Where is your gold medal?

The 2008 Olympics are over and show me only gold?

Kid's Talk Radio Staff Writer

You can stop pretending, people only want to see gold.  This bold statement will cause mixed emotions for sure.

What do you do with a gold medal?   What is it worth in terms of money?  Why do people work so hard for a gold medal or any color medial?

There were some great stories that came out of the Olympics.  One of my favorites is about the young lady on the Chinese Synchronized Swimming team who ask for a weekend off.  Here coach was not very happy.  In fact, her coach was very upset.  The young swimmer had to come up with a good reason for taking the time off.   What do you think a good reason could be?  After all we are talking about the Olympics and trying very hard for the ultimate goal.  That goal is earning a gold medal and only gold.  The young swimmer told her coach that she had not seen her family in fourteen years and she just wanted to take one weekend off.   Well, that was not excuse.  The Chinese did not get the gold medal in synchronized swimming.  The gold medal went to the Russians.

I did not get to go to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.  The teams are only allowed to take 12 players and my daughter was number 13.  But to us she is number 1.

It you want to make the Olympics in 2012.  You hit the gym today and don’t ask for any weekends off for the next four years.   They only hand out gold medals to the best in the world.

Support Women's Volleyball: USA National Team News

Kid's Talk Radio, Long Beach. (July 3, 2008) - The U.S. Women's National Indoor Volleyball team has won five straight matches and takes a 5-1 FIVB World Grand Prix record into the final preliminary weekend at Taipei, Chinese Taipei July 4-6.



This is getting to be a very exciting time of the year.  There is lots of action on the volleyball scene.  It is now time to start to play close attention to our USA National Teams.  Our favorite is of course indoor and outdoor women's Volleyball.  Don't get me wrong, we like the men too.  If you have any stories that you would like to share with Kid's Talk Radio, please do so right now.  We have the Great American Story Writing Contest going on right now.  We are featuring stories on the Olympics in general.


We hope that some of you had a chance to see the USA Women's National Team on TV when they played against Brazil.  Did any of you tape the game?  If you did, we want a copy.

More Women's National Volleyball News.

Team USA will face three of the top five teams in the World Grand Prix standings during Pool H play, including two rematches from earlier in the schedule. The U.S. challenges Poland (0-6) on July 4 at 3 p.m. (1 a.m. Mountain Time), less than a week after the Americans swept the Polish squad 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 in Poland on June 29. Team USA plays Turkey (4-2) on July 5 at 3 p.m. (1 a.m. Mountain Time). Turkey defeated the U.S. on the opening day of the World Grand Prix. Team USA concludes the preliminary round versus Italy (5-1) on July 6 at 5 p.m. (3 a.m. Mountain Time). The Italians won the last meeting on Nov. 16, 2007, as both teams squared off for the gold medal on the final day of the 2007 FIVB World Cup in Japan.

The U.S. is in a three-way tie for second place in the 12-team tournament with Italy and Brazil, one loss behind undefeated tournament leaders China. Based on the tiebreaker of points won ratio, the Americans (1.203 points ratio) hold a slim advantage over Brazil (1.191) and Italy (1.117). Turkey is currently ranked fifth in the World Grand Prix standings.

After this weekend's third and final preliminary round weekend, the top five teams will travel to Japan and join the host country in the six-team FIVB World Grand Prix Finals. The round-robin Finals will be played July 9-13 at Yokohoma. The overall ranking in the preliminary round is decided by the total number of World Grand Prix Points (GPP) gained by the teams in the preliminary matches with two points awarded for a win and one point for a loss.


U.S. Women's National Team Roster for FIVB World Grand Prix Weekend in Taipei.   This listing will help you to get to know the players on the USA National Team.

