14 minute read
Sports
The Chandler Bears youth football team is preparing to head to Florida once again to take on a national field in hopes of being crowned the champion. (Courtesy Kacey Allen)
Chandler Bears preparing for national title run in Florida
BY JAKE HEDEBY
Staff Writer
The Chandler Bears are a force to be reckoned with in the American Youth Football league in Arizona. This group of 12-year-olds know each other very well, but they are also very familiar with winning.
A core group of them have played football together since they were 6 years old and have been crowned state champions five years in a row. Following a year off because of the pandemic, the Bears are right back where they started.
The Division One AYF team won the 2021 state championship and is headed to Florida for the national tournament. They have already been named national champions once there, back in 2018. They now look to come out on top again.
Coach Kacey Allen shared that he has been with the team since it started and coaching this age is all about the basics and playing together. That’s what makes this team successful.
The team already has some accolades. But that’s not because there are only two or three players dominating their opponent. This team has been competitive for a reason and they worked hard to be one of the best in Arizona year in and year out.
See BEARS on page 34
Female kicker overcomes paralyzing injury
BY DYLAN WILHELM
Cronkite News
In late January, Krysten Muir was alone in a hospital room, unable to move.
In 2015, Muir made Arizona history by becoming the first female to score in an AIA state championship football game when she booted a pair of extra points for Tempe’s Marcos de Niza against Saguaro High in the 2015 4A championship game.
She was Marcos de Niza’s kicker in 2015 and 2016 and made five of her 10 field goal attempts and 98 of 112 PATs.
Before she began kicking in high school, Muir played soccer and volleyball. She also rode horses competitively and as a kid often would hang out at football practices at Marcos de Niza, where her father Jeremy was an assistant coach.
She eventually beat out two other kickers to earn her spot at Marcos.
After graduating from Marcos de Niza in 2017, she played soccer and took classes at Gateway Community College with plans to become a personal trainer.
She was on the move.
Then her life was literally flipped upside down.
In late January, Muir was a passenger in a car traveling south from Payson in weather that she describes as “pretty gloomy.” The driver lost control and the car rolled over.
Muir suffered a spinal injury and lower body paralysis in the crash.
Her L1 vertebrae had burst, and her L2 vertebrae was fractured. She was paralyzed from the waist down.
Chad Dunn, Muir’s physical therapist and founder of Move Human Performance Center in Chandler, said patients describe the sensation of such an injury as “somebody pulling the electrical cord out.”
Jeremy Muir and Krysten’s mom, Kathy, were terrified.
“Nobody wants to hear those words that your child was never going to walk again,” Kathy Muir said.
After surgery, Muir said doctors placed her odds of walking again at 50/50.
While she was in the hospital, Dunn reached out to her to help with her mental state. According to Dunn, the mental side of the recovery process is just as important as the physical, as reflected in his motto: “Mind Over Virtually Everything.”
Once out of the hospital, the recovery process continued. Krysten had to relearn how to do everything from the waist down, including how to walk and how to dress herself.
“At first it really was mind blowing because I was like, ‘Wow, I’m literally telling my leg to move forward and it is not moving forward,’” she said.
Dunn and Muir continued to work together to rebuild her strength and help her relearn muscle movements.
“He’s believed in her since day one,” Kathy Muir said. “They have a really good relationship, and I think he will be in her life forever.”
Dunn’s focus on both physical and mental strength resonated with Muir, and her mental toughness continues to impress Dunn.
– Kathy Muir
5 things to know about online sportsbooks
BY CHRISTOPHER BOAN
BetArizona.com
As we near the end of our second month of legalized sports betting in Arizona, many bettors have been learning the ins and outs of sports betting. One of the fi rst things you need to do in order to place a bet is to sign up for an online sportsbook.
The biggest and best-known names in sportsbooks are available to Arizona residents. Choosing the right operator is important. Some operators have better customer service while others provide better odds for local teams.
Some are more likely to hand out free bets, while others have a more lucrative sign-up bonus. Do your research, test out multiple sites, fi nd the best Arizona sportsbook promo codes and decide on the one that works best for you. You can fi nd reviews and everything you need to know at BetArizona.com.
Once you’ve selected your sportsbook(s) there are a few things you should know before placing your bets. Below are fi ve tips to placing bets online:
Use the address on your driver’s license. As part of the sign-up process for every online operator, you are required to verify your identity. It’s similar to signing up for a new bank and you’ll need to answer a few verifi cation questions, including your home address.
Some operators are more fl exible than others and you can use any address, but others require you to register with the address on your driver’s license. So that you don’t encounter any trouble, we recommend you always use the address listed on your license.
Choose ACH over credit/debit card to make deposits. Once your identity is verifi ed and your account is created, you’ll be able to make a deposit to begin betting. Most operators will have several options to choose from, such as online banking (ACH), PayPal, credit/ debit cards or gift cards. Using a credit/ debit card can be hit or miss. Some operators will take a debit or credit card while you’ll fi nd others will decline the same card.
Using ACH is a smoother process and, in some cases, it may be the only option to deposit money in your account, depending on the operator. The only thing required to make a deposit using ACH is to sign into your online bank account using your login credentials, no routing or account number are necessary.
If you are signing up with a bonus, make note of the promo code. If you are a new depositing customer, it is very likely that you will be signing up with a welcome bonus. That could come in a variety of forms.
