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He played hockey growing up and then played broom ball at Kent State, where he became the leading goal scorer. He was also a hockey referee for three seasons there as well. He is deeply involved in youth athletics, particularly ice hockey.  As a coach with the Hampton Roads Whalers, Tidewater Tritons, and previously with other youth hockey organizations, he has helped guide young athletes through competitive seasons and championship experiences. His coaching philosophy extends far beyond wins and losses, emphasizing discipline, accountability, perseverance, teamwork, and respect.

She starred in basketball at Anna High School AND won individual state titles in track (800-meter run) and cross country. She played basketball at Ohio State from 2007-2011, with her teams going 106-30 and winning three Big Ten titles over that time. She was a starter her final two seasons, leading the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 as a senior co-captain. Just 18 months after her final game for Ohio State, she entered as a novice in the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George. Nine years later she made final vows and became a perpetually professed Catholic sister. Today she is Head of Campus Ministry at St. Cecilia Middle and High School in Hastings, Nebraska.

She is currently training for a 5K that will take place on November 29th. She grew up an athlete, playing sports nonstop through childhood. She dabbled in soccer, volleyball, and track & field, but competed at a high school varsity level for basketball, cross country, and softball, with the dream of potentially playing college softball. That dream was taken away due to a condition that tempted her to believe that she would never be an athlete again. She came back into sport in the form of coaching varsity-level CYO boys basketball, which then led her to becoming an assistant coach for an AAU boys basketball team. Thankfully, she has a remarkable comeback story that includes she and her husband's present-day business, Hope Not Nope, which leads athletes towards elite performance in mind, body, and spirit.

He took over the JV soccer team at St Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1995, stepped away three years ago, but came back this year. More than a decade ago he was asked to help pilot what became the Sports and Arts Chaplaincy Program at the school, having started out ministering to the Junior Varsities and eventually becoming the chaplain for the hockey program. As a student-athlete he had swam in high school as well as having played for a CYO basketball team AND served as a student trainer and manager for the football and basketball teams. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he played intramural soccer.

She is the head women's volleyball coach at Penn State University, in her fifth season in that position. She is a national champion as a player (1999) and then two years ago became the first female head coach to lead a team to an NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball title. That same season she announced publicly a breast cancer diagnosis. A two-time All-American at Penn State, she took over the head coaching reigns after spending four seasons as an assistant. Before returning to Penn State as an assistant coach in 2018, she spent eight seasons as the head coach at UIC and one season at Penn. She has been inducted into multiple halls of fame.  And in high school she led her team to state and national titles in volleyball.

This guest comes to us from the horse world. She started riding when she was five years old and went on to be a professional horse trainer and 3 Day Event rider. Along the way she trained and taught lessons for about 15 years. She stepped away from the professional circuit when she started having kids but does still have horses.  Meanwhile, she is a board-certified health coach specializing in Spiritual Somatic Rewiring - a signature framework that combines nervous system repair, subconscious belief work, and the truth of scripture to create permanent transformation at the root level.

He has been playing football for most of his life, including, as an adult, as a pro. He is an award-winning and record setting tight end who has been playing the last four years in Mexico, although last year he also played in Japan. In November 2022 he was drafted by the Orlando Guardians of the XFL. At the start of that calendar year he had played in the Fan Controlled Football League, with his team going to the championship game. In 2021 he had played American football professionally in Austria. Before all that, he played four years of college football at St. John's University in Minnesota, where he also played baseball. He capped off his high school career by leading the state in receptions.

He was a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers and went on to play ten years and well over 600 games with five different Major League Baseball teams before then going on to 16 years as a manager for three different MLB teams, including taking the New York Mets to the World Series in 2000. He also spent time as a broadcaster with both ESPN and SportsNet New York and even authored a memoir that came out a few years ago. He has been inducted into a number of Halls of Fame -- including by the New York Mets a few months ago -- and was even the first American manager to win Japan's championship series. He established a sports academy bearing his name in Stamford, Connecticut, has served as an advisor to the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels, spent eight years as Executive Director of Athletics at Sacred Heart University, and even has his own restaurant and sports bar.

He is a lifelong runner, having competed in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track in high school, earning six MVP awards, and later going on to six marathons, including a top 500 finish at the Boston Marathon. Other highlights include Masters All-American in middle distance events in track and field in his 40s, 50s and 60s as well as being faculty partner to track and field at Penn State for seven years. Between the Associated Press and Penn State, he has reported or edited on sports from every continent except Antarctica: six Super Bowls; five national (college) football title games; two Olympics; two Paralympics; two World Cups; the 2023 Women's World Cup; Final Four; and Little League World Series.

He has participated in fundraising events as a cyclist since the 1980s and was a member of a committee that started a cycling event called Elephant Rock in Castle Rock, Colorado. He later would participate in other events such as Ride the Rockies, the Copper Triangle, the Courage Classic and the Road Ramble. From October 4 - November 16 he and eleven other cyclists on Team Samaritan will take part in the Ride Across America, pedaling more than 2900 miles from California to Florida. On the faith side, he is a convert to Catholicism and has a story about being called to the diaconate in 2011.

The founder and team captain of Team Samaritan Cycling as part of Ride Across America, a coast-to-coast cycling campaign from San Diego to St. Augustine. As a student athlete he played baseball at what was then called Regis College and later played four years of softball and eventually became a runner, including participating in multiple Boston Marathons. He turned to cycling in 2010 by way of Ride the Rockies, the marquee cycling event in the state of Colorado. And, he has had extensive involvement with Catholic Charities.

He was the top-ranked offensive lineman and the fourth-ranked player among all positions heading into last year's CFL Draft. Following last year's Gator Bowl, in which he played for Duke University, he stepped away from the game due to a neck injury. He had started playing football at a young age and went on to award-filled years in high school, and then at both The College of the Holy Cross and then at Duke. Along the way he also competed in wrestling and track & field. On the faith side, he had only attended Catholic schools until he got to Duke, and is about to head off on a very special trip that will resonate with brothers and sisters in Christ.

He had a successful coaching career that included leading the NBA's Detroit Pistons as Head Coach, before joining ESPN in 1979. During his broadcasting career he has called more than a thousand games and even covered events such as the NBA Finals and the 1992 Summer Olympics for ABC Radio. In 2008 he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He has authored more than a dozen books and is a champion for fighting pediatric cancer. He has been fighting his own personal cancer battle since a diagnosis five years ago.

He played cricket and rugby league in his youth and was very active sports-wise. At around 16 years of age he was introduced to tennis, got hooked by its international status, and around the same time watched films about the Olympics, becoming attracted to the storytelling. He fell into sports broadcasting and never looked back. As a TV producer with more than 25 years' experience, he covered some of the world's biggest sporting events, including seven FIFA World Cups, four Olympic Games, 19 Roland Garros tournaments, 17 Australian Opens, World Figure Skating Championships, and countless international sports broadcasts, working alongside many of the world's greatest athletes. On the faith side, not only has he been to the Vatican three times, but four years ago he went to the Holy Land and made a film about it that even includes tennis star Serena Williams.

He earned two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, seven Pan American and National Championships, a European Championship, and achieved the distinction of being ranked the No. 1 competitor in the world in his division. He founded A Fighting Chance, a women's self-defense program, and he is the founder of 40Fitness, a coaching program designed specifically for adults over age 40 who want to regain strength, improve health, and perform at a higher level without sacrificing longevity.