he doesn't like to miss anything -- especially free throws.

Matt, a senior, had been on the St. Laurence CYO team for a year and never played in a game -- never expected to. "He just likes being on the team," says Matt's brother and coach, Joe. Matt shoots free throws every practice, though, making about half. And that's what gave Joe a crazy, unthinkable, wonderful idea.

Before a charity tourney this past February, Joe asked the other teams if Matt could shoot all of St. Laurence's free throws. Amazingly, they agreed. So did the refs. A blind kid was going to be his team's designated shooter. Hey, it's still better than Shaq.

Read the rest of this heartwarming story at ESPN.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3967807

Best Game Ever

Here's a heartwarming story and video from ImprovEverywhere.com - a little league baseball game is turned into a major league event. All players, coaches, and parents do not know what is happening. They worked with the league commissioner to get the kids' names and access to the field to setup our equipment the morning of the game. The commish was the only one in on it. NBC Sports worked with them and got us the jumbotron and the blimp.

Improv Everywhere
http://www.improveverywhere.com/

Please submit your heartwarming stories - stories@trustedsports.com

Kings Firecrackers

I mean I'm not really a jump roping enthusiast or anything but after watching the video of the Kings Firecrackers Jump Rope Team performing at the Naval Academy, I definitely can respect how much dedication it takes to perform at their level.

The Kings Firecrackers are a performance jump rope team made up of talented 4th-8th graders from the Kings Local School District in Ohio. Coached by Lynn Kelley, they perform at venues across the country. Some notable past performances have been at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a Presidential Inauguration and an appearance on The David Letterman Show.

Being a Firecracker means hours of work and dedication. After tryouts in the spring, the team practices five days a week for two hours. When a big performance is approaching, like the Macy's Parade or a Chicago Bulls game, they practice six days.

View more videos at the Kings Firecrackers' website:

Kings Firecrackers
http://kingsfirecrackers.blogspot.com/

Please submit your stories about dedication - stories@trustedsports.com

Sportsmanship - Track Competitors Give Back Medals

Precious Medal
An altruistic act by eight high school runners in Washington reaffirmed the value of sportsmanship

"...The trick, as always, is in knowing where to look, because the most uplifting examples often occur in the most out-of-the-way places—like the state 4A track and field championships on May 23 in Pasco, Wash. That was where Nicole Cochran, a senior at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, thought she had won the girls' 3,200-meter title by 3.05 seconds until a judge disqualified her, ruling that she had stepped outside her lane on one of the turns. Almost everyone, including Cochran's competitors, agreed that the judge was in error, and a video of the race later showed that one of Cochran's teammates had actually committed the violation. Still, the title was awarded to the runner-up, sophomore Andrea Nelson of Spokane's Shadle Park High.

Nelson was almost as upset by the injustice as Cochran. "That's not how I wanted to win state," she says. "It wasn't fair. She deserved it. She totally crushed everybody." After the eight top finishers each took the podium, Nelson decided to do what she could to make things right. She stepped off the platform, walked over to Cochran and placed the first-place medal around the neck of the rightful winner. "It's your medal," she told Cochran.

"It gave me chills," says Cochran, now a freshman runner at Harvard. "It was just an incredible, surprising thing for Andrea to do, because it wasn't her fault. No one would have blamed her if she kept the medal." Cochran wasn't the only one who was moved. When Sarah Lord saw what Nelson had done, she took off her second-place award and placed it around Nelson's neck. Then third-place finisher Devin McMahon removed her medal and hung it around Lord's. And so it went, with each of the eight girls—Kate Stuart, Sandra Martinez, Annie Dear, Alyssa Andrews and Lyndy Davis were the others—bestowing her medal on the runner who had finished ahead of her. "As adults," says Matt Ellis, Cochran's coach, "we can learn from what those girls did.""

