-
They’re banned from coaching Olympic sports. Why are they instructing children?
MacKenzie Loesch says she still has a clear memory of the encounter that broke her. It was 10 years ago, and Loesch was 12 — a rising taekwondo star from a small town in Missouri. Her training facility was two hours away, and her coach, Thomas Hardin, would often drive her there. One day, she was sitting in his car at a gas station when, she says, he handed her a blue rose. He told her he loved her and told her to say it back. Someday they’d get married, he said, according to Loesch. Loesch had been carrying the secret since she was 9, all while winning gold and silver…
-
Arizona Adaptive Water Sports Kids Day held for children with disabilities
Nine-year-old Bella Collett said she had “no words” after getting back to the Barrett Lake Marina late Saturday morning after her first-ever water skiing excursion. “Usually, I never get to do stuff like this, so I’m excited,” she said to The Arizona Republic. Collett uses a wheelchair because of her spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord doesn’t develop properly. She was one of dozens who participated in Arizona Adaptive Water Sports Kids Day on Saturday, an event that provides adaptive equipment and makes water sports accessible for disabled youth. “This is the opportunity she has to do something and to gain confidence and to see and meet other…
