SCOTTSBLUFF—“Live Like Line” has become a popular phrase for people in and around Iowa for the past 13 years and on Monday, April 3, Western Nebraska Community College will be bringing in Kathy Bresnahan, author of the book “The Miracle Season,” which was made into a movie.
Bresnahan is more than an author, but was also the Iowa City West volleyball team’s coach that overcame emotional issues to capture a state title after the death of their all-state setter weeks before the season started.
The April 3 presentation is more about than just volleyball, it is about overcoming emotion and getting back on the court in a positive manner.
After the event, there will be a book signing by Bresnahan, the author.
Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Binny Canales said this is a very inspirational movie and the presentation will be meaningful for anyone.
“I think she is an incredible speaker and she will talk about everything that happened with her story, the story of her teams, and it is very inspiring,” Canales said. “It is special to us but it could have happened in any sport with the way the team came together, the way she held them together, it was just amazing.”
There is so much more to “The Miracle Season” that people don’t realize. The whole story involves the tragic accident that claimed Caroline Found in August of 2011 when she was riding her moped while returning home from a church youth group.
While Found was a star volleyball player, she was also a member of the school’s softball team and had an impact on every student in the school in some fashion as well as the community.
The story of Found and the Iowa City West volleyball team from 2011 has many inspiring moments and one where the team had a hard time getting back on the court. Then, 12 years after the accident, Found still has an impact on the school and what she meant to anyone she touched. On the Iowa City West Facebook page is a picture of a current student holding a sign that says “Thanks Live Like Line Foundation for helping West High Students.”
The Iowa City West High School honored Found with a special honor a couple years after with a DPO honoree, saying, “’Live Like Line,’ has become a popular phrase for people when they remember their friend and classmate from West High, Caroline Found. Caroline has been described as a person that accepted and made friends with everyone, there were no boundaries in her world – everyone was accepted. She was known for her smile and making everyday life and situations more fun. She seized moments and treasured relationships with people most of all, her family. She was a role model for the West High community and her enthusiasm for life is something her friends and family wish for all of us to remember’.”
The slogan “Live Like Line” is amongst itself inspiring to the true story that volleyball coach Bresnahan wrote that book published about five years later and then a movie was made and released in 2018. Live Like Line shorts are available and the Live Like Line Foundation raises funds to help students who can’t afford to play sports or participate in activities.
Bresnahan will be in Scottsbluff on April 3 to talk about inspiration that it took to re-motivate the team after Flood’s passing and to get them back on the court to accomplish that dream of another state title.
The movie depicts what everyone went through on that August night when their star setter was taken from them.
The comments from “The Miracle Season” trailer on Youtube tells says this movie is more than volleyball, it deals with all sports. One comment from two years ago said it reminded her of when Kobe Bryant was killed with his daughter and that team had to continue on without Gianna Bryant. “2020 anybody? I know this is about volleyball, but this kind of reminds me of Gianna Bryant who passed away with her dad (Kobe Bryant) in January 2020. Now her team is also left without her,” is what the comment from the trailer said.
Bresnahan’s encouragement during the tragic season in 2011 helped re-motivate her volleyball team and has inspired high school and college teams around the states. The movie “The Miracle Season” starred Helen Hunt and William Hurt. Danika Yarosh, played Caroline Found, while Erin Moriarty played Kelley Fliehler, who was Found’s best friend and stepped up in Found’s role as setter to help them win a second straight state title.
Moriarty has appeared in several movies and television series such as One Life to Live in 2010 as Whitney Bennett and is currently in The Boys. Yarosh has appeared in many TV shows and movies, from Chicago P.D., Shameless, See Dad Run, and The Purge.
The April 3 evening will focus on what Found meant to Iowa City West High School and the community. Bresnahan will talk about the true-life experience when the tragic event happened to their Found was killed in Iowa City, Iowa. Found would have been senior. The story was on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in 2012. Frank Deford called it a sad story. “A sad story, a real tragedy,” Deford calls it in a story to a local reporter in 2012. “But at the end there was an uplift to it. That’s that separated it from just the usual tragic story. That, and the fact that she obviously was such a terrific kid.”
The book signing and inspirational message is open to anyone, not just volleyball teams, but for any athlete or anyone that has been affected by tragedy and how to move on.
Get your tickets through the link on the WNCC athletic webpage at www.wnccathletics.com. Plenty of tickets are available with hopes of packing the college theater for this inspirational message.