The Cardinals finished the Spring season with just one loss! Unfortunately, the loss was in the Championship game against the Knights, the team we beat the 1st game of the season. The boys did NOT play their best as they gave up a couple LONG passes, missed some catches, and threw some interceptions. However, I was VERY proud of how they PERSEVERED even with repeated mistakes. The Knights played a SUPER game!
Offense was spurred on by Max leading on his first scamper for a TD to begin each half. The Knights defense were VERY gracious allowing Max to make his run for the end zone in grand style!!! The Offense scored on the initial drives of each half to put us in the lead both times. Even with mistakes made on both sides of the ball, the score stayed close til the end. The boys took their ONLY loss of the year with grace and class. Max did a SUPER job saying the prayer at the end of the game as both teams huddled up on one knee at the middle of the field.
The season ending party was at our house later that evening with a lot of swimming and playing; capped off with gifts to Max and his family from the WHOLE team. It was nice to have Max’s aunt and uncle visiting all the way from Italy.
We are blessed with great kids who have proven they are CHAMPIONS on and off the field!
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The following article was posted to the FedEx pilots’ magazine:
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Kids Playing for Kids
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| In the course of day to day business, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are fortunate to enjoy the lives we have, and that we are surrounded by so many exemplary individuals. One such individual is Jan Tavrytzky, an F/O on the MD-11. Jan came to FedEx in Feb 1996. He was initially a B727 S/O and check airmen, and has been a Memphis-based MD11 F/O since. Prior to coming to FedEx, Jan served in the US Air Force, graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1986 where he played football. As you will see, sports have continued to play a major role in his life. Jan has had a distinguished career, serving in the United States Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves. He brought the “Fighter Pilot for a Day” program to his Air National Guard squadron, allowing chronically and terminally ill children to come to the base, where they were given a callsign, wings, and flight suit. During the day they were allowed to experience being in a jet and simulator, and generally received VIP treatment.In Jan’s own words, ”I enjoyed playing sports, specifically football, and being able to play at the Air Force Academy. The things I learned on the field have been very helpful in becoming a successful person and pilot. I have been coaching soccer for my twin boys, Tyler & Tanner, since they were 3 years old. As I’ve coached them in soccer and football over the years, we have enjoyed success on the field including many championship teams. I wanted to teach the kids something more than just being successful on the field. I really wanted to teach them the things that I had learned over the years. I believed success off the field was based on building their character, which would make them successful in whatever they would choose to do in the future. Consequently, the idea to start our Kids Playing For Kids Foundation http://www.kidsplayingforkids.org/ came into being.” Jan says, “How can I be a better coach and how can I teach the kids that there is a bigger picture and they can make a difference in it?” Jan decided to contact Phoenix Children’s Hospital to see if his soccer team could “adopt” a chronically ill child. That was the beginning of an idea that is continuing to grow.
Kids Playing For Kids enables those who are dedicated — not only to build their skills on the field — but to build their character by providing friendship, joy, and hope for children with life-threatening medical conditions. They provide the infrastructure to adopt a child as part of a sports team of their choice and surround the child with a team of kids of their age and gender, who will hopefully help them overcome their particular challenges. These children will be the recipient of a gift from the team children. By putting the needs of their adopted teammate before their own, they will learn the importance of service before self. Confidence is gained by realizing that they can raise money, spend time, share their heart, and ultimately accomplish something “bigger than themselves.” By reaching out, identifying, and understanding their adopted teammate’s feelings and difficulties, the children will learn the importance of having empathy for others. All money donated goes directly to the family of the chronically/seriously ill child involved in the Kids Playing for Kids program. Typically this means granting a gift and/or wish for the child as well as helping with overwhelming medical expenses. Kids Playing for Kids has no paid staff. Incidental expenses for event planning and promotion are paid from private funds so that you can be certain your money will be used for the purpose intended.
1. All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged promptly with a donation receipt.
2. Send a check – payable to KIDS PLAYING FOR KIDS or KPFK
22375 N. 65th Ave.
Glendale, AZ 85310
Though donations are accepted, the PRIMARY reason of this article is to let all of you know about this organization and get more pilots involved who are already in youth sports. This may be just the idea you needed to take your program to the next level.