# - Name (Pos, Ht, Hometown, College)
2 - Danielle Scott-Arruda (MB, 6-2, Baton Rouge, La., Long Beach State)
3 - Tayyiba Haneef-Park (OPP/OH, 6-7, Laguna Hills, Calif., Long Beach State)
4 - Lindsey Berg (S, 5-8, Honolulu, Hawai'i, Minnesota)
6 - Nicole Davis (L, 5-4, Stockton, Calif., Southern California)
7 - Heather Bown (MB, 6-3, Yorba Linda, Calif., Hawai'i)
8 - Cynthia Barboza (OH/OPP, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Stanford)
10 - Kim Glass (OH, 6-2, Lancaster, Pa., Arizona)
11 - Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (S, 5-8, Honolulu, Hawai'i, Hawai'i)
14 - Kim Willoughby (OH, 5-10, Napoleonville, La., Hawai'i)
15 - Logan Tom (OH, 6-1, Salt Lake City, Utah, Stanford)
17 - Angie McGinnis (S, 5-11, Fraser, Mich., Florida)
18 - Kristin Richards (OH, 6-1, Orem, Utah, Stanford)
19 - Foluke Akinradewo (MB, 6-3, Plantation, Fla., Stanford)
Head Coach: "Jenny" Lang Ping
Assistant Coaches: Sue Woodstra, Tom Hogan, Li Yong (not traveling)
Technical Coordinator: Diane French
Team Leader/Manager: Joan Powell


Pool H: Taipei, Chinese Taipei, Hsinchuang Gym
July 4: USA vs. Poland, 3 p.m.
July 4: Italy vs. Turkey, 6:20 p.m.
July 5: USA vs. Turkey, 3 p.m.
July 5: Italy vs. Poland, 5 p.m.
July 6: Poland vs. Turkey, 3 p.m.
July 6: Italy vs. USA, 5 p.m.

Pool I: Macau, Macau Forum
July 4: Brazil vs. Dominican Republic, 6 p.m.
July 4: China vs. Japan, 9 p.m.
July 5: Brazil vs. Japan, 2 p.m.
July 5: China vs. Dominican Republic, 5 p.m.
July 6: Dominican Republic vs. Japan, 1 p.m.
July 6: China vs. Brazil, 4 p.m.

Final Round: Yokohama, Japan
July 8-13

U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team in China.
    Cynthia Barboza,
    Danielle Scott-Arruda,
    Foluke Akinradewo,
    Heather Bown,
    Kim Glass,
    Kim Willoughby,
    Kristin Richards,
    Lindsey Berg,
    Logan Tom,
    Nicole Davis,
    Tayyiba Haneef-Park,
    Robyn Ah Mow-Santos

Kid's Talk Radio Olympic Journalists

The Olympic Games are just right around the corner. If you want to go, you are going to spend a lot of money. Most of the tickets could be all gone for some of the popular sports like beach and indoor volleyball. The hotel rates are off the charts

Just recently, I had the pleasure of looking at some of the photos of the indoor and outdoor volleyball events. These two building have to be two of the best in the world.The Chinese people did a fantastic job on the building designs.

I have attached the latest photo of the USA National Women's Volleyball Team. These women are still trying to make the official USA Olympic Team. This team will consist of only 12 players. This is an Olympic Committee rule. Each team is only allowed to have 12 players on the official Olympic roster. I wish the USA Team could take all 19 players. That is right they are still carrying a roster of about 19 players.

In the meantime, we get to experience some great volleyball this week in China. The USA Women's National Team will play on July 4 through 6,2008. These games are still part of the World Grand Prix series of games.These games are being used to help the USA Women's National Volleyball work together as a team, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We will keep you posted.

Our plans are to cover the USA indoor and outdoor volleyball teams from China.

You can play an important part in our Kid's Talk Radio coverage of the Olympics Games by joining our Kid's Talk Radio Sports News team. We will relay information from Beijing and you can pass the news to your local community schools and newspapers.

If you love to write, try our Great American Olympic Story Writing Contest. You can find all the details that you need at www.PNN.com.

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Are you ready for the 2008 Olympics?

The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team has qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and is using the World Grand Prix as an evaluation tool to help determine the 12-player roster for the Olympic Games. Team USA faces Japan on Aug. 9 to open the 2008 Olympic Games. Other teams in the American pool are Cuba (Aug. 11), Venezuela (Aug. 13), China (Aug. 15) and Poland (Aug. 17). Kid's Talk Radio is planning on catching all of the USA Women's Volleyball games and the gold medal beach volleyball match.

