A Massachusetts police officer’s “extraordinary courage” has earned federal recognition two months after he stepped into action and saved a woman’s life on the train tracks.

FBI Director Kash Patel has sent a certificate of appreciation to Abington Police Sgt. Stephen Marquardt for the veteran officer’s efforts in preventing the distraught woman from being fatally struck by an oncoming train.

FBI Boston’s Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks visited the department on the South Shore this week, presenting Marquardt with the certificate two months after the sergeant’s life-saving action.

“Back in March, Sgt. Marquardt demonstrated extraordinary courage when he stepped onto the railroad tracks,” FBI Boston stated in a social media post, “as a train was approaching, to rescue a woman having a mental health crisis.

“FBI Boston thanks him for his unwavering commitment to public service,” the post added.

The Abington Police Department responded to the gesture, stating that it “extends its appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for recognizing Sgt. Marquardt’s bravery and dedication to public service.”

The recognition comes amid a difficult time in the Massachusetts law enforcement community, including the death of Massachusetts state trooper Kevin Trainor, who was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver on Route 1 in Lynnfield on May 6.

Marquardt has received heavy applause since responding to and saving the woman in crisis on March 6. On April 19, the long-time veteran of the Abington PD threw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

Weeks after his response, Abington Police Chief John Bonney presented Marquardt with a “Medal of Valor,” awarded to employees with a “total disregard for their personal safety to save the life of another.”

Body-worn camera footage that Bonney shared with the public in the days after the response went viral. In the clip, Marquardt is heard trying to persuade the woman to get off the tracks, but she initially resisted, as an oncoming train’s headlight comes into view.

“Come on. We are on the train tracks. I don’t want to get killed,” the sergeant is heard saying. “Come on, come on. … Please. … We are going to get run over if we stay here.”

Moments later, just after 6:15 the morning of March 6, Marquardt got the woman off the tracks. In just mere seconds, the train roars past.

“The willingness of police officers to sacrifice their own safety for complete strangers leaves me in awe every time I see it,” the police chief said at an Abington Select Board meeting on March 30. “Sgt. Marquardt was going to save this woman’s life or die trying, and the nobility in that is chilling. He saved both of their lives in that moment.”

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Last Friday, my week in hacky sack mania ended just as abruptly as it began, in the office of the orthopedic surgeon who had replaced my left hip in January, staring down at my feet as I confessed that I may have done something kinda dumb.

But let’s start at the beginning, the previous Saturday, when I overheard my 16-year-old son telling my wife that all the kids at his school were obsessed with hacky sack.

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “Did you say hacky sack? As in, um, hacky sack?”

Yes, hacky sack, the footbag game that was a stoner favorite generations ago. It had become a mania in the week since they returned from April vacation, he informed me, and it was all over social media.

“I have a hacky sack around here somewhere,” I declared, a tad too excitedly, and was just getting ready to start boring him with stories about Gen X when he cut me off.

“Yes, it’s in my pocket,” he said. “They’re sold out everywhere, so I had to find yours.”

Wait? What is happening right now?

It gets weirder

First thing that Monday morning, I was having hilarious phone conversations with educators around the state, each of them as delighted and confused as I was, trying to figure out how, overnight, Massachusetts high schools had been overrun with “sack.”

On May 7, I published a story about the phenomenon, which seems to be mostly among boys. It may have stemmed from a couple TikTok videos that circulated before school vacation, then exploded when the students returned, and immediately birthed an entire social media ecosystem, with seemingly every school having a hacky sack “team,” and even an Instagram account putting out very unofficial “official MIAA hacky sack rankings.”

That day also happened to be my 50^th birthday, and more surprising than the birthday party a bunch of friends threw me that night was that I would spend the party talking to all the other parents about hacky sack.

Soon, the trend spread out of New England, where the rebirth had begun, and other publications picked up on it. Who knew I’d stumbled upon a national scoop?

The ‘flying clipper’

Now let me bore you with Gen X stories, because we often lament that our kids don’t get to have the sort of childhoods we had, before social life moved online and into their pockets. And I can’t say any of us saw a hacky sack going into their pockets next to their phones, but it is hard to picture anything being more ideal for this moment. It’s unstructured play, it’s social, it’s accessible, and it doesn’t involve a damn screen.

