#GoingToBat Community Spotlight: Sam Fuld
Sam Fuld doesn’t let anything stop him, especially Type 1 Diabetes. Diagnosed at age 10, Fuld learned to manage his disease so he could pursue his passion – baseball.
Once he’d made through a college career at Stanford and reached professional baseball, Fuld made it a mission to help other young athletes manage their diabetes, too.
During the offseason, Fuld hosted the second annual Sam Fuld SLAMDiabetes Tampa Classic Wiffle Ball Tournament. The Dec. 12 tournament raised money to fund camps for children who have type 1 diabetes.
A few months later, Fuld took the field for those children again. Sam Fuld’s USF Diabetes Sports Camps was held February 6-7 at the University of Southern Florida – the same location as SLAMDiabetes.
The program included 8- to 17-year-old campers with type 1 diabetes, who participated in three of eight sports offered by the camp’s instructors.
The instructors included Fuld, and fellow athletes and former athletes: Bill Gullickson, Genevieve King, Madison Smith, Stacey Simmons, Michael Findling, Lew Finnegan, Chad Bobik, David Ochotorena, Jenny Welch, Renato Proia, Scott Kneifl, Andrea Barman, Sean Wilkins, Krista Sparkman, Charlotte Nowak, Kristina Rosa and Brendan Cunningham.
In addition to being known athletes, each of the instructors also had something else in common -- they all have type 1 diabetes.
The campers received instruction on how to manage diabetes as an athlete. Parents and coaches were also able to hold a question-and-answer session with Fuld. Medical supervision was provided by the USF Diabetes Center staff.
The camp closed with a meet-and-greet session with players from the Rays, Fuld’s former team, as well as live music.
“I just look forward to this weekend so much,” Fuld said. “You see more and more kids getting comfortable handling their disease.”
Watch a recap of Sam Fuld’s USF Diabetes Sports Camps here.
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