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Here is yet another example of how the kids these days can be simply awesome... Photos and video in the link...

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12334533?source=rss

Excerpt:

A great day for baseball

By Daniel Brown
Mercury News


"If you want the latest steroid update, recruiting scandal or contract holdout, you've come to the wrong place.
But if you're looking for how sports — despite everything — can still be lump-in-your-throat great, just follow this bouncing ball to third base during a game at Carmel High last Tuesday"...

Manuel Madrid of Gonzales High fielded the ball cleanly and looked up to see the pinch runner making an ill-advised dash toward home. This wasn't an ordinary pinch runner. Will Rudolph has cerebellar ataxia, a mild form of cerebral palsy. He has problems with motor skills, balance and speech. Nobody had expected him to play. Will is the team manager, after all. But over the course of the previous three weeks Carmel High Coach Randall Bispo got permission from Will's parents, got him a uniform and, without a word to the Gonzales side, got him in the game. That's how Will Rudolph suddenly found himself running like mad for home plate.

For Madrid, the smart play was to throw to the plate. But he didn't make the smart play. He made the genius play: Madrid threw the ball to first. The run scored. Will Rudolph scored. "I was going to throw home, but then I realized who it was,'' Madrid said. "It was the right thing to do, to give the kid a special moment."

It wasn't just Will's special moment. Carmel High teammates bounded from the dugout and hoisted Rudolph on their shoulders. "Like a family picking up a brother," catcher Calen Urquhart said." (Much more in the link)
" There's nothing cooler than a guy who does what we dream of doing, and then enjoys it as much as we dream we would enjoy it. " -- Scott Ostler on Tim Lincecum
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I should have added, I have known Will and his family for years - he has been a big contributor to all of the Carmel High sports teams for his 4 years at Carmel High - and his parents have been there supporting him and the teams every step of the way. Scoring that run could not have happened to a more deserving kid.
Thanks for sharing, that is such a great story!

" Days before the game against Gonzales, Will accompanied his mom when she made a charitable donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which makes dreams come true for gravely ill children. As they drove home, Will made a confession.

"I know my condition is not as serious as those kids,' " he said, "but my wish that I wish all the time is to be in a Carmel High School baseball game." "

Julie
I'm sure the third baseman will have made many memorable plays in his career but I bet that's the one he'll remember for the rest of his life. So will the young man who scored the run. What's really great was that he did that even though they were taking a bit of a beating when sometimes bad feelings can cloud a player's judgement.

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