Read the entire article at SI.com

Please submit your sportsmanship articles - stories@trustedsports.com

Players score points with sportsmanship

Today's story about sportsmanship was written by Al Losey, sportswriter for the Star-Gazette and former girls basketball coach at Williamson High School.

http://www.stargazette.com/article/20090405/SPORTS05/904050366/1119

Players score points with sportsmanship

Not all high school basketball players flash a smile and are helpful to the referees. Many prefer to be flashy, and some argue when they're caught in violation of the rules.

So, here's a breath of fresh air that blew through our usually stuffy gymnasiums this season: The Southern New York Basketball Officials Association picked Elmira Free Academy's Liz Wick and Odessa-Montour's John Blaha as their 2008-09 Sportsmanship Award winners.

The award goes to players who were judged to be fair and played by the rules and who were good winners and good losers. Wick and Blaha are both seniors, and during the season they both exhibited qualities that basketball officials appreciated.

"To us, the positive attitude and sportsmanship is always what we're looking at," said Southern New York Basketball Officials Association President Tom Owen. "The award winners have always been seniors, and they are the kids that are having fun. We, as officials, are always pleased when the players have a good time. We all tend to lose our perspective about high school sports sometimes, but the last thing I always say to the players before the game starts is, 'Smile out there.'"

Wick, who is a Star-Gazette All-Twin Tiers first-team selection, credits her father, in part, for her playing philosophy.

"I like to play hard," Wick said. "But I always keep in mind that it's a game and not to take it too seriously. My dad has always told me that if it's not fun, it's time to do something else. So, I do have fun and I try to take a leadership role when it comes to sportsmanship. It's the little things you can do that add up, like picking up a ball and handing it to the official or not complaining about the calls. That's all you have to do."

Blaha, a point guard, was instrumental in the Indians' postseason run but never changed his court demeanor, even when the pressure was turned up.

"John is the ultimate competitor," Odessa-Montour coach Brad Clark said. "But regardless of the outcome, he's always the epitome of what we try to get out of all the kids. He's the first to shake hands after the game and, out on the court, he is always thinking about what is the right thing to do. He's a good student and just an all-around great kid."


Blaha says there's so much going on during a basketball game that he can't think about trash-talking or getting distracted by officials' calls.

"A lot of kids trash-talk, but I just let my game do the talking," said Blaha, who was an All-Twin Tiers second-team selection. "As the point guard, I've got too much to think about for the good of the team to let something personal get inside my head. Then I wouldn't be doing my best.

"After the game, some guys don't like shaking hands, but I want to go shake hands; I try to be the first in line. And if somebody had a good game against us, I tell them so."

Certainly, there were many other players who exhibited these types of qualities through the course of the season. Other girls nominated for the officials' award were Emma Pautz and Caley Manuel of Notre Dame, Brittany Evans of Odessa-Montour, and Stephanie Bond of Watkins Glen. Other boys nominees were Star-Gazette All-Twin Tiers Player of the Year Mike Backer of Southside and Chris Matthews of Notre Dame.

This is a time when a lot of young players learn how to act on the basketball court by watching spoiled, tantrum-prone NBA players. It certainly is refreshing to be reminded that a lot of local high school players play the game the way it's meant to be played.

Please submit your sportsmanship articles - stories@trustedsports.com

Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger

Against all odds on a gridiron in South Bend, Indiana, Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger in twenty seven seconds, carved his name into history books as perhaps the most famous graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

The son of an oil refinery worker and third of 14 children, Rudy Ruettiger rose from valleys of discouragement and despair to the pinnacles of success. Today, he is one of the most popular motivational speakers in the United States. It took years of fierce determination to overcome obstacles and criticisms, yet Rudy achieved his first dream - to attend Notre Dame and play football for the Fighting Irish. As fans cheered RU-DY, RU-DY, he sacked the quarterback in the last 27 seconds of the only play in the only game of his college football career. Rudy Ruettiger is the only player in the school's history to be carried off the field on his teammates' shoulders.

The Rudy Play - 1975 Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech


The True Rudy Story Part 1


The True Rudy Story Part 2



The Rudy Foundation
1333 N. Buffalo Drive
Suite 250
Las Vegas, NV 89128
http://www.rudyinternational.com/