And not to brag, but I was pretty decent when I would hack-in to a circle in my Tevas, so as I watched my kids fumble around like newborn giraffes in their first days as sackers, I couldn’t help myself. We passed around for a few moments, I was feeling it, and so like an idiot I did a move I haven’t done in 25 years where you jump up, raise one leg, and kick underneath it with the other (Google tells me this move is called a “flying clipper.”) I landed it perfectly as my kids said “I didn’t know you could do that!” and my body said “You can’t.”

Thankfully, after the X-rays came back, I was told the artificial hip looked fine, and I just had a mild case of something called “delusion.”

“Maybe leave the hacky sack to the kids,” the surgeon told me.

Gladly. I’m just amazed they want it.

🧩 5 Across: Slightly open | ☁️ 52° Weekend warming

‘Sold something that didn’t exist’: Hampshire College students and their parents are picking up the pieces in the wake of its closure news.

Local news? Why are millions of dollars flowing through a two-person Lexington news outlet? A look at the newsroom’s unorthodox business.

Crippling America: MIT warns that the nation is hurting its future by cutting research spending by 10 percent.

Gun smugglers: A group that bought dozens of weapons in New Hampshire and trafficked them into Canada using tribal reservation corridors has been toppled. US authorities said some of those weapons were used in violent crimes in Canada.

Transcending tragedy: ALS upended their young families’ lives. These two moms are spreading awareness, and joy.

Kissing the ring: What do Cabinet secretaries, UFC fighters, and baseball mascots have in common? They all paid homage to Trump in a single week.

Logan boat crash: You read that right. A 24-year-old Andover woman has been killed and three people injured in the late-night boat crash at a pier of the international airport.

The Wampanoag were right: Researchers find evidence of at least 15 early burials at Burying Hill in Bourne. (WCAI)

‘It’s an absolute total loss’: Moozy’s Ice Cream in Belmont has been destroyed in a three-alarm fire. Also, Downtown Crossing’s Scholars bar is closing, but a new place will take its place.

Red Sox: The greatest interim manager in baseball history says interim managers have a tough job. Says Joe Morgan: “Most of the time you’re taking over a lousy team.”

To save the middle class: Massachusetts wrote America’s first wage standard in 1912. “We are well placed to write the next one,” UMass Amherst economist Arindrajit Dube writes.

Susan Collins: Is the health of the Maine senator fair game in her Senate race? asks Joan Vennochi.

Public service: A trooper’s death reminds us of what public service really means, Kevin Cullen writes.

By David Beard

🎤 Guess who’s coming to town? Our summer arts guide points out the 80 best finds of the season, from Rosalia and a post-World Cup Shakira to an SNL reunion night, “The Sleeping Beauty,” and the art of Winslow Homer.

🎻 But wait, there’s more! Alec Baldwin will narrate “Lincoln Portrait” with the BSO at Tanglewood.

📺 What about this weekend? Our streaming picks include the thriller “The Lurker,” Colin Jost’s version of “Jeopardy,” and a HBO documentary with Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani, and Bowen Yang.

🍕 Get out! The weather’s going to be great. Do you want sugar pizza? Or to kick back in your choice of beer gardens? Here are the week’s most notable restaurant openings around Boston.

🐶 Love is ruff: During this week’s Blind Date, “we talked a lot about her dog, Clementine, a sheepadoodle.” Plus, in Love Letters, will this college relationship make it through summer?

💤 Better sleep: Here’s an eight-second trick to get you back to sleep in the middle of the night. (Today)

⛰️ Mount Washington: This writer first ascended to the top of the wild, gusty New Hampshire peak at age 4 — and has kept coming back. Why? “The fragrant forest, chickadees, ice cold streams, and awe-inspiring vistas,” John Dodge writes.

Thanks for reading Starting Point. Have a great weekend!

This newsletter was edited by David Beard and produced by Ryan Orlecki. Today’s hacky sack soundtrack is Two Princes, by Spin Doctors.

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Billy Baker can be reached at billy.baker@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @billy_baker.