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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Getting Inspiration from Kaz!!!

PANAMA CITY BEACH- Woodlawn United Methodist Church will be housing the Emerald Coast YMCA day camp this summer for ages 5-12.

Thursday, they welcomed in a modern day Samson to provide some inspiration and encouragement to the young crowd.

“I’ve traveled here today to a YMCA event to get in front of as many kids as I can, it’s my mission,” said three-time World’s Strongest Man title holder Bill Kazmaier.

Kaz travels from city to city talking with YMCA groups about the importance of staying healthy and active, as well as the core values of the YMCA.

“This summer we’ve been on a campaign of building friendship and also building character and confidence. So, I let young people beat me. They beat the world’s strongest man. They have bragging rights, and it builds their confidence. They say, yes I can. They say the strongest words in the vocabulary, I can and I will. When they do that, they say they are going to do something and they build character because you have to have responsibility for what you say and what you do,” said Kazmaier.

It’s important for these kids to have such a powerful figure to look up too, like the World’s Strongest Man, because it can have such a big impact on their lives.

“It is of massive impact, because Kaz himself, was a child who was picked on, who was bullied, so he relays that on to the kids and tell them how the YMCA brought him in, thought him how to lift weights properly and how to pray,” said Emerald Coast YMCA Branch Executive Coretta Johnson.

“I see such a tremendous impact that a guy like Bill can have on these children, but not only does he inspire them, but he encourages them and shows them the strength that they have,” said Woodlawn Creative Worship Director Bill Small.

“I encourage young people, to shoot for the stars to believe they too can be winners and be the best at something,” Kazmaier stated.

Kaz is very good at inspiring a young audience, to be the best they can be, especially when the guy is pulling a Chevy Suburban full of kids, and bending metal frying pans like they’re made of rubber.

“This 6,000 pound truck today, was really nothing. It’s kind of a toy. In all actuality, we’re able to pull things like fire trucks. The hardest thing I ever pulled was a fire truck filled with water, up hill for about 20 feet. We’ve pulled airplanes, semi-trucks, small trains,” said Kazmaier.

You’ve seen him pull a Suburban full of kids and also bend to frying pans, which I’m sure won’t fry eggs very well anymore, but this guy is still amazing people with his power.

“Oh, it’s massive, massive. You can look at him and tell,” said Johnson.

“He’s really strong, and I can’t believe he was able to get that car moving with all of us in there,” said camp participant Lucas Brandon.

“I think it’s pretty cool, because I have never met anyone that strong before,” said camp participant Jordan Miles.

“I wish I had a tenth of his strength. He eats well and he does the right things to be able to pull a suburban full of children. I told somebody I could probably pull a bicycle with a farm animal on it, but that’s about as good as I can get,” said Small.

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