analysis: Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt is an extraordinary coach and is known for her success as the coach of the Lady Volunteers basketball team of Tennessee. She began coaching at the age of 22 and stayed coaching the same team for almost four decades which is very rare today. She helped to transform her team from a team with no uniforms or support to a national powerhouse in women's basketball. Pat Summitt coached 161 girls the game of basketball and all 161 of them graduated from college. She had a huge impact on each one of the player's lives, in fact 74 of her former players followed in her footsteps and became basketball coaches. Pat Summitt didn't only battle difficulties on the court she's facing battles of her own. She was diagnosed with early onset dementia, which she handled just like she would any basketball game. Pat Summitt was strong enough to tell her team about the diagnosis and she even received the Medal of Freedom, from President Barrack Obama, which is the highest honor any citizen can be awarded. Obama awarded this to Summitt because of her courageousness in being open with the diagnosis and not letting it effect how well she coached her team. In fact, her last year that she coached they made it to the regional final round in the NCAA tournament where they were beat out by the tournament champions, Baylor.
Today, she is still involved with the basketball program by teaching the team the game of basketball and helping them learn life lessons, while doing this Summitt is a spokesperson for her Alzheimer's foundation called Pat Summitt Foundation, which supports Alzheimer's research. By having Alzheimer's, Pat Summitt has brought a lot of attention to the disease and helped her team to play for a new purpose, not just their coach but everyone affected by Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a serious disease that affects over 5 million in the U.S. today, which costs America almost $203 billion just this year. Pat Summitt's foundation helps to support those families that have members of their family suffering from Alzheimer's it also helps support Alzheimer research, to hopefully bring an end to this disease. Pat Summitt does all of her Foundation work on top of supporting her team. She is a courageous woman that changed how women's college basketball was viewed, and showed the world how serious Alzheimer's is.
I chose Pat Summitt because I had watched a lot of the Tennessee basketball team the last year that she coached and I was amazed at how she stayed as a coach for Tennessee even though she had the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. I really admire how brave she was, and putting her team before herself. Summitt seems like such a courageous brave person, and she's such an admirable coach. She deserves to be recognized in one of the greats in women's sports because she took a team that was nothing to one of the elite teams in the nation. She changed so many lives, and changes more each day as she supports the people with Alzheimer's.
Today, she is still involved with the basketball program by teaching the team the game of basketball and helping them learn life lessons, while doing this Summitt is a spokesperson for her Alzheimer's foundation called Pat Summitt Foundation, which supports Alzheimer's research. By having Alzheimer's, Pat Summitt has brought a lot of attention to the disease and helped her team to play for a new purpose, not just their coach but everyone affected by Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a serious disease that affects over 5 million in the U.S. today, which costs America almost $203 billion just this year. Pat Summitt's foundation helps to support those families that have members of their family suffering from Alzheimer's it also helps support Alzheimer research, to hopefully bring an end to this disease. Pat Summitt does all of her Foundation work on top of supporting her team. She is a courageous woman that changed how women's college basketball was viewed, and showed the world how serious Alzheimer's is.
I chose Pat Summitt because I had watched a lot of the Tennessee basketball team the last year that she coached and I was amazed at how she stayed as a coach for Tennessee even though she had the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. I really admire how brave she was, and putting her team before herself. Summitt seems like such a courageous brave person, and she's such an admirable coach. She deserves to be recognized in one of the greats in women's sports because she took a team that was nothing to one of the elite teams in the nation. She changed so many lives, and changes more each day as she supports the people with Alzheimer's.