Hector Picard showing us how he swims What a year 2015 was for us, but most importantly, for the athletes that we've featured. We're honored to bring you this list of our top 15 stories for the year based on pageviews. Thank you, athletes, and thank you, readers. You make Purpose2Play spin, and we wish you the [...]
By Brittany Alvarado For over 40 years, one family has been crafting the title belts you see boxers proudly hoist into the air after nearly every championship match. Edward Majian, his 94-year-old grandfather, Ardash Sahaghian, and a small group of fiercely loyal employees of SARTONK, craft belts for the WBA (World Boxing Association), WBO (World Boxing Organization), IBO (International Boxing [...]
By Brittany Alvarado We had the privilege of capturing USWNT and Orlando Pride goalie Ashlyn Harris in her hometown of Satellite Beach, Florida. Harris wanted fans to feel a part of her story, and not just the one they see on the soccer field. She opened up about her struggle with depression, and how she found relief in her darkest [...]
Photo courtesy of Tyler Carter By Lilly Kashishian Passion is the uncontrollable emotion that jumps out of your soul when you’re doing something you truly love; the emotion that leads you to one day look back on your life and be more than satisfied with the way it turned out. Despite being born without a right fibula, [...]
Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones was homeless for the bulk of his childhood. He and his mother lived in motels and homeless shelters, and even spent nights sleeping in parks around San Jose. That was the case until Jones was 15 years old. In a feature on Sunday NFL Countdown, James opened up about his experience. "To [...]
Photo courtesy of Alexi Pappas By Kim Constantinesco Alexi Pappas, 25, seems to thrive in every world she enters, even the ones she creates herself. The filmmaker, writer, actress, and Olympic hopeful from Eugene, Oregon is proof that in order to tell a good story, you have to live an engaging one yourself. Pappas has her second [...]
Photo: Kyle Maynard/Instagram By Alaa Abdeldaiem There was a moment in Kyle Maynard’s life when his future was filled with uncertainty. Growing up, the Fort Wayne, Indiana, native had a mind full of dreams. He’d be a police officer, he told his teachers in preschool. A firefighter. An NBA star, one that would lead his home-state Pacers [...]
Photo courtesy of Steve Cook By Kim Constantinesco You don't have to reach the summit to give a climb meaning. In early October, Steve Cook learned just that as he took off on the ultimate ascent up Nepal's Ama Dablam, a 22,349-foot mountain that's considered more technical than Mt. Everest. The 56-year-old golf course superintendent from Michigan, who [...]
Photo courtesy of Michael Smith By Kim Constantinesco Once a solider, always a solider. In the heat of battle, Army Sergeant First Class Michael Smith will find a way to prevail. Even though the 36-year-old Texas native is missing an arm, he doesn't turn down a challenge. Any challenge. "If you wanted to have a hand clapping competition, [...]
Photo courtesy of Rachel Breton We were on the road at the end of November, so it's time to circle back to give you last month's most read stories from Purpose2Play. Between Daniel Kish teaching other blind people how to use echolocation in sports to Lionel Sanders coming back from addiction to turn into a pro triathlete, what [...]