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Bring the 2009 NCAA Champions to the White House!
  1. Signatures
    54 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States
  2. Created By
    Jason Shen
    San Francisco, CA
About this Petition Petition Letter

It used to be a tradition for the President to meet the teams who won NCAA Championships at the White House - President Bush met with championship teams during his tenure.

In 2009, President Obama met with a handful of championship teams, skipping over the VAST MAJORITY of sports. We thought he was just cancelling the tradition. But instead, he just skipped our year. In September 2010, President Obama met with NCAA Championship teams. 

Why did he skip everyone in 2009?

Sign this petition and help the 2009 NCAA Champions get what they deserve - a visit to the White House and an audience with the President.

Recent Signatures

Please honor the 2009 NCAA Champions

Dear President Obama

My name is Jason Shen, and I’m a former captain of the Stanford Men's Gymnastics team. On behalf of my teammates, I'm requesting audience with you at the White House.

In 2008, the Men's Gymnastics NCAA Championships were held at Stanford University. After maintaining the #1 ranking all season, we narrowly ceded the title on our own turf to the Oklahoma University. We watched in frustration as our rivals celebrated their victory and met President Bush at the White House. But instead of losing hope, we redoubled our efforts in the gym and trained harder than ever.

In 2009, we had a remarkable season and went on to win the NCAA Team Championships - our first team victory since 1995. As captain, I was incredibly proud of our team’s courage, dedication, and sacrifice. We looked forward eagerly to meeting you, President Obama, who we understood to have quite an interest in college sports - even appearing on ESPN to white-board your March Madness bracket.

Our excitement turned into disappointment when we realized that the invitation to the White House would never come. We heard that you did meet with a few select teams but not all. While upset, we felt we ought to give the you a break. After all, the Presidency is a big job – you’re fighting two wars, getting a monumental health care bill signed and managing a troubled economy. Perhaps meeting NCAA champions would not be a high priority for your Presidency.

We went on to have another great season and ultimately placed 2nd at the NCAA championships in 2010. Imagine our shock we heard from our friends on the Stanford tennis team that they were heading to the White House to meet you following their 2010 victory. And that you gave a nice speech this very week to all the NCAA championship teams. And our shock soon turned to frustration: why did the 2009 champions get skipped? There are literally hundreds of college athletes across the country who are dying to meet you. Don’t they deserve it?

Mr President - with great respect and humility - we ask for the opportunity to meet with you. It would be an incredible honor to share our victory with you and we feel we've worked hard to deserve it. I believe I speak for my teammates and my co-champions all around the US, when I say that we will fly out to Washington D.C. at the drop of a dime. We understand that you’re busy and we’re willing to wait – but we want very much to meet you.

Please don't ignore the NCAA Champions of 2009. Bring us to the White House.

Respectfully yours,

Jason Shen
Captain, 2009 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship team
Member, Stanford Men's Gymnastics 2004-2009
BS (honors), MS, Stanford University

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