Athletes Giving

Jon’s New Bike

Brad Ludden — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:32:21 +0000

I have had the pleasure of knowing Jon “One-Shoe” Wilson for a few years now and can’t say I have ever met anyone else who inspires me more. He’s the definition of “athlete” in every way. Please check out his video here and when you can, please vote for him to win a new bike. If he wins it, I have no doubt I’ll be blogging about how he does good with it.

Please take a minute (literally) to watch this amazing video! You will be glad you did.

http://video.bicycling.com/contests/5K2KDZ3D8QTR7Z8G/vote/CD2Q2T24V8YX1PLT

Challenged Athletes Foundation

Brad Ludden — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:23:40 +0000

This is an awesome foundation with the goal of raising money to help people with physical disabilities pursue an active lifestyle through physical fitness and competitive athletics.

http://www.challengedathletes.org/

This famous athlete of a Dad is one of the spokespeople for the CAF

Martin Strel

Brad Ludden — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:14:56 +0000

Martin was born in Slovenia. Slovenia is a small Central European country located south of Austria. He taught himself to swim when he was 6, in a nearby stream, and became a professional marathon swimmer in 1978.

Martin has been swimming ultra-marathons and raising an important awareness of clean waters for many years. He has dedicated several swims to the protection of environmental resources.

Check out his accomplishments HERE

Coach Dave And The Fight Of His Life

Brad Ludden — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:10:56 +0000

One coach’s amazing story about his passion for the sport and the fight of his life.

http://sportsgrants.org/blog/2010/02/23/coach-dave-and-the-fight-of-his-life/

Swim Across The Continents

Brad Ludden — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:04:59 +0000

WOW! This is an amazing story of one athlete using his talent to unite the world…

http://www.swimacrossthecontinents.com/

Dexter Pittman

Brad Ludden — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:02:38 +0000

Dexter Pittman was always the biggest kid in school and it wasn’t until he was in college that he was able to use his passion for basketball to change his physical appearance. This change not only altered the way he looked but the way he felt. He has now become an inspiration for young athletes looking for the same transformation and confidence.

Here is his story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=4777616

Hunter Gomez

Brad Ludden — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:55:36 +0000

The Gomez’s are arguably one of the most philanthropic families I have ever met. They constantly instill selfless values on their kids and encourage them to give back at every opportunity. Their youngest son, Hunter, is a successful teen actor and on his 18th birthday he chose to organize a soccer tournament for a good cause instead of celebrate like most young men might.

The video he made illustrates how powerful that decision was both for the people he helped and himself as a man.

Long Treks On Skate Decks UPDATE

Brad Ludden — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:32:08 +0000

Many of you had the pleasure of learning about Paul and his crew making a difference from AG’s recent post titled “Long Treks On Skate Decks”. I have had the pleasure of emailing with Paul and through that learned that AG wasn’t entirely accurate with all our information and wanted to include this update that he sent me:

“LongTreksOnSkateDecks covered a solo trip done by our team mate Laura Hatwell who raised money for Help for Hero’s based out of the UK where she lives.

I have strongly considered doing an event for a charity to help Soldiers with PTSD having been in the Army myself and having lots of friends serving in Afghanistan. But due to our heavy focus on documenting our trip through photographs, video, music, stories and poem, we’ve decided to partner up with a local charity this year named Art a la Carte. Art a la Carte is a small charity based out of Calgary Alberta Canada that focuses on patients recovering from cancer. They provide artwork of various media types which is loaned/presented to the patients at local cancer centers. We will be providing landscape photography as well as photographs of us on our journey’s to Art a la Cart to be used as images to help ease patients, or to help motivate them. On our next voyage to morocco, we are also trying to raise a Minimum of $1 per Kilometer for each rider (totaling $7500 minimum} for the charity. Our mission is to inspire people first and foremost so we felt this was an excellent charity to work with.”

I have to say, I really admire Paul for the thought he’s putting into his charity of choice. AG is always encouraging people to find a cause they REALLY connect with, not just the first one they see. It’s as important to connect with your cause as it is to connect with your challenge.

Keep following Paul and his crew at http://www.longtreksonskatedecks.com/

Take A Seat

Brad Ludden — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:05:59 +0000

This is an incredible story of one athlete riding thousands of miles in an effort to raise money for a good cause. Please check out his page HERE

Olympians Giving Back

Brad Ludden — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:23:54 +0000

One of my favorite part about the Olympics is hearing all of the stories about athletes giving back. Here is one such story about Olympic snowboarder Hannah Teter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/hannah-teter-olympic-snow_n_469244.html