{"id":175133,"date":"2023-10-17T08:33:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T12:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=175133"},"modified":"2023-10-17T08:33:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T12:33:40","slug":"sam-matt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/sam-and-matt","title":{"rendered":"Sam &amp; Matt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;175135&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Meet a sports-loving friendship pair, Sam and Matt! The duo have been friends for just six months and have already done so much together.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve cheered on the Washington Nationals and Fredericksburg Nationals, watched an NCAA volleyball game at George Mason University, and had a blast watching March Madness at local sports bars.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-175134\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Matt-at-the-Fred-Nats-Game.webp\" alt=\"Sam and Matt at the Fred Nats Game\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Matt-at-the-Fred-Nats-Game.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Matt-at-the-Fred-Nats-Game-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Matt-at-the-Fred-Nats-Game-150x79.webp 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatt makes me feel like I have a good friend I can count on to do stuff with,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n<p>Sam and Matt have also shown off their athletic abilities at Top Golf and Dave and Busters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI enjoy being friends with Sam because he always keeps me laughing. He\u2019s always down to have a good time, regardless of the activity,\u201d Matt said.<\/p>\n<p>Matt wanted to get involved with Best Buddies in college but had limited free time due to his ROTC schedule. Sam felt lucky that Matt circled back around to it after graduation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatt is a nice person who takes time to hang out with me,\u201d Sam said. \u201cSometimes his friends even come along with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pair are active in their local Best Buddies VA &amp; DC Citizens chapter. This spring, they were at the Friendship Walk, and recently, they branched out from the athletic world to try their hand at culinary creativity during a cooking class at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/pizza-with-a-purpose\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">North Italia<\/a>. Two months later, they were back in the stands at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/best-buddies-hits-it-out-of-the-park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nat\u2019s Park for the Best Buddies Day at the Ballpark<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Matt has also attended a social group Sam is involved in, and they celebrated Sam\u2019s birthday together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like getting to do fun things with Matt and to hang out with him and his dog Obi,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-175136\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Obi.webp\" alt=\"Sam and Obi\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Obi.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Obi-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sam-and-Obi-150x79.webp 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An important part of any friendship is being there for one another. Sam and Matt stay in touch through phone calls and texts. They support each other with their jobs and talk about life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Sam\u2019s] big heart and kindness for others make it easy to love him,\u201d Matt said.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re excited to see what other fun activities Sam and Matt get up to. Do you want to create a meaningful friendship and participate in fun events? Then join our <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.bestbuddies.org\/4903689?ChapterAcctID=0014P000042zJFmQAM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richmond<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.bestbuddies.org\/4903689?ChapterAcctID=0014P00003Iip4fQAB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington, DC<\/a> area Citizens chapter![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet a sports-loving friendship pair!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2080,"featured_media":175135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"vadc-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[504,505],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capital-region","category-capital-region-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sam &amp; 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