North Hills athletes and opponents unite for Tenley's Team

North Hills School District’s Indians’ colors are red and white, but on Tuesday, green was the color to wear for the boys’ soccer game against North Allegheny.

That’s the color worn to support the fight against cerebral palsy. North Hills athletes wanted to show support for Nataly Price, secretary to the athletic and activities directors, whose 2-year-old daughter Tenley was diagnosed with it in August.

World CP Day is Oct. 6, so the soccer team staged a greenout during the closest scheduled home game. On Oct. 3, players from the North Hills and North Allegheny teams wore green “Tenley’s Team” t-shirts (during warm-ups) along with coaches, staff members and others in attendance, including members of the girls’ soccer, tennis, softball and cheerleading teams.

“This started as just a small group of Nataly’s closest friends and coworkers looking to support her and her family, and really grew into so much more,” said Heather Pelat, district director of communications. “The united show of support from our sports teams, coaches, booster organizations, student-athletes and of course North Allegheny’s boys’ soccer team on Tuesday night was really incredible to see. Nataly does so much for our district and we look forward to watching Tenley’s Team grow!”

For her part, Nataly Price said it was a humbling experience.

“It’s odd to be on the receiving end of this,” Price said. “Everyone surrounding me has just been incredible and these coaches and athletes and boosters have just stepped up time and time again for us — leaving me speechless multiple times. When they told me about this, I said ‘Why us, because there are so many people with major issues and terminal illnesses’ and it kind of took a minute to accept it to say ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’”

More than 17 million people are affected by cerebral palsy worldwide, according to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. It’s the most common motor disability in children.

“The North Hills community has been just incredible. Everyone has just surrounded us so greatly,” Price said.

“We knew that something was going on with (Tenley). We knew she had multiple forms of brain damage since she was about five months old. She also has optic nerve damage and some other things with her vision, so that’s why the proceeds are going to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children — because that’s probably where she’s going to go to school in the spring when she turns 3.”

Price said when people saw the athletes wearing the green “Tenley’s Team” t-shirts on Tuesday, she was inundated with requests from folks who wanted to buy them.

“It’s not lost on me that we have momentum right now and a support system that could really make a difference somehow. She’s able to do many things. So, now we can look at cerebral palsy and keep her moving forward, hopefully. I just hope that our little family and our big community can make a difference somehow.”

North Hills football coaches will wear their “Tenley’s Team” t-shirts at their game against Shaler on Friday night.