The Inspirational Lauren Hill

Today's blog was written by Kevin Byrne.  Kevin is a senior at the University of Notre Dame majoring in marketing in the Mendoza College of Business.  Kevin is a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching Course taught by Play Like a Champion founder Professor Clark Power and program director Kristin Sheehan.  Kevin is also a middle distance specialist on the Notre Dame Track and Field Team.

Lauren Hill never imagined her college basketball career would have this big of an impact.

On her 18th birthday, Lauren committed to Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati to continue her basketball career.  She received terrible news soon thereafter when she learned that she had a brain disease called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPG) and was given less than two years to live.  Recently, an MRI showed that the tumor on her brain had progressed and that she most likely would not make it until the end of the year. 

Her love of the game and her desire and courage to play one last game has inspired countless people to send their support and praise for Hill’s cause.  On November 2nd, Hill and her Mount St. Joseph teammates opened up their season against Hiram College at Xavier’s Cintas Center.  The 10,250 tickets for the game sold out within 30 minutes.  The game received an NCAA exemption to be moved up to November 2nd from November 15th to accommodate Hill.  Hill’s positive outlook about her terminal diagnosis has already earned her the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award, which is normally given out to a player or coach at the Final Four in April. 

Celebrities and athletes like Mia Hamm, Richard Sherman, Andy Dalton, and Randy Foye have all shown their support for Lauren Hill.  As an athlete that has lived her life as a champion, she has inspired many people.  Former WNBA player Sheryl Swoops said that Hill is “...the true definition of a fighter, warrior, and competitor.”  A foundation has been set up called Layup4Lauren  where people can accept the challenge by performing a layup with their non-dominant hand which is how Hill feels while playing basketball with DIPG and then donating to brain cancer research.

Lauren Hill is an inspiration to countless people and her determination to play the game she loves  is a reminder to all of us to never give up. 

Infamous Jameis: The Moral Problem of Valuing Winning over Everything

Today's blog was written by Joseph Fisher. Joe is a senior Chemistry and Business double major at Notre Dame and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching course taught by Play Like a Champion Founder and Director Professor Clark Power and Program Director Kristin Sheehan.  In his spare time, Joe is doing a coaching practicum as a volunteer assistant boy's tennis coach at a local high school.  The opinions expressed in the blog are Mr. Fisher's, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Play Like a Champion Today.

When do you draw the line between success in sports and doing the right thing?  It really depends on whom you ask the question to—if you were to ask that question to the football team at the University of Notre Dame, they would say that their line is drawn very early in the sand.  The Fighting Irish, just earlier this season, suspended 5 players from practice and games on the suspicion of academic dishonesty.  These five players represented several major contributors for the Irish from last season, but the decision still stood.  In this situation, it seems that Notre Dame is placing academics above football.

Jameis Winton
photo courtesy of ABC News

When you look at the Florida State University football team though, the difference could not be more apparent.  The way they have handled the current Jameis Winston situation has many people questioning FSU’s motives.   Winston is the Heisman-winning quarterback at the school, and this isn't his first "situation." Is FSU more focused on football than doing the right thing?  If not, why are they still allowing Winston to play amidst allegations of sexual assault and being paid for over 2000 items with his signature?  This is also after he was arrested for stealing crab legs from a Publix.  Where does it stop?  People look up to Winston (or at least did, before all of this happened).  As last year’s Heisman Memorial Trophy winner, he was supposed to exemplify the best of college football, both on and off the field.  Winston clearly has not matured enough to truly exemplify the best of what college football has to offer, and FSU is hurting from a publicity standpoint because of his recent antics.  The fact that FSU still has not suspended him shows that they are placing football over morality in this situation. 

The problem is that they are forgetting what exactly the definition of Champion should be—it is not just about winning and being the best team, but more about playing with class and morality.  One cannot truly be a champion unless they are humble enough to acknowledge that they have something truly special, and should be honored to be a champion.  Jameis Winston has clearly not accepted or understood this fact yet, and he is acting out of selfishness.  He is placing himself above his university and his team, and he doesn’t seem to care.  Every time he gets in trouble and gives a press conference to apologize, it is the same line: I’ve let down this university and my teammates, coaches, and the fans of FSU football and I’m sorry.  Only he doesn’t mean it.  It is an empty sentence, read from a script that he did not write, and one that he has no feeling or conviction for.  This is the exact opposite type of person that kids should be looking up to, yet Winston doesn’t seem to care.  Jameis is all about Jameis.