May 10 – May 23, 2020
Welcome to issue three hundred and thirty-eight of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Mary Cain Takes the Next Step (New York Times)
2. USA rugby player on the front lines of a pandemic (ESPN)
3. From Mexico, Isaac Alarcon will join the Dallas Cowboys (SI.com)
4. On Behind The Racquet, Noah Rubin brings tennis players’ mental, emotional struggles into focus (ESPN)
5. NFL Expands Life Skills Program to Prep College Players for Life After the Game (Front Office Sports)
6. Strength Shoes and Backboard Fingerprints: The Making of Vinsanity (Bleacher Report)
7. Linsanity, Redux: Jeremy Lin’s Star Is Shining Bright In Beijing (Sports Illustrated)
8. Cycling ‘explosion’: coronavirus fuels surge in US bike ridership (The Guardian)
9. 24 Years After Gold In Atlanta, Amy Chow Is Still The Master of Difficulty (TeamUSA.org)
10. How sport is helping to shape the smart cities of tomorrow (SportsPro)


10+
Sports Can Offer Hope for Displaced Peoples During Pandemic (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/orf-sport-can-offer-hope-for-displaced-peoples-during-pandemic
Why I Fast (by Ramla Ali) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ramla-ali-ramadan-boxing
Re-gluing sport back together in the era of COVID-19 and the SDGs (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/re-gluing-sport-development-and-peace-sport-all-and-high-performance-sport-back
6 Ways Coaches Can Continue to Support their Athletes During COVID-19 (True Sport)
https://learn.truesport.org/6-ways-coaches-support-athletes-covid-19/
The U.S. Department of State’s sport diplomacy stays the course (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/us-department-states-sport-diplomacy-stays-course


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.

Tarik Cohen reflects on how playing at an HBCU helped him (The Undefeated)
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29209697
A 6-year-old is exchanging skateboards with his idol Tony Hawk thanks to a FedEx driver’s TikTok (CNN.com)
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/21/us/tony-hawk-skateboard-via-tiktok-trnd/index.html


Introduction
One of the beauties of sports, and admittedly a frustration as well, is its unpredictability. As a Jets fan I was pretty sure that the Patriots were always going to beat Gang Green (hence, disappointment), but there was that morsel of hope that there would be an upset (the rare feeling of joy). This can also be found in viewing the performance of individual professional athletes and in watching young athletes develop into college and even professional stars. When it comes to sports, you always wonder what and who will come next.

We have two stories, that are back to back actually, that deal with athletes, one of whom was expected to “go big” and be an NBA All-Star and another who was definitely not expected to even make an NBA team. It was just by chance they are back to back in our list of 10 and it is awesome that each can be captured by words that rhyme with each other, “Vinsanity” and “Linsanity.” I am pretty sure you know who we are talking about. Even if you don’t, I know you will enjoy the stories about Vince Carter and Jeremy Lin.

The other stories we are happy to feature this week include: elite runner Mary Cain, who is finding her way back to achieving her Olympic and world championship goals; USA Rugby national team member and intensive care pediatric nurse Tess Fleury whose training in both fields has helped her on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic; Mexican football player Isaac Alarcon, who is part of a fantastic program to identify international talent for the NFL; a blog by professional tennis player Noah Rubin that gives us a look into what it means to be a professional athlete (it’s not so easy); an effort by the NFL to prepare college football players for what comes next, whether that is pro football or another career; how the pandemic has led to a cycling explosion in the United States; a talk with Dr. Amy Chow, one of the “Magnificent 7” gold medalist gymnasts from the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta; and how sports is helping to shape the smart cities of tomorrow (one of the most thought-provoking articles we have featured).

We also want to take a moment to let you know of a special opportunity being offered by the great folks at Up2Us Sports, the Up2Us Sports Summer VISTA Program. Through Up2Us Sports Summer VISTA, “we are giving nonprofits the chance to identify and hire Up2Us Sports Summer VISTAs for nine weeks, from June 29th through August 28th, to help sports-based youth development organizations build capacity as a result of the implications of COVID-19. For more information and to apply, please visit https://www.up2us.org/up2us-sports-summer-vista.”

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.


Mary Cain Takes the Next Step (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/sports/mary-cain-sponsor.html

USA rugby player on the front lines of a pandemic (ESPN)
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/29152006/usa-rugby-player-front-lines-pandemic

From Mexico, Isaac Alarcon will join the Dallas Cowboys (SI.com)
https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/news/from-mexico-isaac-alarcon-will-join-the-dallas-cowboys

On Behind The Racquet, Noah Rubin brings tennis players’ mental, emotional struggles into focus (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/29178989/on-racquet-noah-rubin-brings-tennis-players-mental-emotional-struggles-focus

NFL Expands Life Skills Program to Prep College Players for Life After the Game (Front Office Sports)
https://frntofficesport.com/nfl-college-rookie-transition/

Strength Shoes and Backboard Fingerprints: The Making of Vinsanity (Bleacher Report)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2874490-in-the-beginning-the-making-of-vinsanity

Linsanity, Redux: Jeremy Lin’s Star Is Shining Bright In Beijing (Sports Illustrated)
https://www.si.com/nba/2020/05/20/jeremy-lin-china-basketball-linsanity-redux

Cycling ‘explosion’: coronavirus fuels surge in US bike ridership (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/13/coronavirus-cycling-bikes-american-boom

24 Years After Gold In Atlanta, Amy Chow Is Still The Master of Difficulty (TeamUSA.org)
https://www.teamusa.org/News/2020/May/23/24-Years-After-Gold-In-Atlanta-Amy-Chow-Is-Still-The-Master-of-Difficulty

How sport is helping to shape the smart cities of tomorrow (SportsPro)
https://www.sportspromedia.com/from-the-magazine/smart-cities-ubranisation-neom-indonesia-paris-olympics-adidas

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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.

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