Reporting and Sharing the Hayden Springer Story.

So, by now, if you’re listening to this particular podcast, I’m going to assume you’ve either read or watched the Hayden Springer story on TheFirePitCollective.com.

If you haven’t, I strongly suggest you read the story, which was written by Ryan French, and then watch the story, which was produced by Ben Van Hook, shot by Henry Lynk, and edited by Adam Showen.

As you all probably know by now, The Fire Pit Collective’s first hire was Ryan French and I’m not shocked by his relentless delivery of compelling observations on aspiring Tour pros.

And when he sent in his first draft of the Hayden Springer story, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. And it’s not just that Sage Springer took that first breath and then so many more. Or that while Sage is surviving, Hayden was qualifying for the U.S. Open. Or that Emma lives and works as a nurse all day every day to make both the surviving and qualifying possible. And it goes even deeper than they do it all with such ease and selfless grace. For me, it’s also about the fact that I’m a parent. That our son had complications at birth and if it wasn’t for the staff at the Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando, he wouldn’t be alive today. So, it’s all of that. Which is why, when watching the story produced by Ben Van Hook, my wife and I sobbed. But it was an oddly good cry. An, “I’m happy for them,” cry. As French said to me: “You think it’s supposed to be a sad story, but it’s not.” That’s the true miracle here. It’s that they’re all refusing sadness, that Sage is denying death, and that with dad on the bag and the whole family in the crowd this week at Torrey, Hayden could win the whole damn thing.

So, with that, I recently spoke to French and Van Hook about how they reported their stories and asked that they share their perspectives on why this story matters to them.

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