Story writing contest.....

We want your Olympic Stories.

The Great American Olympic Story Contest

An Olympic Boxing Story


Only a boxer can get away with a name of Boo Boo.  Now when you are a potential Olympic Boxer you can have any name that you want.  Look at it this way, who is going to forget a name like Boo Boo.  So from a marketing standpoint the name is perfect.  You will not forget Boo Boo's name.

Boxing is the king of sports.  You can't fake it.  When you get in the ring it is show time all the time.  I think boxing is the test of tests.

Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade (born. February 26, 1988, in Providence, Rhode Island ) is an amateur welterweight boxer from the United States best known to win the 2007 world championships. Demetrius won the 2007 Olympic box-off at 152 pounds, where he will represent the United States in the 2008 Olympics. He is trained by David Keefe and his father, Paul Andrade.[2]
What do you know about Boo Boo's career?
A Providence native of Cape Verdean descent, Andrade (pronounced "AN-draid") began boxing in 1994 at the age of 6. His nickname is "Boo Boo" and he currently competes in the welterweight division.
Andrade won the United States Amateur Boxing Championship in 2005, and repeated in 2006 when he also won the National Golden Gloves. He again won the National Golden Gloves in 2007, but did not compete in the U.S. Amateurs that year due to injury.
Andrade initially struggled at the international level, losing to Eastern European opponents at the World Cup in 2005 and 2006. However, he won the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, losing controversially in the gold medal match to Brazilian hometown favorite Pedro Lima by a narrow 7-6 margin.
He won Gold at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he beat Kakhaber Zhvania, Dmitrijs Sostaks, 2005 silver medalist Magomed Nurutdinov, Jack Culcay-Keth, Adem Klc in the semifinal round and then battered Non Boonjumnong of Thailand in the finals, a match in which Andrade inflicted a standing eight count upon Boonjumnong and was leading by a score of 10-1 after only one round when Boonjumnong retired with an injury. By finishing in the top eight in his weight class, Andrade immediately qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The Henry Andrade Olympic Story

Henry Andrade, a dual citizen with residency in the United States and ancestry in Cape Verde is a first class athlete. I had the pleasure of meeting Henry on at least four occasions. It is a pleasure to include his story on the Kid's Talk Radio Summertime Olympic Story Page.

A competitor in every sense of the word, Andrade began his quest for gold at the early age of eight. By thirteen, Andrade experienced his first sweet taste of victory by becoming a record holder in ther Junior Olympic games. From that point, Henry's record-breaking episodes continued to ascend. In fact, Andrade's chronicle contains quite an impressive list of acquisitions. In 1985 he became one of only three hurdlers in the history of NCAA competitions to win both the indoor and outdoor championships. Andrade is now a two-time NCAA champion, a six-time All-American, and is holder of the African record in the 110-meter High Hurdles. In addition to his remarkable feats in track and field, Andrade also found time to dazzle college fans with his football skills. To such an extent that, when he compeleted college in May of 1985, he was offered a free-agent contract with the San Diego Chargers. Although the offer was enticing, Henry opted to decline to pursue his track-and-field career. He did, however, play for the N.Y. Giants during the fall of 1987. Andrade has set three major goals for his life: playing Pro-Football, running in the Olympics, and graduating from college. He has managed to execute two of these three goals through his diligence and focus as well as the constant support of family and friends. Henry has never used obstacles as a reason for quitting or giving up. Nor has he let them impede him from pursuing his goals. This same attitude prevails as Henry faces one of the greatest challenges of his career; gaining Olympic funding. As a newcomer to the Olympic competition, he has not been afforded the financial resources to sustain full-time training. In a self-promoted effort, along with rigorous training, Andrade works a full-time job and attends graduate school in th evening at California State University, Long Beach. As an aid, an Olympic Development Fund has been established on Andrades' behalf to which private citizens can contribute.

