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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | DECEMBER 5, 2021
For more community news visit SanTanSun.com
The Chandler Bears youth football team is preparing to head to Florida once again to take on a national field in hopes of being crowned the champion. (Courtesy Kacey Allen)
Chandler Bears preparing for national title run in Florida BY JAKE HEDEBY Staff Writer
The Chandler Bears are a force to be reckoned with in the American Youth Football league in Arizona. This group of 12-year-olds know each other very well, but they are also very familiar with winning.
A core group of them have played football together since they were 6 years old and have been crowned state champions five years in a row. Following a year off because of the pandemic, the Bears are right back where they started. The Division One AYF team won the 2021 state championship and is headed to Florida for the national tournament.
They have already been named national champions once there, back in 2018. They now look to come out on top again. Coach Kacey Allen shared that he has been with the team since it started and coaching this age is all about the basics and playing together. That’s what makes this team successful.
The team already has some accolades. But that’s not because there are only two or three players dominating their opponent. This team has been competitive for a reason and they worked hard to be one of the best in Arizona year in and year out. See
BEARS on page 34
Female kicker overcomes paralyzing injury Nobody wants to “ hear those words that your child was never going to walk again. ” BY DYLAN WILHELM Cronkite News
In late January, Krysten Muir was alone in a hospital room, unable to move. In 2015, Muir made Arizona history by becoming the first female to score in an AIA state championship football game when she booted a pair of extra points for Tempe’s Marcos de Niza against Saguaro High in the 2015 4A championship game. She was Marcos de Niza’s kicker in 2015 and 2016 and made five of her 10 field goal attempts and 98 of 112 PATs. Before she began kicking in high school, Muir played soccer and volleyball. She also rode horses competitively and as a kid often would hang out at football practices at Marcos de Niza, where her father Jeremy was an assistant coach. She eventually beat out two other kickers to earn her spot at Marcos. After graduating from Marcos de Niza in 2017, she played soccer and took classes at Gateway Community College with plans to become a personal trainer. She was on the move. Then her life was literally flipped upside down. In late January, Muir was a passenger in a car traveling south from Payson in weather that she describes as “pretty gloomy.” The driver lost control and the car rolled over.
Muir suffered a spinal injury and lower body paralysis in the crash. Her L1 vertebrae had burst, and her L2 vertebrae was fractured. She was paralyzed from the waist down. Chad Dunn, Muir’s physical therapist and founder of Move Human Performance Center in Chandler, said patients describe the sensation of such an injury as “somebody pulling the electrical cord out.” Jeremy Muir and Krysten’s mom, Kathy, were terrified. “Nobody wants to hear those words that your child was never going to walk again,” Kathy Muir said. After surgery, Muir said doctors placed her odds of walking again at 50/50. While she was in the hospital, Dunn reached out to her to help with her mental state. AccordAs the varsity kicker at Marcos De Niza High in Tempe, Krys- ing to Dunn, the mental ten Muir was the first female player to score in an Arizona side of the recovery proState championship football game. Her father Jeremy is an cess is just as important assistant at Marcos de Niza. (Courtesy of Krysten Muir)
– Kathy Muir
as the physical, as reflected in his motto: “Mind Over Virtually Everything.” Once out of the hospital, the recovery process continued. Krysten had to relearn how to do everything from the waist down, including how to walk and how to dress herself. “At first it really was mind blowing because I was like, ‘Wow, I’m literally telling my leg to move forward and it is not moving forward,’” she said. Dunn and Muir continued to work together to rebuild her strength and help her relearn muscle movements. “He’s believed in her since day one,” Kathy Muir said. “They have a really good relationship, and I think he will be in her life forever.” Dunn’s focus on both physical and mental strength resonated with Muir, and her mental toughness continues to impress Dunn. See
KICKER on page 34
