The Amputee Soccer Championships Are Inspiring, But Not On The Internet

12.29.11 Written by Brandon

SOCCER-AMPUTEESThis is a video of Africa’s Amputee Soccer Championships, set to music a family in an early-90s comedy might hear while enjoying the first part of their vacation. These guys are amazingly skilled and deserve a ton of your respect, and if you’ve been looking for a competition to simultaneously symbolize the indomitable nature of the human spirit and “trying not to think about why these people are missing legs”, the Amputee Soccer Championships are for you.

If you don’t want to be inspired, you can always go to Reddit, where commenters have already made a bunch of Skyrim jokes, suggested the team be sponsored by a company that makes landmines and pointed out that since able-bodied soccer players only get two legs, it’s unfair for the amputees to have more than one crutch. Also, more than one reference to Yakety Sax. It’s good to know that no matter how inspiring a video is, you can just scroll down to the comments and remember how awful everybody is.

p.s. I have two functioning legs and these guys would f**king destroy me.

[h/t Buzzfeed Sports]

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MMA: GIVE THE MAN A HAND – UPDATED

04.27.09 Written by JOSH Z

We’ll get to the NFL draft shortly, but first we need to recap the weekend of one Kyle Maynard, that congenital amputee and former high school wrestler that made his amateur MMA debut last weekend at some horse barn in Auburn, Alabama. Maynard’s opponent, Brian Fry of Wisconsin, used his obvious advantage in striking range to keep Maynard from executing his ground game, but seemed content to not beat the life from Maynard’s body. From AJC:

By the second round, Maynard was visibly frustrated, and growing tired, while each time he put his head down and charged on all fours he was turned away or sidestepped. He was physically unable to grab and had no other answer for chopping down Fry. Maynard was the bowling ball, but the pin was always moving.

“I was … amazed. I didn’t know he was that quick,” Fry said. Still, he was able to stick to his strategy, even as the crowd, estimated at just less than 1,000, began chanting at him, “Wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.”

It sounds rather obvious that Fry had no intention of taking a real fight to Maynard, and yet it will certainly take a beatdown that savage for Maynard to pull himself out of the MMA game. It’s too bad Maynard didn’t want to be a swimmer; at least that way if he died, all you could blame is the guy that filled the pool.

|as first seen on Deadspin| SEXY UPDATE: Watch video of the match (via Cage Potato) after the jump.

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ONE-LEGGED LITTLE LEAGUER HOPS TO IT

06.05.08 Written by Matt

Adam Bender is the Kentucky 8-year-old who doesn't let his disability get in the way of him playing sports.  Born with a tumor on his left leg, he underwent surgery to have the limb amputated on his first birthday, which — when you think about it — is the best gift a parent can give.

Obviously, this story's been making the rounds for the last couple days, but I felt With Leather should address it because amputee sports stories simply don't get enough attention.  Kind of like amputee porn that way.  Do you have any idea what a stump can do?  I've never wanted to lose my hand so badly.  Anyone got a thresher?

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DO NOT TAUNT THE ONE-ARMED KICKBOXER

12.20.06 Written by Matt

Listen, I'm just as fired up for Rocky VI as everyone else, but — wait. No, that's incorrect. I'm a great deal less fired up for it than everybody else. However, if some girl were to drag me to it, I suppose I'd go. There are lots of ladies who want to see Rocky Balboa, right? Um, hello? Anyone? …Mom?

Anyway, here's a real fighter you can get behind: Baxter Humby, a muay thai kickboxer in who had his arm amputated at the elbow at birth after his umbilical cord got wrapped around it. As Foul Balls noted, he recently won an appeal against the California State Athletic Commission that was trying to implement rules to keep him from fighting.

Oh, and it turns out he's pretty good at what he does, too:

Wow, a one-armed man named Baxter. Do you think he gets more Anchorman or Fugitive quotes from random people? You should ask him. No, you ask him. I'll be watching from around the corner.

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