Sports Doing Good Newsletter, #38

Dec. 9 – 15, 2012

Welcome to week thirty-eight of the Sports Doing Good newsletter.

This latest newsletter goes out with a heavy heart. We are, of course, saddened by the news from Newtown, CT and the senseless deaths of so many children and adults. While we promote good news, we are not immune to the opposite kind either. That reality is very much behind the launch of Sports Doing Good, i.e. to provide readers with a forum that focuses on people/athletes, teams, leagues, and events, and other organizations/associations that are inspirational in their own ways. We hope that we are achieving that goal every week, and especially this week.

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.

NFL Announces New Charitable Organization: The National Football League Foundation
Youth football, health and safety, and community will be the focus areas of the newly created National Football League Foundation. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the formation of the new organization today at an NFL meeting in Dallas.
http://nflcommunications.com/2012/12/12/nfl-announces-new-charitable-organization-the-national-football-league-foundation/

Giving Afghanistan’s wounded a sporting chance
His remarkable transformation is due not to a drug or surgery, but to a new sporting passion made possible by a low-price sports wheelchair. Ashraf and his friends say their lives have been revolutionised since they began to play wheelchair basketball only 18 months ago.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/telegraphchristmasappeal/9716181/Telegraph-Christmas-Charity-Appeal-Giving-Afghanistans-wounded-a-sporting-chance.html

Staff and patients at the orthopaedic programme in Kabul, Afghanistan, run by the International Committee of the Red Cross play wheelchair basketball using specially designed sporting chairs from the British charity Motivation

Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt’s Remarkable Friendship
After a tragic car accident orphaned the three Berry children, J.J. Watt entered their lives. Rick Reilly looks at Watt’s incredible friendship with the Berrys and how they have influenced each other.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSfkq7cXlj0

Bethany Hamilton’s Surfing Favorites + More, Alli Sports My Five
Pro surfer and shark attack survivor  Bethany Hamilton takes a few minutes to tell the world what her surfing favorites from breaks to movies. Hear what food Bethany Hamilton misses most while on tour and more in this My Five.
Video: http://youtu.be/ylNQrtO54hI

Jack Nicklaus’s Plan to Snag the Kids; He’ll Put His Clout Behind a System That Makes the Game More Accessible to Young People
If all goes according to plan, some 300 Jack Nicklaus Learning Leagues will pop up this spring in city parks-and-recreation departments across the country, with a further 500 in 2014 and as many as 1,000 additional local programs a year after that. The leagues will operate much like youth soccer and baseball Little Leagues, with minimal cost for the kids.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324640104578165430992407250.html

Grassroots Giver: Metro Area Community Empowerment Gives People Wheelchair Bound Hope
Today, Wright’s motto is: tough times don’t last long, tough people do. He puts this mantra into full perspective with MACE, which promotes community empowerment to people with disabilities through wheelchair sports and recreation and youth mentoring.
http://www.empowermagazine.com/wheelchair-bound-or-not/

Long After NBA Career, LSU’s Stanley Roberts Graduates
“His perseverance and his commitment to coming back to school say volumes about the type of individual Stanley is. All of us in the LSU basketball family, past and present, are excited for him to walk across the stage and receive his diploma. What a great accomplishment!”
http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=205825072

How Laureus is using sport to help AIDS orphans live a full life once again
Past a patch of what looks like a rubbish dump, an unlikely expanse of field sits at the town’s edge. It is a place where the area’s young people can come with friends to play cricket, kick a football around, and even play netball. A place where they know they are safe.
http://www.laureus.com/news/how-laureus-using-sport-help-aids-orphans-live-full-life-once-again

Empowering Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Future
Special Olympics Lebanon youth leader delivers moving keynote address at the IFRC Global Youth Summit in Vienna, Austria. The IFRC Global Youth Summit was a global gathering of Red Cross and Red Crescent youth leaders from over 70 countries.  The focus of the Summit was to mobilize the youth leaders from around the world, and develop key strategies to empowering today’s youth to address some of the world’s most challenging social issues.
http://specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/empowering-todays-youth-for-tomorrows-future/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Inspirational Olympic legacy in Tanzania
This week, children in Tanzania celebrated the life changing impact of sport as a result of London 2012’s international sports legacy programme, International Inspiration.
http://www.sportanddev.org/?5120/1/Inspirational-Olympic-legacy-in-Tanzania

Behind the Heart of Dallas Bowl; New non-profit organization hosts sports and entertainment events benefitting Dallas charities.
Proceeds from Heart of Dallas activities will be used to invest in collective impact strategies that make Dallas a better place. Demonstrating Heart of Dallas’ commitment to its home city, net profits from the Heart of Dallas Bowl – the organizations’ inaugural event – will benefit charities serving the homeless population in Dallas.
http://www.purduesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121112aab.html