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The Cardinals finished the season UNDEFEATED; 9 -0! The boys ended the season with the BEST defensive performance of the whole year! Offense was spurred on by Max leading on his first scamper for a TD to begin each half. The Chippewas defense were VERY gracious allowing Max to make his run for the end zone in grand style!!! It was a very impressive feat, as the team is made up of ALL 5th graders and a 4th grader playing in a 5th – 6th grade league. The season ending party on Saturday night at Peter Piper Pizza was capped off with gifts to Max and his family from the WHOLE team which was paid from a couple garage sales and a car wash. We are blessed with great kids who have proven they are CHAMPIONS on the field and more importantly, OFF the field!
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The Lightning are 5-1 with one game remaining before the Christmas break. We had a great 5-3 victory over the previous unbeaten Xtreme on Saturday and avenged our only loss of the season. So, we would be tied for 1st in the league. Christian (as he prefers to be called) is doing awesome. He is playing anywhere from 10-20 minutes per game at the forward position. No goals yet, but he has great footwork and is not afraid to mix it up with the other team! During halftime of one game, I asked for volunteers to play goalie in the 2nd half. He was the only one who stepped up and said he wanted to be goalie. I told him that we need to work on it in practice before I threw him into a game time situation. He works so hard at practice and always has a huge smile on his face. He’s great with his teammates and they love having him on their team.
- Garth
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She is a natural athlete and is rocking it! She’s only been able to come to one practice so far but she met our coach, got a new stick and met the girls. They all loved her, she fit in perfectly. And she was scoring goals left and right! I ran next to her for a couple drills so she could get the hang of where to be and all that jazz. Then I made her go alone and she did so well! Sh’s picking it up so quickly!
We have a tournament on Nov 21st that she’s coming to watch.
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Kids Playing for Kids was featured in the April 2009 edition of Raising Arizona Kids. Click here to download the article.
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Max Marangella is a vivacious seven year old who like all little boys his age is always on the go and looking for trouble! To everyone’s great joy he is in the 2nd grade, something we could have only dreamt about six years ago when Max’s struggle began. Max was born with three major congenital defects, one of the heart (Tetrology of Fallot and Dilated Aorta), a connective tissue disorder, and Congenital Short Gut (which means Max has only about half the intestine of a typical child).
He spent the majority of his first year of life as an inpatient at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. In fact Max was born on May 2nd 2001 and did not go home until just before Christmas 2001! Everyone in the hospital became our extended family: nurses, doctors, child life specialists, therapists, and pharmacists — everyone was part of “Max’s Team”. Back then we had a saying: “Either you’re part of the Team or you need to get out of our way!” Max had major, major obstacles to overcome and we planned to make sure he was successful! In fact, Max has undergone 30+ surgeries and procedures to date, the first at just 7 days old and open-heart surgery at only six weeks old.
He has made progress that no one could have anticipated – no one except his parents and big sister who never once gave up hope!
Today Max is a happy, active child who entertains all with his sense of humor and is quick to hand out hugs and kisses! Max is a very “typical” seven year old boy, active to the point that most days he exhausts his parents! He loves to play soccer and baseball in the back yard, in fact he is a huge Juventus and NY Yankees fan. He also loves riding his bike and driving his big sister crazy just as any little brother should! Just the fact that he can enjoy these very “typical” activities is in and of itself a huge miracle.
During the summer of 2007 Max underwent his fourth heart procedure. We spent most of our summer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD so that Max’s aorta could be repaired by the country’s leading surgeon for this type of open-heart surgery. We now travel at least once a year to see these incredible doctors in Baltimore. Max truly is the sunshine of our lives and we know that this surgery was important to maintain his quality of life and deter further damage to his heart valves. We also know that this may not be his last open-heart surgery and we pray that we will all be strong enough to continue on this road we have been given.
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We received our 501(c)(3) status as a tax exempt organization. Please see the donate page.
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