Rec Sports

A Day With #WeRideTogether | Psychology Today

Recently, I had the privilege of spending a day with the remarkable team behind #WeRideTogether, a movement working to end sexual misconduct in sport. #WeRideTogether is more than a nonprofit; it’s a call to action. Born to confront the pervasive issue of sexual abuse in youth and amateur sports, the organization is reshaping what safety, […]

Published

2 weeks ago

May 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Recently, I had the privilege of spending a day with the remarkable team behind #WeRideTogether, a movement working to end sexual misconduct in sport.

#WeRideTogether is more than a nonprofit; it’s a call to action. Born to confront the pervasive issue of sexual abuse in youth and amateur sports, the organization is reshaping what safety, accountability, and healing can look like in athletic spaces. Their mission is clear: Every athlete deserves to train, compete, and thrive in an environment free from abuse. Through survivor-centered storytelling, education, and stigma-smashing advocacy, they’re creating the cultural shift our sports systems so desperately need.

What unfolded that day was not just a conversation; it was a reckoning. A reclamation. And, most importantly, a reminder that change isn’t just possible: It’s already in motion.

Harrowing Statistics

More than half of all athletes experience some form of abuse during their lifetime, most often at the hands of someone they know, such as a coach, trainer, or teammate (Hartill et al., 2021). Rates of sexual violence in sport alone have been estimated as high as 14 percent (Lang et al., 2023).

And yet, we still lack a widespread, coordinated investment in preventing sexual misconduct in sport. These numbers are not just statistics, they’re a call to action. They underscore the urgent need to continue confronting abuse in athletic spaces with honesty, accountability, and sustained commitment to cultural change.

A Survivor’s Narrative

Olympic swimmer Margaret Hoelzer courageously shared her story of early childhood sexual abuse and how its impact echoed throughout her athletic career. She spoke of the armor she built: an unrelenting drive to be strong, flawless, and victorious. But no podium finish could replace the parts of her that were taken too soon. “I could cry into my goggles,” she once said, “and no one would notice.”

Today, strength means something different. For Margaret, it’s about transforming pain into purpose. It’s about speaking the unspeakable so that others feel less alone, and so the silence that shields abuse begins to crack.

Intersectionality and Power Imbalances

Dr. Tyler Miles, early in her career as a clinical and sport psychologist, spoke with a clarity and conviction that many never reach, even after decades in the field. She tackled the issue of emotional abuse and child exploitation in sport through a powerful lens of intersectionality, reminding us that certain identities are more vulnerable to harm and less likely to be believed if they come forward. She explained how power imbalances are woven into the very fabric of sport culture. Passion like hers doesn’t just inspire, it catalyzes change.

Trauma-Informed Sport Environments

I spoke about how abuse can echo across a lifetime, often in ways survivors don’t fully recognize or have language for until much later. There is no “perfect” victim; trauma takes many forms. It can surface as behavioral challenges, emotional dysregulation, or nonadherence to rules, frequently misread or dismissed.

In sport, the very qualities we celebrate—intense emotional bonds, high access to authority figures, and close physical proximity—can become dangerous when safeguards are absent. Young athletes are regularly placed in situations we’d flag as inappropriate in any other setting: one-on-one time with unfamiliar adults, unsupervised overnight trips, fast-tracked intimacy without earned trust.

Success should never come at the cost of safety.

The Team That Made It Happen

Carrie Kehring, president of #WeRideTogether, spoke with the raw power of lived experience. Her daughter’s story of sexual abuse—and the systemic failures that followed—fuel Carrie’s fight for justice. She knows all too well the betrayals survivors endure: from sport governing bodies to law enforcement to the communities that should have protected them. Injustices that would break most people. But not her. “And that’s why I’m going to change it,” she said. To that, I say: You already have.

Our host, Caroline Culbertson, held the space with grace, strength, and compassion, facilitating a conversation that was anything but easy. The women of #WeRideTogether—Michaela Callie, Kathryn McClain, Madison Smith, and Annelise Ware—brought fierce intellect, radical gentleness, and a shared commitment to truth-telling. Together, they created an atmosphere where even the hardest truths could be named without shame.

Emily Sheehan, an award-winning filmmaker and the day’s producer, and Caleb Hanson, the director who offered much-needed humor and groundedness, are sure to shape this into a story that demands to be seen and heard.

The #WeRideTogether Victim Experience series is set to launch in the coming months. Follow their work. Support their mission. This is how change takes root.

Real Change

So, what does real change look like?

