May 9 – May 22, 2021
Welcome to issue three hundred and sixty-four of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Tamika Catchings Is Taking Her ‘Superpower’ to the Hall of Fame (New York Times)
2. Josh Bell has thought long and hard about social change. In Washington, he’s ready to act. (Washington Post)
3. Meet America’s Newest Chess Master, 10-Year-Old Tanitoluwa Adewumi (NPR)
4. The Root of the Knicks’ Success? Caring When They Didn’t Have To. (New York Times)
5. How Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are walking the path of giants (The Undefeated/ESPN)
6. A daunting prognosis, a chance meeting and Charles Oliveira’s UFC moment (ESPN)
7. This Is The Story of the World’s Greatest Soccer Team (Guernica)
8. How an Xbox 360 Spawned Dylan Hess’ Love for Lacrosse (USA Lax Magazine)
9. Play Equity Should Be Our Goal As Schools Open In Wake of COVID-19 (LA84 Foundation)
10. Chellsie Memmel, 12 years after her Olympics, came back to gymnastics as a mom (NBC Sports)


10+
Canadian Curriculum supports Egypt’s first Youth Baseball League (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/baseball-canada-run-first-egyptian-youth-baseball-league/
Johnathan Joseph Fights the Fight (Johnathan Joseph) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/johnathan-joseph-fights-the-fight-nfl-football
Peace and Sport inaugurates the international program “Peacemakers Project” with the support of prestigious partners (Peace and Sport)
https://www.peace-sport.org/news/peace-and-sport-inaugurates-the-international-program-peacemakers-project-with-the-support-of-prestigious-partners/
Leadership lessons from a legend (Beth Launiere) (NAYS)
https://www.nays.org/sklive/features/leadership-lessons-from-a-legend/
The Power of Words (Yuta Watanabe) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/yuta-watanabe-toronto-raptors-basketball-nba


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. And now we add podcasts!

Why Boban Marjanovic is the NBA’s most lovable center (ESPN)
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=31453661
Unleashing the power of sports for social change (SportWorks)
https://sportworker.com/talks/2021/05/21/unleashing-the-power-of-sports-for-social-change-prof-muhammad-yunus/
Podcast: Rights, sport and disability (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/media/podcast-rights-sport-and-disability


Introduction
One of the issues with diversity in sports, or anywhere for that matter, is the idea of who gets to be or do something. Who gets to be a pro athlete, a head coach, a team owner, etc.? We have seen it take decades for many in society to find their rightful place in these positions. Some of the restrictions in the past were formal or rule-based. Others, based on long-held stereotypes. What I have seen over the past nine years doing this newsletter is the progression, even if slow, of advances for individuals and groups in sports. To me, that is sports doing good.

Seemingly in every issue there is something about a “first-time” happening or at least, something that is rather unusual. We have that again this week. We have new national chess master, 10-year Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who fled with his family from religious persecution in his native Nigeria. We have the Paretta Autosport team, 70% of its team are women, including the owner and driver, looking to make history at this year’s Indianapolis 500. And we have Chellsie Memmel, a former national and world champion Olympic gymnast who is dipping her toes back into the competitive realm as a 32-year old mother of two.

In all of these situations, the individuals involved all have to overcome their own personal doubts and challenges to achieve their goals. Many times, these are unnecessarily compounded, by limits put on them by others. Why are women trying to compete in the Indianapolis 500? Why does a mom want to compete in elite gymnastics? These questions inevitably directly and/or indirectly make the journey harder. The questions should not be around “Why” these pursuits are happening, but rather, “What” can we do as individuals and society to encourage and support such efforts.

As a fan, I love to hear about these outliers who challenge old thoughts and expectations, for one day, people in their positions won’t be seen as outliers. They will just be seen as valuable parts of the world of sports that we love and cherish and value. And that is a very good thing.

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.

Tamika Catchings Is Taking Her ‘Superpower’ to the Hall of Fame (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/sports/basketball/tamika-catchings-hall-of-fame.html

Josh Bell has thought long and hard about social change. In Washington, he’s ready to act. (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/05/08/josh-bell-social-change-washington-nationals-youth-academy/

Meet America’s Newest Chess Master, 10-Year-Old Tanitoluwa Adewumi (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995936257/meet-americas-newest-chess-master-10-year-old-tanitoluwa-adewumi

The Root of the Knicks’ Success? Caring When They Didn’t Have To. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/sports/basketball/knicks-playoffs.html

How Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are walking the path of giants (The Undefeated/ESPN)
https://theundefeated.com/features/russell-westbrook-stephen-curry-chris-paul-are-walking-the-path-of-giants/

A daunting prognosis, a chance meeting and Charles Oliveira’s UFC moment (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/31432133/ufc-262-difficult-prognosis-chance-meeting-charles-oliveira-ufc-moment

This Is The Story of the World’s Greatest Soccer Team (Guernica)
https://www.guernicamag.com/this-is-the-story-of-the-worlds-greatest-soccer-team/

How an Xbox 360 Spawned Dylan Hess’ Love for Lacrosse (USA Lax Magazine)
https://usalaxmagazine.com/college/men/how-an-xbox-360-spawned-dylan-hess-love-for-lacrosse

A Team Of Mostly Women Races To Make History At The Indianapolis 500 (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/999087718/a-team-of-mostly-women-races-to-make-history-at-the-indianapolis-500

Chellsie Memmel, 12 years after her Olympics, came back to gymnastics as a mom (NBC Sports)
https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2021/05/22/chellsie-memmel-comeback-gymnastics/

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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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