Connect with us

Utah

How Kimball Kjar co-founded Utah Warriors Rugby – Utah Business

Published

on

How Kimball Kjar co-founded Utah Warriors Rugby – Utah Business


The Founder Series is a column by and about Utah founders and how they got to where they are today. Click here to read past articles in the series.


I
 didn’t wake up one day and say to myself, “I’d like to start a professional rugby team.” In fact, I was more than happy doing what I was doing at the time. But the thing that attracted me to this business was the impact sports has on communities—especially for kids. 

Community identities are built and sustained by sports. Everyone knows what it means to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and everyone knows what the Lakers mean to the city of Los Angeles. Rivalries between Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Utah are something that can literally divide families along blue or red lines. 

This type of passion is something very few businesses can replicate. You don’t see downtown parades celebrating Amazon’s annual earnings reports, even if they beat all industry expectations, do you? Nor do you often see adults and children wearing hoodies, hats or jackets with the logos of General Electric or Berkshire Hathaway. The power of sports teams is unrivaled in the level of impact that they can have on individuals, families, businesses—and, above all—our youth.

Advertisement

A game of hooligans played by gentlemen

Sports have always been a part of my life. Like most kids raised in Utah in the ‘80s, soccer, basketball, wrestling, football and other outdoor sports like skiing or snowboarding were a big part of everything I did. 

But it was a chance interaction with my college roommate as a freshman that led me to take up the sport of rugby after I decided—at the last minute—that I didn’t want to follow through with the opportunity to wrestle for BYU. His brothers had all played rugby at the university, and when he said, “You should go and try out,” my response was, “Sure, why not.” 

I may not have known all of the rules that freshman year, but my wrestling fitness carried me, and I was able to make the team. Following my freshman year, a mission call for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took me to Brisbane, Australia, where my passion for the game of rugby deepened. This eventually led to a call-up with the USA National Rugby Team, the USA Eagles, after returning from my mission. 

Through my six-year Eagles career, I saw what rugby meant to communities and what the sport did for kids in places like South Africa, New Zealand, France, England, Ireland and other countries. Rugby is one of the world’s largest sports, and despite its perceived brutality, it supports one of the world’s most inclusive cultures for all ability levels and walks of life. It also is led by a deep sense of respect and integrity that is unrivaled by any other top-tier professional or international sport. In fact, Winston Churchill once called rugby a “game of hooligans played by gentlemen.” 

For example, after every professional and international match, opposing rugby teams—along with their staff and key supporters—get together for an after-match meal that sees each team’s captain share congratulatory comments, often offering a man-of-the-match gift to the opponent. Can you imagine if LeBron James and James Harden appeared at an after-game social and were asked to “congratulate” each other and their opposing teammates? It’s unthinkable in today’s culture of sports celebrity.

Advertisement

Rugby evokes something truly powerful in people that I believe is exactly what society needs. That’s why the Utah Warriors core values, as represented by the four stripes on each jersey, are community, family, tradition, and respect. 

Building a league that can endure

After my time with the Eagles, I went into coaching and supporting the administrative aspect of the game of rugby at the local and national levels. This was essentially volunteer work while I built a professional career and grew a variety of businesses with some amazing business partners.

In 2015, one of these businesses was in the talent acquisition and executive search industry within the high-tech sector. We had worked with numerous Bay Area and Utah-based early and late-stage tech companies and were building a decent business within a highly competitive industry. 

Around the same time, domestic and international momentum for a professional rugby competition in the United States was picking up. The first attempt at such a competition was called PRO, which stood for “Professional Rugby Organization.”

In the end, PRO lasted just one season in 2016. A window of opportunity arose after that failure, which led to the emergence of a different competition. Because I was involved in the rugby community, I was looped into various groups who wanted to help professionalize rugby in the States. 

Advertisement



Source link

Utah

Utah man dies of injuries sustained in avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Published

on

Utah man dies of injuries sustained in avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon


A man died after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.

A spokesperson for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Thursday that Kevin Williams, 57, had died.

He, along with one other person, was hospitalized in critical condition after Saturday’s avalanche in the backcountry.

MORE | Big Cottonwood Canyon Avalanche

In an interview with 2News earlier this week, one of Williams’ close friends, Nate Burbidge, described him as a loving family man.

Advertisement

“Kevin’s an amazing guy. He’s always serving, looking for ways that he can connect with others,” Burbidge said.

A GoFundMe was set up to help support Williams’ family.

Comment with Bubbles

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

_____

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Utah

911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

Published

on

911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

Advertisement

MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

Advertisement

“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

Advertisement

2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

Advertisement

A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

Advertisement

“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

Advertisement

“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

Advertisement

The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

Advertisement

The investigation remains ongoing.

______



Source link

Continue Reading

Utah

Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

Published

on

Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”

Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.

“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.

Advertisement

Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.

“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.

2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:

  • Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
  • Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
  • Does it support a ban from classrooms?

Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.

“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.

MORE | Utah State Legislature:

Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.

Advertisement

“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.

“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.

The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.

Comment with Bubbles

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

Advertisement

___



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending