I'm sure that I don't stand alone when I say that I appreciate ESPN sharing clips like this. They have done this in the past with other young athletes overcoming disabilities or hardships to compete in competitive athletics. However, I cannot recall seeing a clip of a female athlete doing such a thing. The instances I have seen on TV all are male athletes. I'm not sure if this doesn't happen to female athletes or companies just decide to show the male instances. All in all, this clip is uplifting and puts my athletic career in perspective. I'm not sure if I would have played competitive athletics had this happened to me. At the same time, I don't think the same opportunities would have come along in my life. It is truly a good story and I wish more similar stories would be publicized.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
One-Legged Soccer Player
Last week on Sports Center, I saw one of the most impressive sporting feats that I have witnessed. Nico Calabria from Concord, MA scored off a corner kick in a high school soccer game. The impressive thing, however, is that Nico has one leg. One of the most amazing parts about the story is that he plays on his high school team with two legged athletes. Nico was born with one leg and he did not let this disability stop him from living his dreams. It is also worth noting that Nico plays for the U.S. Amputee National Team. In my opinion, this is unbelievably respectable and truly honorable. I also like how ESPN made a point to show the following clip of him scoring the goal.
I'm sure that I don't stand alone when I say that I appreciate ESPN sharing clips like this. They have done this in the past with other young athletes overcoming disabilities or hardships to compete in competitive athletics. However, I cannot recall seeing a clip of a female athlete doing such a thing. The instances I have seen on TV all are male athletes. I'm not sure if this doesn't happen to female athletes or companies just decide to show the male instances. All in all, this clip is uplifting and puts my athletic career in perspective. I'm not sure if I would have played competitive athletics had this happened to me. At the same time, I don't think the same opportunities would have come along in my life. It is truly a good story and I wish more similar stories would be publicized.
I'm sure that I don't stand alone when I say that I appreciate ESPN sharing clips like this. They have done this in the past with other young athletes overcoming disabilities or hardships to compete in competitive athletics. However, I cannot recall seeing a clip of a female athlete doing such a thing. The instances I have seen on TV all are male athletes. I'm not sure if this doesn't happen to female athletes or companies just decide to show the male instances. All in all, this clip is uplifting and puts my athletic career in perspective. I'm not sure if I would have played competitive athletics had this happened to me. At the same time, I don't think the same opportunities would have come along in my life. It is truly a good story and I wish more similar stories would be publicized.
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This shot is really amazing to me. When I seen it I was shocked and I thought something like that was impossible. This really shows that no matter what circumstances a person has, they can do anything that they put their minds too. Who would think that a person with one leg could even play soccer, a sport where all you use is your legs. I would love to interview the person who made this shot. I would want to know what adversities they had to go through learning how to play with one leg
ReplyDelete-Tim Love
I agree with you that this sporting feat is remarkable and unbelievable. I played soccer for many years and I could not even think about playing the sport with one leg. It is a sport that involves two legs and Nico is talented enough to use only one. Speaking of Sports Center having young athletes being on the show that have overcome disabilities/hardships, they had Anthony Robles, the one legged wrestler from ASU that won the NCAA Championship, on there today talking about his feats. I agree with you that I have not seen as many girl athletes achieving these feats, but that does not mean that there aren't out there. I believe Sports Center did have Bethany Hamilton, the one armed surfer on their show once, but I am not completely sure if they did or not. Anyways, I agree that it is outstanding for any athlete achieving these accomplishments and it definitely does make me wonder if I would have had the courage and dedication to try playing sports if I had a disability. This goes to show that “impossible is nothing” (famous quote by Adidas).
ReplyDelete-Kody Burlingame
I also saw this on ESPN i believe on their daily Top 10. I thought it was remarkable that a kid with one leg was able to compete with his other peers. I also agree that it was good of ESPN to give some light to this kid for his accomplishments. It can show other people in his situation that they can also accomplish anything. I thought it was an interesting comment about it being a male and not seeing very many females. While i cannot deny the fact that i haven't seen and female stories like this, i would not read to much into that. Male or female the story would be remarkable.
ReplyDelete-Aaron Mehling
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI saw this play on ESPN Top 10 as well; and I believe it was their "Best of the Best" play for a few days. I also agree with Aaron with his point on whether it was a male or female that did this, it is impressive and definitely something that is not seen very often. However, as it was brought up in the blog, ESPN hardly ever shows impressive plays such as this one on TV that involve females. ESPN has done a good job showing highlight reel plays from younger levels of play, but they are very rarely ever females. The only one I can recall is last high school basketball season they had a girl make a shot from 3/4 court.
ReplyDeleteDerek Zyski
I as well saw this play on ESPN Top 10 and it brought me to tears. I would agree with Aaron and Derek that it is very impressive for anyone male or female to do something like this. ESPN should show more plays like this one because it shows that everyone no matter what challenges they have to overcome, anything is possible. As for female athletes not making the top plays or even being shown on the show is normal for ESPN. I think the only way a female athletes' play will be on the top 10 is if they do something so outstanding that it will be making people think about it for days.
ReplyDeleteJenny Kelley
This is an amazing feat for someone with an extreme disability like that. To be able to play in the league with people with two legs is amazing enough but to go above and beyond and make an incredible play like that is insane. It’s a great thing that ESPN does recognize players with disabilities like they do because they inspire so much hope into those other athletes with disabilities to go out and try their best to do what they want to do. After watching this clip I wanted to look up a few other sports and athletes that have developed and became popular as a result of disabilities. The first clip is of a Paralympic game called Goalball. I have never heard of it before so I thought I’d share it. This is for the visually impaired who rely on the sound of the ball rolling to stop it from going into the net.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPN9RBvoEgI
This second clip is also from the Paralympics where many battle to win gold in table tennis however it is played sitting in a wheelchair. These players have been able to forget about what disability they have and just compete and have a good time doing something they love to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf718cn-pjs&feature=relmfu
Lastly, here is a clip of a very impressive bow shooter who here attempts to break the record for the longest shot to hit a target, disabled and non-disabled, where he succeeds in only his 4th shot. Oh yeah I forgot to mention he is disabled, he has no arms and still holds the record for shooting a bow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N07x9Z6VPW4&feature=related
By: RJ Hefflinger
It is always nice to see stories like this when ESPN airs them. It is truly amazing to see what people with disabilities can accomplish no matter how challenging it may be. If I was born disabled I do not believe I would have played many sports growing up. It would have been too hard to overcome and I probably would not have taken on the challenge.
ReplyDeleteWomen’s athletes that are disabled you do not tend to see on ESPN. I always ask myself why this happens, and can never come up with a good answer. If I was ESPN I would try and show more clips of women then maybe you could open some doors for disabled women around the world.
Josiah Blevins
I remember seeing this clip as the number one play on the top ten a few weeks ago and thought it was very cool how a one legged player could play soccer. I think athletes with a disability often get underestimated too, which just creates more motivation for the athlete to try and succeed. I remember when Bethany Hamilton's arm got bitten off by a shark and ESPN made a big deal about that and her road to recovery. I don't think ESPN focuses on just males with disabilities, but more of the overall story rather then gender. Overall, that soccer goal deserved to be shared with the rest of the world, and I'm glad ESPN decided to it in their top plays segment.
ReplyDelete-Brett Creamer
LIke everyone has mentioned so far, regardless of gender this was an amazing feat. It's nice that ESPN has been doing more stories about athletes that have gone through terrible hardships and still have found a way to compete. One story was about a male pitcher that lost his leg during a boating accident and had a prosthetic put in place. He still was able to pitch. I haven't followed those stories too closely, but it does still seem that males are getting more attention than females. However, like Brett said, I think they focus more on the story than they do the gender and that just means that more males are continuing to compete with disabilities, or ESPN just hasn't been able to find a story with a female. When it comes down to it though, we shouldn't be focusing on what percentages the gender is for stories like this, it's the point that someone has done something amazing and has overcome a huge obstacle in their life.
ReplyDeleteNate Dudzik
I think that this is really amazing. Athletes in general have to have amazing strength and perseverance, but amputee athletes have above average strength and perseverance. They have so much to overcome and they basically have to learn everything differently because no one else is built like them. I know that if I had been disabled, I probably would not have participated in sports, simply because of all the obstacles involved, so it is incredible to see people that can overcome those obstacles and become incredibly successful. I think that overcoming a physical disability is incredible no matter what gender you are, and I feel that the media is starting to notice that more and more. The feat is more impressive then the gender of the athlete.
ReplyDeleteJenn Zoellick
I agree that it's always nice to see ESPN air these types of stories and I always feel as though it's really difficult not to watch stories like this one when they come on. It truly is an amazing story and I find it to be extremely inspirational because Nico was born with one leg. It would have been a lot easier for him to play sports if he had suffered an accident after he had already played in sports, that made him lose his leg and then continuing with those sports rather than starting with one leg from the get-go. I doubt that I would have been as motivated to play sports if I had some sort of disfunction from birth.
ReplyDelete(Chris Cournan wrote the above comment)
ReplyDeleteI actually had seen this previously and thought it was extremely impressive. You are right though when you mention that female athletes are not shown like this very often. I am a volleyball coach and one time at a tournament I actually saw a one armed girl playing on another team. I watched her and was amazed at how well she did considering her disability. She was 13 and would pass in the backrow and hit. She got a decent amount of playing time and didnt seem to let her disability get in the way of her competing in a competitive atmosphere.
ReplyDelete-Sam Melchor
Along with what everyone else has said, I think everything about this is remarkable. I never saw the video on Sports Center nor have I heard about this kid playing with one leg. Before I started watching the video I thought that he was going to have a prosthetic leg. The fact that he uses crutches and plays is beyond me. For anyone who has every had to use crutches they aren't easy and there is no way I would think about playing a sport using crutches. This athlete looked pretty fast as well when he was running back after he scored, also, the goal was awesome! This kid is very athletic and really is doing what almost anyone can't do.
ReplyDelete-Joey D'Agostino
Wow! I couldn't believe what I saw! I watched the video like four times, that is truly amazing! Seeing that really puts things into perspective, I remember in class when we talked about if we had disabilities, how would we go about that. Personally, I don't know if I would have still participated in sports, I see this girl didn't let anything stop her. It just shows that if you put your mind to it and not care about what others say, you can do it.
ReplyDelete-Turea Moore
this is a great. The handicap soccer player is amazing because he is playing soccer with general soccer players. Just, his looks differents with other players but his play is great more than other players. Thus, I respect to handicap athletes. I think, many handicap people have great talents but they don't know how they can use their talent skills, so we should help to them.
ReplyDelete-Junho Song-