{"id":30338,"date":"2023-07-12T13:58:58","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T17:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=30338"},"modified":"2023-07-12T18:35:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T22:35:30","slug":"true-life-inspirational-sports-stories-never-give-up-and-native-ball-coming-coming-soon-to-theaters-and-pbs-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2023\/07\/true-life-inspirational-sports-stories-never-give-up-and-native-ball-coming-coming-soon-to-theaters-and-pbs-stations.html","title":{"rendered":"True-life inspirational sports stories &#8220;Never Give Up&#8221; and &#8220;Native Ball&#8221; coming coming soon to theaters and PBS stations"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/12\/23<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>The world of sports continues to provide a wealth of material for filmmakers inclined toward inspirational storytelling.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Never Give Up - Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/72dGyFW4Zsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p><strong><em>Never Give Up<\/em><\/strong>, the true story of deaf tennis legend <strong>Brad Minns<\/strong> (played by <strong>Harrison Stone<\/strong>), is set to launch <strong>in select theaters nationwide on September, 1st<\/strong>. The dramatic film tells the extraordinary tale of\u00a0 what is considered to be one of the greatest tennis matches of all time &#8211; and one the biggest comebacks in sports history.<\/p>\n<p>Competing in the Men&#8217;s Singles Tennis Finals at the <strong>World Games for the Deaf<\/strong> in 1985, the twenty-year old Minns fought through a grueling five-hour match to somehow come back from match point in the third set to win the gold medal in the fifth set.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Writer-director <strong>Rob Loos<\/strong> declares \u201cThis tennis match was truly one for the ages&#8230;Minns achieved the impossible that day on the court but that is nothing compared to his ability to overcome incredible challenges to truly live life to its fullest.\u00a0 This match is reflective of Brad\u2019s entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>After losing his hearing at the age of three, Minns\u2019 parents were determined that he live a normal life and decided to teach him to read lips. Through faith in <strong>God<\/strong> and his family&#8217;s support, he was able to overcome his challenges and pursue a public school education while discovering his passion for sports.<\/p>\n<p>Minns recalls \u201cMy parents always believed that my hearing loss was not the end&#8230;Their faith, their prayers and their encouragement allowed me to live a life I could have never dreamed.\u00a0 I pray that when people see my story, they are challenged and inspired to go and run the race that God puts before them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Never Give Up<\/em> is produced by <strong>Rick Eldridge<\/strong> for <strong>ReelWorks Studios<\/strong>.<br \/>\n_____<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Catholic faith-and-family-friendly content provider<strong> Family Theater Productions<\/strong> has inked a deal with the public broadcasting syndicating service <strong>PBS Plus<\/strong> to distribute the company\u2019s half-hour film on <strong>Malia Kipp<\/strong>, a young member of the Blackfeet Nation tribe who used her basketball skills as a ticket to college and for giving back to her people.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer (Teaser Trailer)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RTRwzlfB90g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net\/ls\/click?upn=TeZUXWpUv-2B6TCY38pVLo9gMn1e1dTTxE5Tn-2FVi6WaZDvP2cZzwAynL6mAflR9VYx-Pu0_XnB9dcCJ12P-2BFk-2F-2Bm6PN1jfNKDzpV8ras1c8CC2g9OaLiwIc740kVHCpoyAoFj8NnuGnjUKKDP2AskrHbwUZWD3q2VZGehxooLX7NCUCBAPuhJUYTzYMt1Oq7cuARWTI1zDELMXETj-2FnDitkmQ7bzUBJDPgkCgIRazTNK18Rs7eGqcRfq3IWLxL2AuruXTjHXtRpmlBWGofRcju4wr3YXruUd9yxA2ZvyIeudyLpnGYUXQZkBo7y6-2FRBEK-2FZzltRCkQKIvuFAmbNSKc3bVzff8Wcfbqibyv92hOE-2FD7IaFvdl0U5oQaj3aFqcHDeh-2FG6Zmv9R5p75u90yeh5xQVZdA-3D-3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><em>Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer<\/em><\/a><\/strong> will be available to broadcast <strong>on PBS affiliates nationwide starting in November<\/strong> <strong>when it will also stream via PBS.org and the PBS app<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In praising Kipp&#8217;s accomplishments, <strong>Family Theater National Director Rev. David Guffey<\/strong> says &#8220;She exemplifies how playing sports can develop character, unite people, and forge friendships,\u201d adding \u201cThe film is sure to open hearts to the ways one person can make a difference in the lives of others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Father Guffey went on to quote <strong>Pope Francis <\/strong>who, reflecting on the value of athletics to the overall culture, said &#8220;Sport fosters contact and relationships with people who come from diverse cultures and walks of life. It accustoms us to live and welcome differences, to turn them into a precious opportunity for mutual enrichment and discovery. Above all, sport is a precious opportunity to recognize one another as brothers and sisters on the journey, to foster the culture of inclusion\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God. <\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><em><span class=\"st\">Encourage one another and build each other up &#8211; <\/span><\/em><span class=\"st\">1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/12\/23 The world of sports continues to provide a wealth of material for filmmakers inclined toward inspirational storytelling. Never Give Up, the true story of deaf tennis legend Brad Minns (played by Harrison Stone), is set to launch in select theaters nationwide on September,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13,24,4088,29,14910,31,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-movies","category-pope-francis","category-sports","category-streaming","category-television","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>True-life inspirational sports stories &quot;Never Give Up&quot; and &quot;Native Ball&quot; coming coming soon to theaters and PBS stations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2023\/07\/true-life-inspirational-sports-stories-never-give-up-and-native-ball-coming-coming-soon-to-theaters-and-pbs-stations.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"True-life inspirational sports stories &quot;Never Give Up&quot; and &quot;Native Ball&quot; coming coming soon to theaters and PBS stations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/12\/23 The world of sports continues to provide a wealth of material for filmmakers inclined toward inspirational storytelling. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30338"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30416,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30338\/revisions\/30416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}