Awesome video on UP student Sam Bridgman

Take a few minutes to watch this short documentary about UP student Sam Bridgman... you won't be disappointed.

Sam is the guy who organized the Sam Jam wheelchair basketball game fundraiser earlier in the year, and he works for the UP baseball team. He's a really wonderful kid who I'm lucky enough to work with pretty regularly - you can't help but be inspired by him.

Anyway, this short documentary was made by Jeff Kennel of the UP marketing office and it's about 8 minutes long:

As some of you may remember, Sam Bridgman was a UP graduate who was diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia at age 15. His presence could always light up a room on campus. He worked with the baseball team and was the reason the UP basketball team started playing their annual wheelchair game. When he was finished at UP, he managed to walk across the stage at his graduation in 2013.

As a bit of an update on his story: he will be graduating from the University of South Florida with a master's in sport management and has landed a full-time job with the Tampa Bay Lightning (link). You may wonder why Sam ended up all the way out on the Gulf Coast of Florida? I don't know for sure, but I think the offer of a scholarship/internship and their Ataxia Research Center might have played a role in it (more links). As well, USF has a great sport management program and Bill Sutton is highly respected in our discipline. Congrats to Sam!