Sports Doing Good Newsletter, #337

April 26 – May 9, 2020
Welcome to issue three hundred and thirty-seven of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. The exquisite pain that changed my life: How college football turned me into a lifelong traveler (CNN.com)
2. Ogonna: 2-Time Volleyball Olympian Turned Surgeon (TeamUSA.org)
3. From Fields to Field Hospitals (ESPN)
4. A Blocker Moves to the Pandemic’s Front Line (SI.com)
5. Spanish soccer league delays Covid-19 tests for players, who ask that health workers be prioritized (CNN.com)
6. How Nike is striking the right tone with its response to Covid-19 (Econsultancy)
7. The Meaning Behind Crests: Man United’s Red Devil, Panathinaikos’s Shamrock and More (SI.com)
8. From LA to Halifax, baseball to lacrosse, new engagement tools bringing value to fans, brands, teams (TMR.com)
9. Coronavirus sidelined youth sports — and I’m secretly happy about it (Rochester City Newspaper)
10. The Invisible Boy Who Became Mr. Invincible (Narratively)


10+
While Hoops Are Taken Down, PeacePlayers Brooklyn Building Communities Back Up
(PeacePlayers)
https://www.peaceplayers.org/while-hoops-ar-taken-down-peaceplayers-brooklyn-building-communities-back-up/
Beyond Sport Workshop Week – a virtual experience like no other (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/introducing-beyond-sport-workshop-week-2020/
Under Armour Donates €1M of Sportswear to Hospital Staff (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/under-armour-donates-1m-of-sportswear-to-hospital-staff/
Coaching During COVID-19: Tips and Resources (Up2Us Sports)
https://www.up2us.org/up2ussportsathome
In the XFL, We Were All on a Mission (by P.J. Walker) (The Players Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/pj-walker-xfl-nfl-carolina-panthers

We present again our “Featured Video” offering(s). With the explosion of video content out there highlighting the good in sport, we want to showcase such content for your enjoyment and learning. This will be an ongoing effort.

You Can Be Anything (by Aly Raisman) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/videos/you-can-be-anything-aly-raisman
These Brothers Conquer Ironmans as a Team (Great Big Story)
https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/these-brothers-conquer-ironmans-as-a-team


Introduction
We have joined the world of Instagram! I know, a little late. But we’re there. (I might need some more time for TikTok though). 🙂 On Instagram we are @sportsdoinggood and as a reminder, our Twitter handle is @sportsdoinggood and on Facebook we are at www.facebook.com/sportsdoinggood.

During difficult times like these, we should as Mister Rogers said, “look for the helpers.” And what we have seen over the past few months is that the helpers are definitely there. We are talking about doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, EMTs, med techs, delivery people, grocery store workers, garbage persons, police and firepersons, etc. The helpers are also those who acknowledge these frontline folks. My days are now punctuated at 7pm each night with whistles, cheers, banging pots and pans, etc. Yes, credit goes to those who not only look for the helpers, but also acknowledges them as well. Hopefully this type of love will continue post-pandemic as well.

We lead with this discussion because sports folks in their own ways are also trying to help each other and all of us get through this. Many are staying active on social media and via videoconferencing to stay in touch with fans. Others are lending their voice to encourage all of us to stay at home, stay safe, and let the frontline workers do what they do. And we do have multiple examples of current and former athletes actually on the frontline right now. Two of our stories this week speak to such wonderful individuals, Drs. Ogonna Nnamani Silva and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Please take a look at these two stories.

The other stories we are happy to feature this week include: one fan’s sometimes tortured love affair with her favorite college football team; how our temples to sport are now being used to help take care of the sick during the pandemic; a wonderful gesture by some of Spain’s best athletes in support of frontline workers; how Nike, like other companies, is finding ways to contribute directly and indirectly to the fight against coronavirus; the stories behind the crests on some of the world’s most famous football jerseys; how teams and leagues are finding new ways to engage with fans that are likely to continue when we settle into a “new normal;” a parent’s take on how youth sports can take this break in activity to reevaluate itself and do better for the kids involved; and the compelling story of Gilbert Alaskadi and lessons for all of us about perseverance and commitment.

And please, don’t forget the stories we include in our 10+ and video section above. Great stories there as well.
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 email).

So, enjoy. And have a good week.

The exquisite pain that changed my life: How college football turned me into a lifelong traveler (CNN.com)
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/college-football-travel/index.html

Ogonna: 2-Time Volleyball Olympian Turned Surgeon (TeamUSA.org)
https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Features/2020/April/28/Nnamani-Silva-Volleyball-Olympian-to-Surgeon

From Fields to Field Hospitals (ESPN)
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story?_slug_=how-coronavirus-turned-world-athletic-fields-field-hospitals&id=29040773&redirected=true

A Blocker Moves to the Pandemic’s Front Line (SI.com)
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/04/27/chiefs-ol-laurent-duvernay-tardif-medical-doctor-works-on-covid-19-front-lines

Spanish soccer league delays Covid-19 tests for players, who ask that health workers be prioritized
(CNN.com)
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/football/spanish-football-league-coronavirus-testing-players-delay-spt-intl/index.html

How Nike is striking the right tone with its response to Covid-19 (Econsultancy)
https://econsultancy.com/how-nike-is-striking-the-right-tone-with-its-response-to-covid-19/

The Meaning Behind Crests: Man United’s Red Devil, Panathinaikos’s Shamrock and More (SI.com)
https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/04/20/meaning-behind-crests-logos-man-united-panathinaikos-cruz-azul

From LA to Halifax, baseball to lacrosse, new engagement tools bringing value to fans, brands, teams (TMR.com)
https://teammarketing.com/new-engagement-tools-emerging/

Coronavirus sidelined youth sports — and I’m secretly happy about it (Rochester City Newspaper)
https://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/coronavirus-sidelined-youth-sports-and-this-dad-is-secretly-happy-about-it/Content?oid=11670893

The Invisible Boy Who Became Mr. Invincible (Narratively)
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-invisible-boy-who-became-mr-invincible?utm_source=pocket-newtab


Quick Links…
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More About Us
Our goal is to have Sports Doing Good be a portal housing original content and excerpts from and links to the increasing number of articles, websites, video, and other media that showcase the good in sports and society. We aim to celebrate those concepts, activities, events, and individuals by highlighting them for a wider audience. Much of the news today, whether sports- related or not, is incredibly negative and increasingly polarizing, biased, and quite annoying. We are trying to refocus some of the discussion on the good, with a focus on sports.

Our mission is to have Sport Doing Good be a consistent, and significant, contributor to the areas of sports, social responsibility and development. We look forward to partnering with other stakeholders in producing content, in creating and/or sponsoring athletic and service events, knowledge sharing, and conferences/seminars, and even having a commercial arm that could be the source of innovative social businesses.

We invite you to send in news, press releases, and guest pieces for possible publication, and email us with suggestions about the content and format of the newsletter and Sports Doing Good website.

Contact Information
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Sarbjit “Sab” Singh
sab@sportsdoinggood.com
516-287-7141
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