It looks like naming the truth: Perpetrators are solely responsible for sexual violence, regardless of their title, accolades, or reputation.
It looks like sport communities rising to the challenge of creating trauma-informed environments, where everyone understands consent, can recognize grooming behaviors, and knows how to intervene and report safely.
It looks like believing survivors first. Always. The investigations, the evidence, the procedures—they matter. But before any of that, we believe. Because the cost of disbelief can haunt a survivor for a lifetime.
And to every survivor reading this: It’s never too late to speak your truth. It’s never too late to reclaim your story.

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Rec Sports

Little League helps father-son heal from kidney donation, transplant

Cooper Flagg’s mom shares her best tips for parents navigating youth sports Mackenzie Salmon sat down with Cooper Flagg’s mom Kelly to talk about how she successfully navigated the world of youth sports. Sports Seriously What’s Gavin Brown’s favorite part about having his Dad as his baseball coach? “I always have someone to talk to […]

Published

43 seconds ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation

What’s Gavin Brown’s favorite part about having his Dad as his baseball coach?

“I always have someone to talk to after practice if I need to,” he says, “and he can help me with extra stuff at home if I miss it at practice.”

This past winter, Gavin and his father, Matt, spent extended time away from the field together. They sat next to one another in matching recliners. They even slept in them.

As our kids seem to advance so rapidly in age, we might say in passing how we’d give anything for an uninterrupted period with them like this. For this father-son duo, the time together came after Matt Brown gave his kidney, which saved his son.

Matt and Gavin will be together at the Angels-Orioles game on Father’s Day in Baltimore, and they are playing with Calvert (Maryland) American Little League All-Stars this summer as they attempt to advance out of their state. It’s the shot about which every Little Leaguer can dream.

In the meantime, the Brown family, which has managed Gavin’s chronic kidney disease since birth, has been renewed with a successful transplant and recovery.

“We were completely shocked,” says Gavin’s mother, Erin. “He went from he can’t sit up to, ‘Holy Moly, he’s playing baseball,’ three months later.”

USA TODAY Sports spoke with Gavin and his parents, as well as Yi Shi, a pediatric nephrologist at Children’s National Hospital and a member of Gavin’s care team, about their journey.

“Gavin was extremely brave throughout the entire process,” Erin says. “Even up until the time he went back for surgery, he was confident and reassuring, making sure to tell me everything was going to be just fine. Gavin has known this was coming his entire life, and by the time it got here, he was very ready to just get it over with and try to get back to normal life.”

Their story also details the role sports can play in managing life’s obstacles, no matter how steep they are, and in bringing fathers and sons closer together.

Coach Steve: Cal Ripken’s father passed down these four lessons for youth athletes

‘I just kept going with it’: How a parent makes a kidney transplant work

According to the latest data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), there have been 8,082 pediatric transplants performed through parent-child kidney donations since 1988, when national stats were first recorded.

Erin and Matt knew pretty much from Day 1 Gavin would need a transplant. Matt got tested and cleared to be a donor seven or eight years ago, and they waited.

In the meantime, Matt began helping out with the coaching on Gavin’s baseball team. He put his son directly into kid pitch, skipping tee ball and coach pitch. Gavin has come into his own and become a local All-Star.

But during adolescence, which is a kid’s highest period of physical growth, doctors see the steepest drop in kidney function, Shi says. That moment for Gavin came last fall, when he was 11.

“It was still kind of positioned that it was going to be a little ways away,” Erin says. “And then we saw a drastic decline. And they made the determination that we were, most likely, going to do the transplant.”

Shi says children usually do better with a living donor, and parents or other family members are the best matches: “We try to get donors less than 40 [years old] for kids, but we work around if the parents are older, for whatever reason.”

Matt, 38, was within the usual age range but there was one particular problem. “Healthy weight is a requirement for donation,” Shi says.

He weighed 238 pounds last summer.

“It wasn’t until I got out of the military that I just got soaked up with working shift work, and then kind of let myself go for a number of years,” says Matt, who served in the Army from June 2004 to October 2009, including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Matt, who now works in security at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, had to lose 15 to 20 pounds from his 5-foot-9 frame. He hit the number, “and I just kept going with it,” he says. Today, he’s down to 200.

Pediatric transplant surgeon Jennifer Verbesey and a surgical team started Matt’s kidney removal surgery around 7 a.m. Feb. 10 at Washington’s MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Verbesey was with Gavin and Erin at Children’s National across town by 11:30 a.m. that day.

