Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Anthony claims top REACH scholarship

By Kevin Sparrer

Sometimes in high school sports, athletes play with injuries, or maybe with personal problems or facing some other type of adversity. But many of them are able to work through the hard times in order to find something better.

Thankfully, the stories of heroism do not go untold, and more importantly they don't go unrecognized.

Each year five scholarships are given out to athletes who were forced to overcome the odds to play their sport. The San Jose Sports Authority's Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work Youth Scholarships honored just such athletes when the scholarships were presented by NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, the honorary chairman, and women's soccer star Brandi Chastain at a breakfast held on May 11.

Bernard Anthony of Gunn High School, Mia Williams of Overfelt, Julianne Grosso of St. Francis, Julie Galli from Archbishop Mitty and Bethany Nolette of Leland split $9,000 in REACH scholarship money this year. The five athletes were able to overcome adversity in many different ways to be successful and inspirational.

Nominations came in from teachers, counselors and coaches from each high school in Santa Clara County. Students submitted essays describing how they fought through adversity and how sports played a crucial role in helping that process. Local community leaders created a panel and reviewed all of the essays and interviewed the candidates, then selected the scholarship winners.

Bernard Anthony, this year's big winner of the $2,500 scholarship, was forced from his mother's custody, along with his four siblings, when he was only 4 years old. Along with his two younger sisters, he was adopted and raised by a woman in his extended family.

His older brothers taught him to love sports. His brothers Shawn, a Special Olympics basketball player, and Jesse coached Bernard in basketball. His adoptive great-grandmother B.B. supported him by spending hours in the gym watching him, despite the toll that Alzheimer's disease was taking on her at the time.

In elementary school, Anthony was diagnosed with a learning disability, but through hard work and perseverance he learned by playing basketball, and he was able to remain in regular school classes. He continued to play basketball in high school and AAU and was named his team's Most Valuable Player and the defensive player of the year.

Mia Williams won a $2,000 scholarship. Her parents separated when she was only 2, and later she had to take care of her three younger sisters at a young age due to her mother's learning disability. Williams began changing her sisters' diapers when she was only 4 years old.

She has had to battle through both parental neglect and abuse, but during her sophomore year at high school she began running track. Sports has acted as a release for her and gave her the encouragement to raise her grades.

Julianne Grosso, who won a $1,500 scholarship, began playing field hockey her freshman year in high school and fell in love with the game. In her sophomore year she advanced to the varsity squad, and after playing as a back-up goalie her junior year, she prepared to take on a leadership role in her senior season.

But just prior to the summer, she was in a car accident and her pelvis was shattered in seven places. She was in the hospital for two weeks for surgery and was still in a wheelchair when practice began in the fall. Despite the wheelchair, Grosso still attended practices, eventually coming on crutches. She was able to return to the team on senior night, but was only able to use her stick before the game. She hopes to continue on and play field hockey in college.

Julie Galli, a $1,500 winner, had to overcome being born with only one hand. Growing up in Cupertino, she played volleyball, soccer and basketball, and she has competed in cross country and track. What's more, she's also learned to play the guitar. She did research in the library on one-handed serving techniques for volleyball and played on Mitty's freshman and junior varsity soccer teams.

Before her junior year she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in a club soccer championship game. The surgery and rehabilitation caused her to miss the entire year of sports, but she was able to return for her senior year to run cross country and track.

Bethany Nolette of Leland High School also won a $1,500 scholarship for her work in the pool. Nolette competed in swimming and water polo, but eventually was forced to miss a great deal of class and practice due to unbearable abdominal pain. Eventually she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, which is an incurable intestinal disease. She spent three months on a specific liquid diet that required a feeding tube to be inserted through her nose into her stomach. She underwent surgery that removed 18 inches of her small intestine and thankfully put the disease into remission. Despite the pain and the surgery, Nolette was able to return to her sports and qualify for the Central Coast Section championships.

Local athletes among the nominees were Alexis Reilly, Archbishop Mitty; Eric Baum, Stephen Powell, Dane Rasmuson, Robert Valenti and Jordan Vargas, Bellarmine; Jairo Aguirre, Downtown College Preparatory; Joseph Daneault, Shuka Jahromifar and Tanya Martinez, Gunderson; Joyce Chang and Megan Stiller, Leland; Katie Harrington, Notre Dame; Marilyn Aguayo-Franco and Stephen Vargas, San Jose Academy; Aracely Esquerra and Jennifer Uribe, Willow Glen.