Yesterday, if you were watching and rooting for the United States as the team played Belgium in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, you may be heartbroken to learn they lost. However, if you were watching the match, you might have seen the amazing 16 saves that goalie Tim Howard made all match. His 28 total saved for the entire tournament is the most for any goalie for all teams this year.
It’s a great feat for extra reasons.
Howard, a fixture on the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) since 2007 had to overcome a life living with Tourettes Sydrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Fortunately for Howard, he didn’t have to deal with bullying too much because he was a big kid and he played sports. His athleticism made him popular and because of that, he wasn’t ostracized or treated as an outcast as much despite being different. Howard said he dealt with the condition by internalizing it.
“If I was having a tough spot, one day, one week…I just went into my own shell, kept more to myself,” Howard said in the April/May issue of Neurology Now. “From the age of 9 to 15, it was just this chaos of different tics, and they were pretty strong. I would just begin to figure out how a tic worked with my body, and, bam, six months or a year later, a new tic would come…On the field I wasn’t Tim who had TS or Tim who had tics. I was Tim who scored goals or scored baskets or hit home runs.”
For Howard’s athletic prowess and being a role model by speaking out and in support and awareness of TS and showing by virtue of being a star this World Cup, he is a hero and role model.
For his leadership in sports today and way before most Americans started to really pay attention to this awesome athlete today, I’ve nominated him to be added to the celebrity division of a new Warner Brothers Consumer and DC Entertainment program Superman Hall of Heroes which empowers consumers to honor their personal heroes or those who have made a positive impact on their lives of the lives of others.
Surely, there are others who are not in the spotlight doing amazing things and not seeking recognition.
You can induct your very own personal or local hero.
Visitors to the site can select a package level starting at $24.95 which can include things like an inductee certificate or commemorative T-shirts, coffee and sports tumblers, baseball caps or golf towels with the Superman logo on it.
It’s a cool idea and a perfect gift for a dad who has everything or to that selfless man in your life or community doing the darn thing and not expecting anything in return.