Father’s Day can come early: The importance of spending time together

It was five days after his 12th birthday and still, his mom says, Gavin was smiling right up until the time he went into surgery, which took 4 to 5 hours.

Doctors recommended staying out of school and avoiding large crowds for the first three months, when his immune system would be the most suppressed.

“The main part of the recovery process is really the post surgical recovery, which takes about a week or so,” Shi says. “Generally, kids feel quite good after that, so it’s not a prolonged recovery process. … It is common that children recover quickly and can return to full activity within a month.”

Gavin had swelling and some minor complications that were quickly resolved, Matt says, though they made everything a little more uncomfortable for him.

At first, neither one of them could even lie flat. Gavin had a lot of pain and, after he spent a week in the hospital, he and Matt spent about two weeks, off and on, in those reclining chairs.

“It was really just getting used to it and living with it for the most part,” Gavin says. “We went on walks a lot after we could and went outside in general. It was really just hard to get used to.”

But there was familiarity, first in spending time with dad, and then, after an isolation period together had ended, he moved to practice with his Little League team (the Orioles) in late May.

At first, the activity was about supporting his teammates and feeling like he was part of the group. Being with his friends is one of his favorite parts of baseball.

He learned the shifts and the plays, he tossed the ball softly, stretched a little and took in all the energy of practice.

“That way, when he’s ready, he can hop back in with the team,” Matt says. “You know, crawl before you walk and run.”

Shi says a transplant kidney is usually placed in the front of the belly and is less protected than our regular kidneys. They marked the spot and helped Gavin fashion a shirt, through Zoombang, that provides padding for it under his jersey.

There was a therapeutic function to playing baseball, too.

“It’s not like major league baseball, or at that level where we expect high-force injury,” Shi says. “In general, we advocate for kids to exercise, play sports, do what they otherwise would be doing. I think it’s better for quality of life and just general recovery, but kids in general, after transplant tend to gain weight, and so things like exercise really do help with blood pressure and the weight gain.

“On top of that, it’s something that he really likes doing so we try our best to accommodate.”

Coach Steve: Keep the ‘team’ in team sports − even when your child is injured

Learning how to forge kids’ independence

Though he has been on medication since he was born, Gavin and his parents decided he is now responsible enough to manage the process on his own.

He takes an antibiotic (Bactrim), which he will stop at the six-month mark after his surgery. He also takes Tacrolimus and Cellcept, two anti-rejection medications that prevent the immune system from attacking transplanted kidneys.

Gavin takes medications at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., excusing himself momentarily from our video interview last week to do so.

“Timing is very important, as keeping his body regulated with the anti-rejection medications is the best way to prolong the life of his new kidney,” Erin says. “We get notifications (through an app) if he hasn’t marked them off, which allows us to monitor him without having to do the medication administration for him. Our goal with allowing him to do this is to start preparing him to be independent and understand the importance of taking his meds on time, without micromanaging.

“We also put all his medications into daily containers with his help each week. He’s been great about remembering to take them when he leaves the house and taking them on time. We’re really proud of how well he is doing.”

There have been unexpected hurdles, though. Just recently, for example, his white blood cell count was low and he missed school.

“Just things we weren’t necessarily prepared for that we’re kind of learning along the way,” Erin says. “He seemed fine, but his blood work wasn’t showing fine, so we had to make adjustments.”

When he plays baseball, he has been instructed to not slide headfirst. He was there, though, when the Orioles won their Little League’s championship.

“He’s hitting the ball well,” Matt says, “just not as far as he used to, which he understands. And mobility is a little bit slower … (He’s) still not back 100% but he’s able to compete.”

‘Doing something he loves’: Taking life and running with it

A point of emphasis for this season is recognizing not everyone on the team is at the same skill level.

“But we can always help people work to their strengths,” Erin says.

Gavin has an athletic stance. He puts the ball in play with a quick right-handed swing and sprints toward his dad urging him forward as a first base coach.

“Kidney donors should make a full recovery like any other surgery,” Shi says. “Matt has one kidney now compared to two, which means his one kidney has to work hard enough to take the place of two.”

He has helped his son avoid dialysis, a procedure that removes waste substances and fluid from blood that are normally eliminated by the kidneys.

“Dialysis generally has worse health outcomes than transplant, but also has worse quality of life,” Shi says. “Kids would either need to come to the hospital for dialysis three times a week or do dialysis at home every night. They have more dietary restrictions as well.”