Florida Hospital for Children Visit with Magic’s Glen Davis, Kyle O’Quinn and Hedo Turkoglu
Orlando Magic players Glen Davis, Kyle O’Quinn and Hedo Turkoglu along with Magic Community Ambassadors Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw, STUFF the Magic Mascot and Magic Dancers will spread some cheer to pediatric patients at Florida Hospital for Children. The group will deliver gifts, sign autographs, play games and bring ‘magic’ to young fans.
http://westorlandonews.com/2012/12/11/orlando-magic-staff-deck-the-halls-of-central-florida-for-holiday-season/

Teaming Up to Help the Hungry
Tyson Foods is partnering with Lift Up America and Kroenke Sports Charities to donate 30,000 pounds of protein to FBR. This contribution will be distributed to more than 50 local food agencies.
http://www.altitude.tv/about-us/misc/

More Than $150,000 Raised for SU2C Through MLB.com Auction of Rare Baseball Experiences and Items
Major League Baseball and its 30 Clubs raised $152,700 for Stand Up To Cancer in an auction of 78 unique baseball items and experiences on MLB.com. The four-day auction which was inspired by the baseball public relations officials and club executives who are bravely fighting cancer, drew 1,809 total bids on a range of items representing all 30 Clubs.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121207&content_id=40569882&vkey=pr_mlbcom&c_id=mlbcom

Los Angeles Lakers’ 2012-13 Student & Educator of the Month
Sponsored by Staples, the Student and Educator of the Month contest allows for schools in the Los Angeles area to nominate outstanding faculty members and students for a chance to be recognized for their outstanding achievements in academics, athletics and in the community.
http://www.nba.com/lakers/community/1213studenteducator.html

Breakout athletes of 2012; Twelve athletes you didn’t know when the year started, but you do now
Alex Morgan: The darling of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Morgan scored the winning goal in the Olympic semifinal against Canada to send the American’s to the gold-medal game against Japan, where the U.S. avenged its loss in the 2011 World Cup.
http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/breakout-stars-of-2012-1354840385-slideshow/london-olympics-soccer-women-photo-193530427–oly.html

Baseball Assistance Team To Honor Legendary Hall Of Famer Yogi Berra At The “Going To Bat For B.A.T. Fundraising Dinner”
At the “Going to Bat for B.A.T. Fundraising Dinner,” fans are given the opportunity to interact with Baseball Hall of Famers and former and current Major League Baseball players while raising money that goes toward assisting members of the Baseball Family who have fallen on hard times.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121213&content_id=40636110&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb

NFL Sack Leader Aldon Smith To Donate $5,099 For Each Sack During His Attempt To Break The All-Time NFL Single-Season Sack Record
As he works his way toward breaking the NFL single-season sack record, San Francisco linebacker Aldon Smith has announced that he will donate $5,099.00 for each of his sacks during the regular season.  Smith is currently credited with 19.5 sacks on the season and he is looking to beat the all-time single-season record of 22.5 sacks set by Michael Strahan in 2001. The total monies raised will be split between Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco and Boys & Girls Clubs of The Peninsula.
http://www.kotatv.com/story/20340158/nfl-sack-leader-aldon-smith-to-donate-5099-for-each-sack-during-his-attempt-to-break-the-all-time-nfl-single-season-sack-record

Cavs strike settlement with U.S. Justice Department to improve access at The Q for disabled fans
“The Cavs are to be commended for taking these important steps to improve the experience for their customers who have mobility or sensory disabilities,” said U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach in a news release.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/12/cavs_strike_settlement_with_us.html

CGI-heavy ad from Nike promotes the new NikeFuel Missions initiative
This new venture, an interactive game that serves as an extension of the Nike+ performance measuring products is introduced via a spot features digital renditions of Nike endorsers Calvin Johnson, Alex Morgan, Allyson Felix and Neymar.
Video: http://youtu.be/OtZIwxeuH20

Sport, Peace, and Development [Paperback]
This book is the first of its kind and within its covers are a collection of thirty six cutting-edge chapters by leading practitioners and academics who raise questions and provide answers regarding the broad relationship between sport, peace and development. In their writings they highlight the remarkable, but often unacknowledged, efforts which are being undertaken across the world to support people after natural disaster, war, extreme poverty, and illness have ravaged their lives.
http://www.amazon.com/Sport-Peace-Development-Keith-Gilbert/dp/1612290868/

Ban tackle football for players under 14 (commentary)
Responding to the growing body of research on head trauma and brain damage, Pop Warner put new rules in place a couple of years ago reducing contact drills, educating coaches about concussions, and requiring that concussed players be cleared by doctors before they can play again.
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/12/09/the-wilfully-blind-side/qdknUGIVLah2KQKmcSUQDO/story.html