ESPN’s SC Featured Tells Story of Bond Between Young Wrestler, Coach

In the Sunday editions of ESPN SportsCenter on May 17, the weekly SC Featured segment will tell the story of Isaiah Bird, a seven-year-old wrestler in Long Beach, N.Y., who was born without legs and has formed a strong bond with his coach.

In its simplest definition a family refers to a group of people closely related by blood, but often family extends beyond the boundaries of relatives. In Bird’s hometown, there's a wrestling community that is exactly that -- a family. And to Bird, his coach, Miguel Rodriguez, has become like a father.

Bird was born without legs, but that's not his greatest challenge in life. Tom Rinaldi reports forSC Featured on the unseen challenges Bird faces and the bond formed between a remarkable boy and a remarkable man.

The feature will debut in the 10 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter and will re-air in other editions of the program throughout the day.

PREVIEW

Some quotes from the feature:

“He gives me love. I give him love. Coach protects me, and I like when he protects me.” – Isaiah Bird.

“He knows that I will never let anything happen to him.  I will always be in his life.  I can never let him go.” – Coach Miguel Rodriguez.