Sports Doing Good Newsletter, #24

Sept. 3 – Sept. 9, 2012

Welcome to week twenty-four of the Sports Doing Good newsletter.

Each week we are impressed with the number and array of stories we across. However, this week’s stories seemed to be especially diverse in subject matter. We had everything from an athlete giving a farewell speech (Andy Roddick) to an NBA All-Star (Rajon Rondo)taking on an internship at a fashion magazine (GQ) from a global sporting event (Paralympics) to a student-focused sports business gathering (Ivy Sports Symposium), from a documentary about females in skateboarding (“Underexposed”) to females participating in a program geared to producing future leaders (Global Sports Mentoring Program), as well as stories including NFL player Ray Rice, Olympic champion Allyson Felix, the NFL and a brain-injury study, the overlap between leadership in sports and business, leadership training in Ghana, a U.S. serviceman turned US Open ballboy (Ryan McIntosh, our “Do-Gooder” of the Week) the “greening” of sports, and Purdue University football’s tribute to a famous alum (Neil Armstrong).

Please continue to send along your stories. You are both our audience and our best source of stories. Our email address is sab@sportsddoinggood.com and our Twitter handle is @sportsdoinggood. Finally, if you think others would like to receive the newsletter, please feel free to forward it on or have them contact us directly at sab@sportsdoinggood.com. (If you do not want to receive the newsletter anymore you can use the Unsubscribe button at the end of the newsletter.)

So enjoy. And have a good week.

Athletes Doing Good

Andy Roddick’s classy goodbye speech (video)
Andy Roddick tearfully bids farewell to tennis after career-ending loss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I1-NwBOJBg&feature=colike
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/tennis-busted-racquet/andy-roddick-tearfully-bids-farewell-tennis-career-ending-231900647–ten.html

Rajon Rondo GQ Internship: NBA All-Star To Intern For Men’s Fashion Magazine
“I’m humble. Anything GQ needs me to do — getting coffee — I’ll do,” Rondo said about his new gig. “I haven’t done things like this in my entire life. It’s fun doing what I do, but it’s nice getting the flipside of that 9 to 5.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/rajon-rondo-gq-internship_n_1862443.html?utm_hp_ref=sports

Is This Star NFL Running Back The Next Cory Booker?
Ray Rice used his Facebook to share one of the most heartfelt and reasoned reactions to the Baltimore school shooting this week. It’s not the first time he’s used social media to help the community.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ninamandell/is-this-star-nfl-running-back-the-next-cory-booker

Sprinter Allyson Felix enjoys slow time
All this following the 26-year-old’s standout performance at the London Olympics, where she finished as the Games’ most decorated women’s track and field athlete, with golds in the 200, the 4×100 relay and the 4×400 relay.
http://espn.go.com/espnw/athletes-life/8340905/espnw-us-sprinter-allyson-felix-enjoys-slow-time

(Allyson Felix AP Photo-Nikola Solic)

Events Doing Good:

Ivy Sports Symposium
The Ivy Sports Symposium is an annual student-run conference that is considered one of the global sports industry’s premier events. The Symposium enables the industry’s leaders and most successful executives to share invaluable knowledge with their peers and potential successors. http://2012sportssymposium.eventbrite.com/

London 2012 Paralympic organisers revel in setting new event benchmarks
The London 2012 Paralympics has set new records in ticket sales and broadcast coverage to lift the Games to new levels of public engagement, organisers announced on Thursday.
http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/186247/london-2012-paralympic-organisers-revel-in-setting-new-event-benchmarks

Leagues Doing Good:

NFL Funds Brain-Injury Study
Opening night of the National Football League arrived Wednesday amid renewed discussion of head injuries and a $30 million grant provided by the NFL to study brain injuries and other sports-related health issues.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443589304577633973062347962.html

Media Doing Good:

Girl skaters get ‘Underexposed’
The state of the women’s skate scene is examined in Brodka’s film
http://espn.go.com/action/skateboarding/story/_/id/8337504/amelia-brodka-releases-film-underexposed-girl-skateboarders

Organizations Doing Good:

ESPN, espnW Join Forces With Clinton, State Department
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and ESPN president John Skipper announce a new collaboration between the State Department and espnW called the Global Sports Mentoring Program. http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/8343042/espnw-global-women-sports-mentoring-program-kicks-week

Deloitte Takes Olympic and Paralympic Heroes on 10-Stop College Tour to Draw Parallel Between Leadership in Sports and Business
As the excitement from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games continues, several world-class athletes are teaming with Deloitte on a 10-stop national campus tour to encourage students to ‘go for the gold™’ in all aspects of life, especially their future careers.
https://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/press/Press-Releases/5d23000ca5b89310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm

People Doing Good:

Ball boy’s goal is to inspire other amputees
Ryan McIntosh’s mission at the U.S. Open is inherently contradictory: He wants to inspire millions and go unnoticed.
http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/8344885/2012-us-open-ball-boy-goal-inspire-other-amputees

Leadership training supports Ghana Rugby League development
The Beckwith International Leadership Development (BILD) programme in Ghana has provided professional development training to the first ever Ghana Rugby League National Manager. This preparation is for the first grassroots initiative to drive the game of Rugby League in West Africa.
http://www.sportanddev.org/en/newsnviews/news/?4892/1/Leadership-training-supports-Ghana-Rugby-League-development

Teams Doing Good:

Report on the greening of sports highlights Portland Trail Blazers, Timbers
The report, “Game Changer,” was released Wednesday, the first day of the Portland-based Green Sports Alliance’s Green Sports Summit, held this year in Seattle. The Trail Blazers star in one of 20 detailed case studies presented in the report.
http://sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2012/09/report-on-the-greening-of-sports.html

Purdue’s tribute to alum Neil Armstrong
When astronaut Neil Armstrong died on Aug. 25, Purdue coach Danny Hope decided to share stories about Armstrong, a Purdue grad, as a way to motivate his team. Fifth-year receiver Tommie Thomas was so moved by the stories that he requested that the team do something to honor Armstrong.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/purdue-uses-helmet-stickets-honor-astronaut-neil-armstong-210651631–ncaaf.html