Gavin will some day need another transplant. Shi says they last 10 to 15 years on average, sometimes longer.

Erin, who works in marketing for a software company, and Matt are hopeful that medical advances will give Gavin more options. Before his surgery, the family was introduced to the National Kidney Registry, a U.S.-based organization that aims to increase the quality, speed and number of living donor kidney transplants.

Transplant speed can increase when someone donates on behalf of a patient through programs like paired exchange or the voucher program.

Erin, 37, has had Type 1 Diabetes since 1999 and is automatically disqualified from being a donor.

“As a mom, this was very hard to accept,” she says.

She is looking forward to running a local 5K turkey trot with Gavin, and perhaps his younger brother, Connor, 11, on Thanksgiving. There could also be a winter family trip to Vermont to snowboard, which is Gavin’s other favorite sport and approved by Shi (if he wears his protective shirt).

In the more immediate future, there is lots of baseball.

“I just really enjoy it,” Matt says of coaching his son, “going out there and doing something he loves, just encouraging him, watching him grow.”

And to grow into someone who has learned to look to the future as an opportunity to seize what comes next.

“We spent time going through what the process would be like,” Erin says. “Gavin functions very well when he knows what to expect. Having a clear game plan for the day of surgery and a good idea what the post surgery recovery would look like was very comforting to him.”

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com

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Rec Sports

Graham advances to state championship – Peak of Ohio

The Graham Falcons topped the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs 4-1 on Saturday at Canal Park in Akron in the D5 state semifinals game. The game was postponed after two innings Friday night due to rain, with the Falcons leading the Mustangs 2-0. Adam Levy singled down the right field line, and Breyton Reisinger grounded into a fielder’s […]

Published

23 minutes ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Graham Falcons topped the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs 4-1 on Saturday at Canal Park in Akron in the D5 state semifinals game.

The game was postponed after two innings Friday night due to rain, with the Falcons leading the Mustangs 2-0.

Adam Levy singled down the right field line, and Breyton Reisinger grounded into a fielder’s choice, each scoring one run.

Nearly 24 hours later, the boys took the field again to finish what they started.

Adam Levy led the way both on the mound and at the plate, setting the aggressive example the Falcons followed all season long.

Levy pitched five innings in relief for Graham, allowing seven hits and one run while striking out eight and walking three.

The Falcons’ attitude of attacking while running the bases and swinging the bat now has the Falcons poised for their first state championship since 1973.

The Falcons face the Waynedale Golden Bears out of Apple Creek, OH, for the Division 5 state championship in Akron on Sunday, first pitch is at 7.

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Rec Sports

Leprechauns blank Rivets on the road, 3-0

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at Send us your privacy questions. At the Northwoods League we consider the privacy of our visitors to be extremely important. This privacy policy document describes in detail the types of personal information is […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at Send us your privacy questions.

At the Northwoods League we consider the privacy of our visitors to be extremely important. This privacy policy document describes in detail the types of personal information is collected and recorded by northwoodsleague.com, northwoodsleague.net, & the NWL Mobile App and how we use it.

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Rec Sports

East Valley hockey coach helps kids break the ice | Sports

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia before moving with his family to Gilbert in the early 2000s, the Patrick Murphy attributes all his life successes to hockey. Murphy, ice hockey manager of the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation, was introduced to the sport when he was just 2 years old by his uncle, Mike […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia before moving with his family to Gilbert in the early 2000s, the Patrick Murphy attributes all his life successes to hockey.

Murphy, ice hockey manager of the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation, was introduced to the sport when he was just 2 years old by his uncle, Mike Brett.

Brett provided then-toddler Murphy with a hockey stick that never left Murphy’s side, and even after the move to the desert. Uncle Mikey was persistent that his nephew would skate and take up the on-ice activity.

Patrick and Debbie Murphy, Murphy’s parents, were deeply supportive as well, driving him to the rinks, investing in his training, and homeschooling him so he could focus on hockey without the limitations of missing countless school days.

Murphy’s dedication and passion brought him to various rinks across the Valley and the continent, including time with the Arizona Bobcats. His hockey career took the center forward north to Ontario to play for the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, a Junior A hockey club.

Like many people, the pandemic altered Murphy’s path when the Goldminers’ season came to a halt, ultimately closing out his junior career.

Murphy migrated back to Phoenix and became involved with the Arizona Coyotes as a part-time employee supporting the Learn to Play Program, “Little Howlers.”

