[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11986]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE STUTTERING FOUNDATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 20, 2006

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring the attention of the 
House to an article I recently read about Tiger Woods in The Stuttering 
Foundation's summer newsletter. I stuttered as a child and I think it's 
important for kids to know that they can overcome this complex 
disorder. Tiger Woods is an excellent example of the many people who 
have led successful productive lives despite struggling with stuttering 
as a child.

                   Tiger Wins at Golf--and Stuttering

       Top-ranked golfer Tiger Woods tells CBS's 60 Minutes that 
     it takes hard work and a competitive spirit to overcome 
     childhood stuttering.
       ``The words got lost, you know, somewhere between the brain 
     and the mouth. And it was very difficult, but I fought 
     through it. I went to a school to try and get over that, and 
     I just would work my tail off,'' Woods told the news program 
     in April.
       ``The parallels between speech performance and sports 
     performance are striking,'' said Jane Fraser, president of 
     the Stuttering Foundation, ``and Tiger Woods is the latest 
     example of how the many hours of practice and hard work to 
     win in sports are no different from those long hours spent in 
     therapy for stuttering.''
       NBA Hall of Famer and sports commentator Bill Walton dealt 
     with stuttering just like he did basketball. ``I thought 
     about the fundamentals of the game and how to start with the 
     basics like the ability to mechanically duplicate moves on a 
     basketball court. And then I just applied that to speaking.''
       Chicago Bulls' legend Bob Love notes that ``countless hours 
     of work taught me to manage moments of difficult speech.''
       In a recent interview, Denver Nuggets' star Kenyon Martin 
     said of his stuttering, ``How I got through it was just by 
     working hard at it.''
       U.S. Open golf champion Ken Venturi adds, ``I have had to 
     work through the years to overcome stuttering and to speak 
     more easily and fluently.'' Venturi compares moving smoothly 
     through speech to moving gracefully through a golf stroke.
       ``Tiger Woods is the perfect role model for all school-age 
     children who struggle with this complex disorder,'' said 
     Fraser. The Foundation offers free resources at 
     www.stutteringhelp.org where Tiger joins a long list of 
     celebrities who stutter.

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