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CHAMP awards honor Charleston youth who overcome hardships, adversity
CHAMP awards honor Charleston youth who overcome hardships, adversity By David Cloninger, The Post and Courier, deloninger@postandcourier.com COLUMBIA - As a basketball coach for 21 years, Greg Blatt was always trying to create champions. It started in the living rooms on recruiting visits and carried to the sidelines. He's been out of the game for close to three decades. But he never forgot the task with which he was charged, and has never stopped trying to carry it out. Tha
Coaches for Character
Jan 7
May 15th, 2024: CHAMP Awards 2024 featuring Shane Beamer
May 15, 2024 | 7:00 PM Gaillard Auditorium featuring Shane Beamer The CHAMP Awards program annually honors two Charleston County School District "Unsung Heroes" from every 8th grade and 12th grade. Despite often going unnoticed, these students have accomplished wonderful things in their home, school, church or community. Their selection is based on character, community service, academic effort and overcoming odds.
Coaches for Character
Jan 5
April 4, 2023: CHAMP Awards 2023 featuring A'ja Wilson
We are honored to be a part of Nike's three part documentary on A'ja Wilson! Check it out below: A'ja was the keynote speaker at our recent 2023 CHAMP Awards Program. The series focuses on A'ja's Every Day Grind To Be the Best, her Love for Family and Commitment to Community Partnerships, and her WNBA Basketball Career. In Episode 2 (shown above), 75 seconds of the episode comes from our recent CHAMP Awards Program. At the beginning there are 15 seconds of Coaches for Charact
Coaches for Character
Jan 5
May 14, 2022: CHAMP Awards 2023 featuring Tim Scott
May 14, 2022. 7pm TD Arena Coaches For Character is proud to be expanding its "Unsung Hero" program to Charleston. The CHAMP Awards will annually honor two Charleston County School District 8th and 12th graders, from every middle and high school, who often go unnoticed even though they have accomplished wonderful things in their community, church, home, or school. Their selection is based on character, community service, academic effort, and overcoming odds.
Coaches for Character
Jan 5
April 26th, 2025: CHAMP Awards 2025 featuringCade Klubnik and LaNorris Sellers
APRIL 26TH, 2025, 7:00 PM TRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE 7000 RIVERS AVENUE BUILDING 920 Featuring Cade Klubnik & LaNorris Sellers The CHAMP Awards program annually honors two Charleston County School District "Unsung Heroes" from every 8th grade and 12th grade. Despite often going unnoticed, these students have accomplished wonderful things in their home, school, church or community. Their selection is based on character, community service, academic effort and overcoming adversit
Coaches for Character
Apr 25, 2025
Former Clemson football standout Clelin Ferrell: 'Life isn't going to be perfect'
March 3, 2019 Clemson's Clelin Ferrell explains how wealth of talent, camaraderie on the Tigers' defensive line helped prepare him for the NFL, March 2, 2019. Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press Clelin Ferrell says he always felt like that little weed that seemingly emerged from the most unlikely of locales. “I know you’ve seen concrete, but then you see weeds growing out of the concrete, right?,” Ferrell asked more than 400 attendees at Tuesday night’s Coaches 4 Character pro
Coaches for Character
Mar 4, 2019
Former Clemson football standout Clelin Ferrell: 'Life isn't going to be perfect'
March 3, 2019 Clemson's Clelin Ferrell explains how wealth of talent, camaraderie on the Tigers' defensive line helped prepare him for the NFL, March 2, 2019. Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press Clelin Ferrell says he always felt like that little weed that seemingly emerged from the most unlikely of locales. “I know you’ve seen concrete, but then you see weeds growing out of the concrete, right?,” Ferrell asked more than 400 attendees at Tuesday night’s Coaches 4 Character pro
Coaches for Character
Mar 4, 2019
Former Clemson Coach Rick Barnes Takes Time-Out to Share Message with Greenville Students
December 3, 2018 Coach Rick Barnes and his University of Tennessee basketball team face a big challenge this weekend when the Volunteers play No. 1 Gonzaga. But that’s a challenge that pales in comparison to the ones faced daily by many young people – a fact underscored by Barnes Monday night when he took a brief time-out from the Volunteers' season to address an attentive audience of a few hundred Greenville County students at a Coaches 4 Character program at Greenville’s Re
Coaches for Character
