He quotes "kids have to tell seven different people before they are believed."
Sometimes connecting to a movie, leads to unexpected stories. I found this man's survivor and advocacy story because when I like one movie or the actors in it, I search to see what others movies I would watch based on the actor(s). I have had this post forming for awhile.
Did you read my earlier posts today? How about Never Painless? Connect dots?
This man's story is important. I have not read his book or watched the whole movie. He offers wisdom in the interviews and has hope after he has stood in the darkness.
A smart groomer took advantage of an already vulnerable child. Who helped? What trusted adults betrayed? His journey is of victim and survivor and shares his story.
Sheldon Kennedy: Not a made up character.
The Sheldon Kennedy Story: movie
****Adult viewing*****
https://youtu.be/gno8QAekF5w?is=iM4AQOgWW0EfvCoq
Excerpts from movie:
****Not easy to watch. Adults viewing.****
https://youtu.be/IDfh_zKxiJA?is=SGrB9dkLUu84tEBj
https://youtu.be/8T-f397oy3g?is=v6Yzpp35Z7T9xoQa
He doesn't consider himself a hero. I would highly recommend listening to this man's voice. The first video is 19 years old. Yesterday's news with relevancy to today. He connects dots to suicide.
Interviews are also for adult viewing.
https://youtu.be/iJmiddW-gw4? is=nA503h35Nle7RRDY
He says a missing piece is "the athelete's voice".
https://youtu.be/L-53fi-tIvw?is=hKDEbdSV35A79SPY. Interview 4 years ago
****Interview from 1998****
Justice and forgiveness. No forgetting. The abuser was a trusted adult within his family and sports framework. The interviewer asks about mental illness of rapist. Really? Suicide of a victim discussed, Martin Cruz. Organizational ignorance or aiding and abetting to abuse?
He credits his wife as the helper.
https://youtu.be/ntbEfEJEQkU?is=M0MiZKmBArgdOVCP
Sheldon Kennedy did not throw the sport out with the bath water. Prioritizing safety of the atheletes, he says, and play helps in trauma therapy.
https://youtu.be/d24BTNAUPXs?is=3eGn04t3D-gUvZ_x. The YT video shows a date of 2024.Young adult men respond.
Making connections:
The actor who portrayed the young adult Sheldon Kennedy, Jonathan Scarfe, also wrote a screenplay called Speak. The subject is of a high school girl. They donated their movie to a nurses' program for Trauma training.
IMDB link:
Speak (Short 2001) - IMDb https://share.google/ZnIFsvJTXPXOivAnO
There is also a 2004 movie. Maybe connected to the 2001 Short.
Speak 2004 based on a book.
****Adult viewing****
https://youtu.be/JQ_RGgedgTg?is=AE487POiXXQBFXBZ
Speak.
From the Teacher's Desk making connections to Middle Township to Cornell and to infinity and beyond with Love:
What have we taught our children? Who is listening? Are you the first adult or seventh? Who is coaching? What is consent?
Life is less than six degrees of separation as I wrote in my book..
Marian R. Carlino
November 10, 2026