An inspiring night at the Semoball Awards

If you attended the Semoball Awards on Saturday night, you likely left the Show Me Center inspired.

The show recognized the best of the best in high school sports, made each person feel like a star, and the keynote speaker, Kyle Maynard, gave a riveting talk. His message: No excuses.

Maynard is a quadruple congenital amputee who has exceeded expectations. He owns a gym, gives lectures and summited Mount Kilimanjaro. Many athletes took to Twitter on Saturday, sharing how inspired they were by the talk.

The event was more than a talk. It was about recognizing hard work, stellar performances, coaching and scholastic achievement. More than 150 athletes were honored, and a full list of winners was printed in Sunday's newspaper and online at semoball.com.

The Semoball.com photographers caught many moments with pictures. More than 500 photos from four galleries are posted on semoball.com. You can view and order photos on the website.

Thank you to everyone who made the night possible, including presenting sponsor SoutheastHEALTH and title sponsors First Midwest Bank, Harry Blackwell Family of Dealerships, Technomad and the St. Louis Cardinals. Thanks to our promotional partner, SEMO ESPN Radio. There were several other leading businesses whose support helped make this a fantastic event.

We know many of you enjoy sports. Whether you are watching or participating, there's something thrilling about the competition. For the young athletes, it's also about developing as a person. Learning things like dedication, hard work, and, as Kyle noted, never making excuses.

Thank you for making the inaugural Semoball Awards a success.