Dec 3, 2018
Wilson Says Pay Inequity A 'Tough Till To Swallow'
October 4, 2018 When LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers last July, A’ja Wilson was left shaking her head. And tweeting. Wilson, a former University of South Carolina women’s basketball standout who plays for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, is a fan of James, to be sure, but took to Twitter to underscore the disparity between NBA salaries and those of players in the WNBA. WNBA salaries are capped at $110,000, according to CNBC, while NBA
Coaches for Character
Oct 4, 2018
Six county students earn scholarships
May 9th, 2018 South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp delivered a simple but powerful message Tuesday night at the 6th Annual Coaches 4 Character ACE Awards program. "Don't let your circumstances define you, regardless of your situation," Muschamp told an attentive audience at Greenville Relentless Church. Muschamp's advice didn't fall on deaf ears -- each of the night's 70 honorees were in attendance based primarily on challenges they've already overcome. "Continue to ha
Coaches for Character
May 9, 2018
Clemson Football Coach Tony Elliott Shares Inspirational Story with Greenville Students
March 14, 2018 Tony Elliott’s early life didn’t exactly read like a storybook. At least not an enchanted one. He was hit by a truck at age 4. Survived. His parents separated at age 5. Survived. Tony’s mother was killed in auto accident when he was 9. Tony survived. At age 11, he joined a gang. Survived. Lived on the streets in Anaheim, California. Survived. Notice a common thread here? “There’s no shine without the grind,” Elliott says, often enough that it has become his man
Coaches for Character
Mar 14, 2018
Coach Mike Dunleavy urges students to follow their passion
December 15, 2017 As a freshman in high school, Brooklyn native Mike Dunleavy Sr. started at shortstop and batted third on a team that win a city championship. "i was the last man on the basketball team and never played," he said. But when hisbaseball coach told Dunleavy he could earn a scholarship if he were to focus on one sport, he chose basketball. "I took a lot of abuse for that," Dunleavy told a gathering of students at Wednesday night's Coaches 4 Character program at R
Coaches for Character
Dec 15, 2017
McCallie offers advice to students
December 7, 2017 Coach encourages having structure Duke University women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie may have picked up a few hundred new fans Monday night in her first visit to Greenville. Not the young students she addressed during the Coaches 4 Character program at Redemption. But their parents. They may appreciate the assist McCallie dished as she encourages students to make their beds and brush their teeth. McCallie reinforced those simple chores to illustrate
Coaches for Character
Dec 7, 2017
Olympian, Former Basketball Star Tamika Catchings Shares Journey with Greenville students
October 17, 2017 Tamika Catchings was 3 years old when her family found out she had a hearing problem. Then, when Catchings was in second grade, her family moved to Abilene, Texas, and she endured “the worst year” of her life. Students made fun of her looks, speech impediment and hearing aid. But on Tuesday night, Catchings spoke at the quarterly Coaches 4 Character program at Greenville’s Redemption World Outreach Center as an NCAA, WNBA and Olympic champion. Now retired fro
Coaches for Character
Oct 17, 2017
Sen. Tim Scott to Speak at 10th Annual ACE Awards
April 25, 2017 U.S. Sen. Tim Scott will be the keynote speaker for the 10th annual ACE (Advocates for Character and Education) Awards, honoring 70 young unsung heroes from Greenville County Schools. “We’re honoring kids who have overcome personal struggles and sometimes personal tragedies,” said Greg Blatt, executive director of Coaches 4 Character, which sponsors the awards. “They’ve overcome the odds and achieved amazing things in their schools, churches, homes and communit
Coaches for Character
Apr 25, 2017
Ben Boulware, Mike Williams Inspire Young Audience
March 27, 2017 Ben Boulware is quick to offer a critical self-assessment, particularly for a football player about to embark on a professional career. “I’m not the biggest or the fastest or the strongest guy around,” Boulware said. But he possesses perhaps an even more important ingredient in abundance. “I’ve been blessed with the attitude and mentality to work,” Boulware said. Boulware did just that during his four seasons at Clemson, and his diligence paid off in January wh
Coaches for Character
Mar 27, 2017
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