WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Talent appears in many varieties, styles, and proportions. There are those that can lift our emotions with music and brilliant scientists that help shape the world. We recognize talented painters and artists from decades and centuries past, and we pay to watch athletes, gymnasts, and dancers perform and compete. But it seems to me that true kindness and a giving spirit are completely undervalued …
WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
“What are those kids playing?” is a question that is still asked by both adults and kids when they drive by GT Bray Park during a weekday evening, as both boys and girls practice for the Manatee Wildcats Lacrosse program. Lacrosse is stated to be the oldest game played in North America, with its origins stemming from the Native Americans in the Northeast as …
WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
The Lakewood Ranch Swim Association, or LRSA “Lightning,” began in 2004 as a co-ed summer recreational program at the Lakewood Ranch Athletic Center and has blossomed into a year-round competitive USA swim team and a proud member of Florida Swimming, Inc.
In fact, in 2021, more than 20 kids on the team qualified for the AAU Junior Olympics, approximately 10 of which made the …
WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
At Tara Elementary School in Bradenton, 28 students are learning to build and code their own robots! Tara is one of only about 10 schools in Manatee County to offer the very popular Robotics Club. If they qualify, these schools will compete against each other at the regional tournament for the honor of battling it out at the state competition this year. Tournaments are …
WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Come one, come all and see The Amazing Emilie Bergbom flying high! Emilie is a nine-year-old Aerial Acrobat with her sights set on the Circus. And, where else but the home of the Ringling legacy, the land of big tops and big cats, would you see elementary school children dangling from great heights?
For over three years, Emilie has been training at South Florida …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Nick Leduc and a dozen boys met for the first time in May 2018 at tryouts for the 11 and under team that Leduc would be coaching for the Braden River Soccer Club. They couldn’t know then that in two-and-a-half years, they would rank number one in Florida.
Still, from the beginning, Leduc had a feeling this team would be special.
“I knew we …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
You know you have something good when former players come back to coach for you. In Nancy Cothron’s case, that something good is Manatee Area Volleyball, of which she is the director and head coach.
At 30 years old, the club is the longest-running independently owned volleyball club in Manatee County. It offers indoor and beach volleyball to boys and girls ages eight through …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
On Saturday mornings, a group of teens meets in a hangar at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport to build an airplane. An actual, two-seat, 20-foot-long airplane with a 26-foot wingspan.
This “light-sport aircraft” is small, lightweight, and simple to fly. It comes unassembled in a “kit” – a 1,000-pound crate – containing multiple aluminum sheets, plus everything else needed to assemble the plane, including …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
On a recent Wednesday evening, in the Sunday School room at Trinity United Methodist Church in Bradenton, eight little girls danced. Matched by height and ability in groups of two, the girls kicked, tapped, and spun, sometimes holding hands, always smiling.
This was a typical Irish dancing class at the O’Reilly School of Dance. These younger girls ages four to 10 practice from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
When asked what she likes about Golf, Phoenix Scanlan said: “I love the winning part.”
This simple statement demonstrates two important things about Phoenix. For one, she has a great deal of confidence – something that’s absolutely necessary to succeed in golf. Also, she wins—a lot.
“It’s basically like a mystery,” Phoenix said, explaining that no two rounds of golf are ever the same. …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
In Major League Baseball today, African Americans represent just 7.5 percent of players. This is the lowest percentage ever recorded in the 29-year history of the Racial and Gender Report Card for the MLB, which The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport release every year.
But two Palmetto natives, one a former Major Leaguer, want to reverse this trend, by helping to expose …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
In the span of one hour, I watched Allie McLaughlin, 10, laugh, cry, speak with a convincing British accent and belt out two — pretty difficult — songs. She wasn’t on stage. She was in my living room.
I was interviewing Allie, who’d performed in two big local shows in the past year. Allie played Marta, second youngest of the von Trapp children, in …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
In September, Caitlyn Ryherd, 14, watched one of her cows give birth to a calf, a boy, whom she named El Chupacabra. “It was so cool,” she said. The cow had walked from her stall several yards into the pasture, stopping under an oak tree Ryherd’s family calls “the birthing tree” because it’s been such a popular spot for mothers in labor.
Caitlyn grabbed …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
When Ashley Santana-Morales was only eight, her art teacher knew she had a gift.
“She was very artistic,” said Alex Miranda, who then taught at Palmetto Elementary School. “She had her own style already.”
Having your own style at age eight is rare, Miranda said, adding she usually only recognizes personal style in a handful of students in an entire K-5 elementary school.
“Some …
WORDS: Kara Chalmers
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
When Sophie Potillo dances, she is graceful, precise, and expressive. All things that make her a winner. Sophie, 10 and in fifth grade at Braden River Elementary School, has been succeeding in dance competitions since she was six years old. Of all the dance styles she’s performed — tap, contemporary, hip-hop, and lyrical — jazz is her favorite. “Because it’s sassy,” Sophie said.
At …