In 2023, he became a full-time employee, leading the roller hockey initiative and over 2,500 students in one school year through the Arizona Coyotes Field Trip Program. The program includes math and science tie-ins to ice hockey to teach kids about the sport in a way that also furthers their general education.

After the Coyotes relocated to Utah, Murphy and the MSAHLF team shifted their focus to ensure hockey would continue to grow in Arizona.

Without an NHL team in the Valley, there was a need to continue the Learn to Play initiative that was developed by the National Hockey League Player’s Association and the National Hockey League to offer more families across the United States a chance to learn the skills needed to succeed on the ice, while also building and solidifying important character traits needed to succeed off the ice.

“I fell in love with teaching someone, of any age, who has limited knowledge in the sport and seeing their excitement when concepts start to click for them,” Patrick Murphy said.

“It’s a humbling experience to work with the Foundation because I am helping young people become the best versions of themselves on and off the ice.”

The Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation was created to continue Matt Shott’s efforts in the Arizona hockey community, including the Learn to Play hockey program “Shott’s Tots.”

It also provides a dedicated organization that can raise funds to support hockey programming and the growth of the sport in Arizona.

With the foundation, Murphy is responsible and committed to running all the on-ice programming for youth – Little Leighton’s and Shott’s Tots, and adults – Women’s Beginner Hockey League and Adult Learn to Play and along with any community outreach for those who want to try hockey.

Shott’s Tots, designed for children ages 5-11, is a low-cost program ($299) that comprises six coached on-ice sessions with head-to-toe hockey equipment to keep.

That equipment includes skates, hockey stick, equipment bag, helmet, neck guard, shoulder pads, elbow pads, gloves, hockey pants, shin guards, hockey socks and Shott’s Tots jersey.

The Learn to Play program, coached by Murphy and the rest of the MSAHLF staff, can be found at all rinks across the state.

Since its inception in 2024, the Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation and Murphy introduced 2,500 youth to the sport of hockey, distributed 300 sets of gear through the Learn to Play program, visited 24 schools to provide free ball hockey clinics and had seven local rink partnerships.

MSAHLF has also collected over 200 sets of used gear that it has cleaned and restored for the local community.

Murphy encourages youth looking to play the sport for the first time to embrace the marathon of learning because it is not a sprint to the end.

This is an opportunity to build character, develop a strong mindset and cultivate a solid work ethic, both on and off the ice.

Information: azhockeylegacy.org.

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Rec Sports

Community rallies for kids at Missoula’s Fore the Kids Golf Classic | More

The Highlands Golf Club recently hosted a meaningful event for the community. The Boys and Girls Club of Missoula County held its first Fore the Kids Golf Classic, welcoming teams from the region to support their cause. Cathleen Doisher SWX Local Sports Reporter MISSOULA, Mont. – The Highlands Golf Club was bustling […]

Published

5 hours ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Cathleen Doisher
SWX Local Sports Reporter

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Highlands Golf Club was bustling with activity as the community gathered for a special event. The Boys and Girls Club of Missoula County hosted its inaugural Fore the Kids Golf Classic, drawing teams from across the area to support a worthy cause.

The 9-hole scramble aimed to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club’s mission of providing a safe and nurturing environment for children to learn, grow, and connect. For more than 25 years, the club has offered after-school programs and services, helping Missoula’s youth develop essential skills and confidence for the future.

This year’s golf classic included raffles, games, and competition, all of which contributed to raising valuable funds. The proceeds directly benefit local children and strengthen the community. The Boys and Girls Club emphasized that the strong turnout demonstrated Missoula’s support for its kids and the club’s programs.

Chief Executive Officer Justin Kinchen highlighted the importance of the event. “It’s super important. It really helps people understand, you know, what we do and what the benefit is to the community,” he said. Kinchen added that the events provide opportunities for children to grow and be exposed to new experiences that they might not encounter at home or in school.

Kinchen further explained the broader impact of the club’s work. “Long term, it just really helps grow our community and help our community flourish and thrive. And that’s for parents and just people who don’t have kids either,” he said.

For more information or to donate, visit their website at bgcmissoula.org.

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Rec Sports

IMLAY CITY WRESTLING CAMP – The County Press

Imlay City wrestling coach Brandon Day, a highly decorated coach who is entering his second season with the Spartans, already has his Spartans wrestling program hard at work this summer as wrestlers hit the mats Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week for the program’s annual summer camp. Wrestlers ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade were […]

Published

6 hours ago

June 15, 2025

Your Sports Nation