When you are either signing up for an account or depositing money, there will be an option to enter a promo code. Some operators will auto-populate the promo code if you clicked on a specifi c off er while others will have you manually enter the code. Make sure you have the right promo code in the right fi eld when attempting to redeem it or you won’t get it.
Know the criteria for a promotion to earn your bonus. Once you’ve signed up using a promo code, be sure to look and see what is required in order for you to earn your bonus. With a promotion like a risk-free bet, usually all you need to do is place a bet up to a certain dollar amount with the sportsbook. If your bet loses, the operator will refund you your bet.
But for other promotions, such as a 100 percent deposit match for casino games, you may have to wager a set amount of money before you are able to withdraw the bonus from your account.
Download the app if possible. Once you’re all set up with an account, have deposited money into it and are ready to play or place a bet, download the mobile app for the specifi c operator you signed up with. The mobile app is defi nitely a better user experience than desktop or laptop and it can more easily verify your location using your phone’s location services. In order to place a bet through a laptop, you may be required to download a plug-in to the computer that would verify your location. It’s an extra step in the process that is unnecessary if you’re using the app.
Knowing the process of working with operators is important. And, of course, fi nding an operator you are comfortable with is equally as important. Don’t be afraid to sign up for multiple sportsbooks. This will allow you to take advantage of multiple sign-up bonuses, shop lines for particular markets you are interested in and get maximum perks. Always consider the above tips when placing your bets to ensure the process is as smooth as possible. For more information and tips on online sports betting visit BetArizona.com.
Christopher Boan is a writer and analyst for BetArizona.com. He has been covering sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years and is a member of the Associated Press Sports Editors.
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BEARS from page 32
“Our main philosophy is to teach team football, selfless football,” Allen said. “I think that is really what has helped keep the attrition low.”
This becomes pivotal when looking at the longevity success the Bears have shown. And although high school is less than a few years away for these middle schoolers, the focus is on this team, what they can accomplish and what each kid takes away from his years playing youth football.
When asked about the future for these players, he kept it honest.
“We think about it, but we don’t have a plan yet,” Allen said. “We’re still open to whatever we feel is going to be best for the boys.”
Parents are not lacking involvement with the Bears, as they are a big part of what makes the team run: from each parent taking their kid to practice to those who volunteer to help on game days.
Not only are they there for support and guidance, but these parents are also why these young athletes have the opportunity to travel out of state and play football against tough competition. Everything takes money, and they have to fundraise throughout each season to prepare for the travel expenses.
“That’s always the challenge every year is to raise funds,” Allen said. “It’s a collective effort from all the parents to do multiple fundraisers.”
The team raises money by selling tickets to Suns games and raffles. Other funds come from donations on the team website. Every dollar is used to take the team to Florida in December.
The logistics of getting the whole team to the other side of the country shows it isn’t just an ordinary game or tournament for the Bears.
They travel together as a team and rent vans in order to get from the airport to the houses they stay in. One year, the team stayed in a house with 10 different rooms. All of the travel and living they do as a unit really adds to the camaraderie between not only the players, but their family members too.
“A lot of these people would have never met if it wasn’t for our team, and now they are like family,” Allen said.
The trip is more than worth the cost, as it is an experience that will be a fond memory for years to come. Traveling and competition bring these families together that will make lifelong bonds, and to these parents, there is no price tag that would deter them.
With everything that this team has done and will do, they almost feel like more than a youth football team. It speaks volumes as far as what athletics can do for kids and the environment it can create.
“I say it every year, at the beginning of the season we have expectations,” Allen said. “By the time we get to the end of the season, we tend to exceed those expectations.”
KICKER from page 32
“She’s such a competitor,” he said. “She’s such a tough girl that she’ll come back to the best of this injury.”
Anderson continued to move, pushing forward with support from Dunn and others from all over the community, including from her former high school, Marcos de Niza.
“The community support has been amazing – there’s not a better word for it,” Jeremy Muir said.
His daughter, however, was used to doing squats and leg presses, stacking multiple plates on the bar. Now, she had to relearn the motions with little to no extra weight on the bar.
After about three months, she was able to walk again with assistance. She was determined to beat those 50/50 odds, and while her parents were afraid to “bank on it” happening, there never was a doubt in her mind.
“I already knew I was going to walk,” Muir said. “It was like, ‘Okay, thank you for that suggestion, but I am going to. I just have a lot of work to do.’”
In September, the Arizona Cardinals partnered with the Desert Financial Foundation to create the Arizona Breaking Barriers Student Athlete Scholarship in her honor to recognize “determined, resilient and impactful student athletes.” Muir will select one of the 10 recipients.
“I think that’s a fantastic legacy,” her father said of the scholarship. “And if that is how her name goes down and how she’s remembered at the end of the day … then that’s all you can hope for as a father.”
Now the kicking coach at Marcos de Niza, Muir is part of the same Padres coaching staff that her father has been a part of for years. For her, it is a way to continue sharing her passion for kicking.
“I can help with my knowledge to the next (kicker) and just motivate them and push them as far as they can,” she said.
Not only do her players feed off of her energy, but they also feed off of what she has been through and how she continues to overcome obstacles.
Her future plans include writing a book and working as a motivational speaker. She is close to earning her personal-training certification.
“I feel like I have a good amount of options for me,” she said. “They’re kind of just like all up in the air, but I definitely want to give them all a try.”
Thank you Chandler voters and the Citizen Bond Exploratory Committee for your support of the bonds!
