Cycling For Kids And Baseball

Cycling For Kids And Baseball

A 22-year-old bicycles solo to all 30 MLB parks for youth mentoring programs.
Alexandra Morin
Alexandra Morin Jul 21, 2015
2
views

Around the U.S. in 180 days.

On April 6, a man named Matt Stoltz began a solo bike ride from Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington to Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, he will not go the most direct route to the home of the Brewers, but rather take a detour and visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. This difficult task has a purpose that goes beyond every baseball fan’s dream; Matt wants to raise both funds and awareness for Biking for Baseball and Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Metro Milwaukee. Biking for Baseball is a non-profit based out of Denver, CO that connects youth with mentors through cycling and baseball while directing attention to BBBS clubs across the nation.

This trek is more than 11,000 miles long and will take about six months, or 180 days to complete. As of July 17, Matt has made it halfway through his journey by stopping at number 15 on his list: Turner Field. He has traveled over 7,500 miles to get to the home of the Atlanta Braves, where he watched the series opener against the Chicago Cubs. With around 5,000 more miles and 3 months to go, he’s not done impressing us quite yet.

About Matt Stoltz.

As stated on Biking for Baseball’s website, Matt is a 22-year-old Wisconsin native who has a history of charitable tasks, but nothing close of what he is currently doing. Matt rode a train from Wisconsin to Washington State to start his mission, shortly after attending a Biking for Baseball clinic in Milwaukee for BBBS, which he posted about in his blog on Biking for Baseball’s site. He also said he was nervous, but very determined. Nothing would get in his way.

In addition to staying in hotels for this trip, Matt also stays with host families, whom he mentions in his blog. He’s met a lot of people while traveling from ballpark to ballpark, some who have even bought his ticket to watch the game. While this ride is solo, he mentions having a few riding companions keeping him company for a small portion of his trek. Matt also talks about his love for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he has been able to see them play along the way. While he posts to his blog every couple of days, he also posts to the website Reddit.com, in the subreddit /r/baseball, where he has gotten a lot of positive response.

To keep up with Matt’s blog, visit www.bikingforbaseball.org/blog/.

Current Progress.

Matt has now visited 15 of the 30 MLB ballparks, which are more spread out compared to the latter 15. This probably attributes to “the month from hell” as he refers to his recent travels between the sporadic placements of ballparks. These are the stadiums he has visited so far:

  • Safeco Field—Seattle, WA
  • AT&T Park—San Francisco, CA
  • O.co Coliseum—Oakland, CA
  • PETCO Park—San Diego, CA
  • Angel Stadium—Anaheim, CA
  • Dodger Stadium—Los Angeles, CA
  • Chase Field—Phoenix, AZ
  • Coors Field—Denver, CO
  • Kauffman Stadium—Kansas City, MO
  • Busch Stadium—Saint Louis, MO
  • Marlins Park—Miami, FL
  • Tropicana Field—Saint Petersburg, FL
  • Turner Field—Atlanta, GA

While visiting all those stadiums via bicycle is impressive on its own, it is also impressive that he planned the most efficient route he could while making sure he could attend at least one game in each ballpark. His next stop is Cincinnati, where he will watch the Cubs again, but this time against the Reds, obviously. For the remaining fields, he’ll have shorter trips in-between, but that does not mean he doesn’t need our support.

To see where Matt is headed next, and how soon he will be there, visit www.bikingforbaseball.org/live-tracking/.



How You Can Help.

Matt Stoltz’s mission has a purpose even greater than accomplishing this task: to benefit Biking for Baseball and Big Brothers Big Sisters. To monetarily support his cause, visit www.bikingforbaseball.org/donate/.

Another way to help benefit these programs would be to find out about becoming a mentor for a BBBS club or attending a Biking for Baseball clinic.

If your favorite team is still on the list for Matt to visit, be sure to keep an eye out for a man with a bike wearing a Brewer’s hat. It’s probably this awesome guy.


Alexandra Morin
Alexandra Morin Jul 21, 2015
At North Carolina State University

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Sports And Religion

Why are so many athletes religious?

Abby Paez
Abby Paez Apr 24, 2019
96
views

I recently just made it on to the USC Track and Field team, and it is easily the biggest accomplishment I have ever made in my entire life. I worked so hard to physically and mentally prepare to try out for the team, let alone actually make it. I thank God for allowing me to have the chance to be a part of this team, as well as giving me that physical and mental strength required to do so, and I express this whenever someone congratulates me for making the team or even asks if I made it or not. However, I noticed that when I did this, some of the responses were a bit dismissive when I brought religion into the picture. When I said I thank God for it, I would be met with responses like "Yea well even aside from God..." or another response that drew the conversation away from my faith, away from the concept of a god.

In fact, I've noticed that many athletes are religious in some form-- more so collectively than other student bodies aside from religious groups themselves. I thought about why this may be, aside from the obvious answer such as growing up religious at home, because that does not answer the question; many people grew up in a religious household and are not religious themselves. So, I began to think personally. Why do I thank God for my athletic performance? There's a certain level of uncertainty within every sport. All athletes train their hardest to minimize this level of uncertainty, in order to maximize their chances of success. However, you can only train so hard. To me, no matter how hard you train, there's always some type of level of uncertainty to every level of performance: the chances of you getting injured, the chances of you winning your game or race, the chances of the opponent's performance, etc. This is where I think God intervenes, and perhaps other athletes would agree. There have been countless times where I ran well and had absolutely no idea how I did it. Yes, I worked hard to improve my times, but when you are in the moment of a race, or a game, that fades into the background, especially when everyone else has been working just as hard. It's just you, your race (or game), and God. That's it.

I could have not made the team. As a walk-on, there is more pressure for you to perform since the coaches did not seek you out; you sought them out. You are proving your abilities. Thus, I was nervous about my chances of actually making the team, especially considering the fact that the USC track team is arguably the best collegiate track team in the United States. I performed well during my try out and finished all the workouts, however I wasn't as fast as the other girls. In addition, I was 3 minutes late to my last day of tryouts and got chewed out by the coach for it. I was convinced that I blew my chances. And yet, somehow, I made it. I worked so hard for it, yes, but I thank God for keeping my body healthy so I could train to the best of my ability. I thank Him for allowing the coaches to have the time to try me out. I thank Him for allowing them to see my potential. I thank Him for giving me the best high school track coach possible who prepared me mentally and physically, as well as supported me throughout all the highs and all the lows. I thank Him for giving me this chance to continue my track career at the most prestigious collegiate team. My gratitude for all this, is simply infinite.

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Abby Paez
Abby Paez Apr 24, 2019
At University of Southern California

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