Kids Sports News Network

“Sweet Feet” Sam Gordon on YouTube

Sweet Feet

Not all 9-year-olds can say that they have almost 1,500 subscribers to their YouTube workout videos.  Most 9-year-olds haven’t met their sports heroes either, but not many girls who play soccer also pick up football and outrun everyone.  It all started in 2012 when Brent Gordon posted a 4-minute video on YouTube of his daughter running the ball for 2000 yards, dominating the all-male competition in Herriman’s Gremlin football league.  Not long after, Sam Gordon found herself not just juggling soccer and football practice but also interviews and invitations to the Super Bowl. Sam appreciates that she has got Youtube as a platform where she can post her videos and show it to millions of people throughout the world. She has even helped few of her friends as in one interview she said: ” my friend struggled to keep his channel alive, but then he hired The Marketing Heaven as I suggested him to and now he is easily earning to help support his family financially”. She is a big supporter of sports channels on Youtube and also follows all her favorite athletes on it.

On Sam Gordon’s YouTube channel, you will find all her interviews and appearances, her highlights of past football seasons and training at a football clinic this summer at the University of Michigan,   as well as her workout routines.  Her videos also give a glimpse into her everyday life.  You can see her training for the zombie apocalypse with her “zombie killing dog” in the same video as she competes with 800 boys at football tryouts.  While most of her notoriety and videos are about football, Sam’s true love is still soccer.  One of her videos documents a road trip to Portland for the Nike Mt Hood soccer tournament with her premier club team.  Sam says “I like playing with the boys a lot.  And, I’m friends with everyone on my team but there’s nothing as fun as hanging out with the girls on my soccer team.  Sorry football boys.”

Her workout videos include: Speed and Agility with Ladders, Hurdles Workout, and Hill Workout.    In her ladders workout video she says: “Some people say that you can’t teach speed, but they’re wrong.”  She makes it look easy in her videos, but each workout takes about an hour.  It is important for growing athletes not to over train or put pressure on growing bones, and Gordon’s workouts are intense.  Sam Gordon described the pacing of her workouts: “I do about 10 minutes of warm up running and stretching and then I run a couple laps around the building after each set of ladders.  Plus, I do burpees [a type of pushup] for any mistakes with any person who trains with me.  Then I finish with core exercises.”  Gordon’s workouts are under the recommended hour limit for vigorous training and are spaced throughout the week: “My workout is one hour every time.  I do speed and agility workouts with a trainer 3 times per week.  We do ladders one day, hurdles another day, and the hill workout or other strength training on the third [session].”  Despite her active involvement in football, sports, and regular training, she has only sprained her ankle once playing soccer.

The channel trailer is an incredible eight-minute tour of her room, but some of the memorabilia in her room is really inspirational.  After Sam Gordon’s original season highlight video went viral, she interviewed with Good Morning America, Ellen DeGeneres, ESPN’s Sports Center, and Katie Couric.  She toured NFL headquarters, attended a Women’s Sports Foundation Gala, and threw the first pitch at a Utah Ute’s baseball game.  She was featured in several magazines: Scholastic News, Sports Illustrated and More “for women of style and substance.”  She is also the first female football player ever to be pictured on a Wheaties box.  Most of her memorabilia would be meaningful only to herself, such as items from favorite teams and players like her Michigan hats, Packers footballs, various jerseys gifted by the San Francisco 49ers and US Women’s Nationals soccer team, and pictures from the XLVII Super Bowl.  However, some of her memorabilia comes with a powerful message for all girls.  The Utah Blitz, a professional tackle football league for women, signed a football for her.  She has a note from her favorite BYU player, recently drafted by the Detroit Lions, Luke Staley: “Keep working hard and setting big goals.”  In a letter, the CEO of the Green Bay Packers wrote: “Samantha, I think you could be the first women to play in the NFL.”  She also has a pair of soccer cleats signed by Alex Morgan: “Keep kicking butt.  10 more years and I better see you out there with the Nationals team.”

Despite all the famous encounters, galas, and events Sam Gordon is still a down-to-earth girl who loves running, playing sports with her family at parks and gyms near their home, and playing with her dog.  Her personality comes through in each video often including her dog and siblings and always ending with a “signature smile.”  Her father Brent Gordon explained that all the YouTube videos, pictures and memorabilia are “a keepsake, a way of recording what happened.  It will be a fun way for Sam to share her story with her friends and family.  One day she can tell her experience to kids.”  When asked on YouTube “What do you want to be when you’re grownup?” Sam Gordon replied: “I want to play soccer and then work at Nike, ESPN, or the NFL.”  Sam Gordon’s YouTube channel offers a lot of great interesting videos from highlights, everyday videos, and workouts.  I would keep an eye on this girl; she wouldn’t be the first professional player to get their start on YouTube.

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Author: Melanie Carbine

Melanie Carbine has degrees in English Literature and Math Education from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. She has lived in various parts of the world including Micronesia and the United States.  She currently writes for several education blogs, vlogs about her travels, and teaches middle school in the DC Metro Area.

 

4 Comments

  1. RevisJr

    October 9, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    She is a fluke…..

  2. RevisJr

    October 9, 2014 at 7:31 pm

    Boys can not tackle her.Thats all.

  3. RevisJr

    October 9, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    this post is not true at all.

  4. SmithJr

    October 9, 2014 at 7:34 pm

    I dont know about this. I she a fluke or not?

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