Andrade is a national hero in his ancestral land of Cape Verde. His participation in the Olympics will bring international attention to this little known republic off the west coast of Africa. However, not even the taste of victory will equal the intrinsic value of his competing in the Olympic games; this will propel him further than any finish line. In 1996, beating all the odds, Henry Andrade will be recognized as one man running for a whole nation.

Project ECHO at UCLA's Anderson School of Management

PROJECT ECHO- Real World Skills in the Classroom

As I drove into Los Angeles on a rainy Sunday morning, I was grateful for the strong cup of coffee grasped in my hand. I knew that L.A.'s traffic and a rainy walk to the UCLA Anderson School of Management was still ahead of me.  Being native to Connecticut and relatively new to California, you might say I'm a tad unfamiliar with the L.A. freeways and streets.  Figuring that as long as I found my way to this "Project Echo" event on UCLA's campus on time, I'd get a chance to grab another Joe, network with some new people, enjoy the business savvy high school student teams present their plans and then call it a day.  As a former 8th grade teacher now working in the world of business for Pexagon Technology, I was also looking forward to interacting with high school students again.  Well, I can tell you that I surely underestimated the plans that Bob Barboza and Kid's Talk Radio had in store for me!  
 I made it to the School of Management on time, despite the rain, but did not get my second cup of coffee. I am convinced that Bob Barboza has eyes in the back of his head!  I was spotted immediately by Bob, who introduced me without delay to L.A. area principals attending Project Echo in support of their entrepreneurial students.  Then I had the great pleasure of playing a "fly on the wall" as the professionally-clad group, Animo Watts # 1 ninth graders, practiced for their  chance to impress the judges. Providing guidance and feedback were their teachers, their UCLA mentors and Dinah Consuegra, their principal.   
However, I never had the opportunity to see their full presentation or anyone else's, as Bob ushered me, DeAngelo and Stacey from Animo Watts, into the portable broadcasting studio of Kid's Talk Radio!  Plunked in front of a microphone and camera, Bob announced, "You're on!" and the three of us stared at each other, wide-eyed and sweaty palmed with fear.  With a quiver in our voices, we practiced broadcast openings, closings and questions for the interviews we were apparently going to hostand I think we actually developed a knack for it, and beyond that - perhaps a taste for it!
Stacey, DeAngelo and I had an incredible experience personally meeting and interviewing many of the ingenious minds behind the Project Echo high school businesses. After our first broadcast, each of us waited eagerly for our next opportunity to speak into the PNN microphone and hear Bob's announcement, "Quiet in the studio!"  Our interviewees included Wendy Harris, Executive Producer of KNBC, students from Santa Monica High School, and several teams that took home first place prizes of $1,000 for investment into their respective businesses.
My day was certainly much different than I had envisioned, but as a representative of Pexagon Technology, an innovative company with unique approaches to technology, it was encouraging to see the innovation and enthusiasm of these students today, and certainly much more fun than I had expected!  I believe that Stacey and DeAngelo might just agree with me.  What a huge success for everyone involved in Project Echo, and thank you to the many educators who dedicate their time, energy and passion to make programs like this available and meaningful to their students!

By Liz Reemsnyder, with Kid's Talk Radio and Pexagon Technology, Inc.

Project Echo A Hugh Success

Congratulations Project Echo you did it!

The UCLA Anderson School of Management was the place to be.

The 4th Annual High School Business Plan Compertition was an event to good to miss.  Kid's Talk Radio news team was on the spot with our Los Angeles news Watts No. 1 News Team.  This team come from Animo Locke Tech High School.  This is one of the Green Dot Public Schools. 

High school students write business plans and get cash.  All you have to do is work with your business team leader from UCLA Anderson School Of Management, do your homework, and do a bang up presention.  The judges will take a look at you and your work and then you cross your fingers.  If you win, you win big.

We will be posting more photos audio clips and videos all this week.  So, stay tuned to Kid's Talk Radio.

For more photos , go to: http://KidsTalkRadioShow.pnn.com