Gymnast Shawn Johnson has been nominated for two ESPY awards, ESPN’s fan-voted awards that honor the best athletes and achievements of the previous year.

Johnson, 17, of West Des Moines won four medals in the Beijing Olympics.

Shawn was nominated for Best U.S. Female Olympian, and was nominated for Best Breakthrough Performance.

You can VOTE for Shawn to win here: 2009 ESPY Awards voting

(read more)

Angela Ruggiero has been named a 2010 nominee for the All Stars Helping Kids program. The mission of All Stars Helping Kids is to promote a safe, healthy and rigorous learning environment for disadvantaged children in low-income communities.

U.S.A. Women's Ice Hockey

Position:        Defenseman

Recent Plays

Founder & President, Angela Ruggiero Girls Hockey School

Author, "Breaking the Ice" Former Director, Project Hope

Spokesperson, Women's Sports Foundation

How She's in the Game

True to the title of her autobiography, Angela Ruggiero is a pro at "Breaking Ice." At the age of 15, she started playing ice hockey- a sport that's traditionally male-dominated. Her successes have lead to the creation of a hockey school for girls (Angela Ruggiero Girls Hockey School), which provides girls with guidance and time with professional coaches. Angela is passionate about getting girls involved in hockey. She also does this is as spokesperson for the Women's Sports Foundation.

Ruggiero has had an international impact as the Director of the New York Islanders' Project Hope, which provides educational opportunities to young Chinese athletes. She also spent six weeks in Uganda as a mentor with Right to Play, which uses sport and play to enrich the lives of disadvantaged kids around the world. (read more)

The Saturday Evening Post

Headaches are often a nuisance—and occasionally a nightmare.  The NHF is launching a new series of resources on their Web site. The first one, Chart Your Course to Relief, is an interactive tool designed to quickly connect people to the specific information they need and in a way that is not overwhelming, according to Suzanne Simons, executive director of the NHF.

World champion luger Erin Hamlin knows firsthand the life-altering effects of headaches. Despite suffering a debilitating migraine on the day before the 2009 Luge World Championship in Lake Placid, New York, Hamlin went on to win gold, becoming the first U.S. woman to win the World Championship title. She has since learned about NHF resources and is committed to not only getting relief, but also to helping others as a spokesperson for the organization.

“I want to feel like I have some control over my headaches,” Hamlin says. “With my travel and training schedule, I can’t afford to be down. I owe it to my country, teammates, fans, and family to be at the top of my game, and learning more about my headache patterns with these NHF tools is helping me—and others—achieve that.”

Hamlin, age 22, will now carry the title of World Champion to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. (read more)

Chicago 2016, the City of Chicago and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) spearheaded efforts encouraging cities around the United States to celebrate Olympic Day on June 23.

Olympic Day is the worldwide commemoration of the first International Olympic Committee meeting and the founding of the modern Olympic Games. In all, 158 cities from 43 states held Olympic Day celebrations, which included fun runs, lectures, sport competitions and demonstrations and were attended by more than 200 Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

An estimated 20,000 people attended the Olympic Day celebration and sports extravaganza. More than 30 Olympic and Paralympic athletes attended Chicago’s celebration, including Mike Day, Josh George, Paul Hamm, April Holmes, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carli Lloyd, Connie Moore, Paul Moran, Matt Scott and Jason Wening. (read more)

The Hawkeye

Olympic gymnast/"Dancing with the Stars" winner Shawn Johnson, spent the day at the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at the Iowa Speedway, stopping at the finish line for some promotional photos, and a chance to meet some of the drivers.