Kansas City,
17
January
2017
|
10:11 AM
America/Chicago

Fox 4: Inspiring teen named 2016 Children's Mercy Youth Athlete of the Year

Claire Tietgen bounced back from adversity to win this year's award

If the new year has a theme, maybe it should be resilience: bouncing back from adversity. This week's FOX 4 young achiever knows it well; she's made it her message and now her mission.

FOX 4 first introduced you to 14-year-old Claire Tietgen about a year-and-a-half ago. Now in eighth grade, Claire's grown up dealing with her own developmental disabilities, and with kids at school who bullied her over them. It almost overpowered her, to the point she considered suicide. But with her parents’ help, she found her own ways to power through, to bounce back. She calls it, resilience.

“You can choose to have a good day or a bad day, it`s the way you look at it, the way you wake up in the morning. I do,” she explained.

Claire first pushed ahead using sports. She won 14 gold medals in Jiu Jitsu. She won three state powerlifting championships and broke records. She joined her middle school's wrestling team. She won the Children's Mercy and Win for KC Youth athlete of the year.

She also started a non-profit group to help other kids get fit. And the more she shared her story the more she realized how many others struggle too. She wanted more of them to hear the message.

“It`s just to help kids going through what I went through,” she said.

She's turned her message into a mission, and started a talk show and website.

Look for big things from Claire in this new year. She's already been invited to interview celebrities at the Indianapolis 500 and the country music awards. The U.S. Department of Education has invited her to a congressional luncheon.

 

 

See the full story via Fox 4.

Visit Claire's website for more on her story and journey.

Learn about the Center for Sports Medicine at Children's Mercy.