July 18 – July 31, 2021
Welcome to issue three hundred and sixty-nine of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. From Shohei Ohtani to Naomi Osaka, Japanese athletes dominate during golden era (LA Times)
2. After This Weird NBA Season, We Have A Better Idea Of How Much Fans Matter (FiveThirtyEight)
3. A man of many interests, Olympian Noah Lyles is now only focused on winning the 200-meter dash (The Undefeated)
4. How Washington Mystics Point Guard Natasha Cloud Became the WNBA’s Unofficial Minister of Social Justice (Washingtonian)
5. Long Island teen with 90+ mph fastball is the first known Orthodox Jewish player drafted in Major League Baseball (CNN)
6. The Bucks’ Long Game Pays Off (SI)
7. How a Ban on a Swim Cap Galvanized Black Swimmers (New York Times)
8. Olympics 2021 swimmer Nicole Frank is living out her grandmother’s dream in Tokyo (ESPN)
9. Anna Kiesenhofer is a math genius who just pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Olympics history (CNN)
10. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who ‘came from nothing,’ wins first-ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines (Next Shark)


10+
The Journey Home (by Aaron Wan-Bissaka) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/aaron-wan-bissaka-premier-league-manchester-united-soccer
Global Observatory for Women, Sport, Physical Education and Physical Activity establishes in Lausanne (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/global-observatory-women-sport-physical-education-and-physical-activity-establishes
Beyond Soccer 2021 Focuses on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Beyond Sport)
http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/beyond-soccer-2021-addresses-diversity-equity-inclusion/
Exclusive: 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Reveal Superstar Athlete Advisors (Boardroom)
https://boardroom.tv/2028-los-angeles-olympics-advisors/
Heroes in tracksuits (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/heroes-tracksuits


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!

How Skateboarding, Surfing, and Climbing Became Olympic Sports | World Debut (YouTube)
https://youtu.be/pFnD8tVI6Pg
Teenage Skateboarding Sensation Jordan Santana Rides for Texas (TexasMonthly)
https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/video-tokyo-olympics-skateboarding-jordan-santana/
An Inside Look at PCA’s Sports Can Battle Racism Workshop (Sports Engine)
https://www.sportsengine.com/coaches-corner/inside-look-pcas-sports-can-battle-racism-workshop
Breaking through (The Documentary Podcast)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09pnkp3

Introduction
The Summer Olympic Games are consistently the best 17-days in sports, with incredible talent only matched by incredible stories of the athletes who strive to win gold, silver or bronze. I am a big fan of the Games and am thankful they are taking place. I, absolutely, understand the protests of many around the world about the Games taking place at all, especially the good people of Tokyo/Japan. For me, both sides of the debate have merit.

In supporting the Games, I, again, focus on the athletes, and by extension their family and friends. Dedicating a good portion of one’s life to the attainment of the greatest excellence is regularly awarded in our society, whether that is academics, athletics, music, art, or community service. To have but one chance to capture that excellence is daunting and should be preserved for those who work so hard. That is why I am generally against the boycotting of the Games. If sports can be a tool for justice and peace, I prefer that it be used to engage those with whom we disagree rather than push away. But, of course, we are dealing not so much with a regional political/diplomatic conflict this time around but a truly global challenge, a pandemic that has taken several million lives.

How will history judge the IOC’s decision to go ahead with the Games? I don’t know. As it is said, “Timing is everything.” Right now, every thrilling effort by the athletes and the display of support by family and friends tells me now that the decision was correct. What will we say in 3 or 6 or 12 months if we have to take a step back in our fight against the pandemic because of the Games?

What the pandemic and Tokyo’s effort to host the Games tell me is that a new model for hosting needs to be created. The financial cost to individual cities is creating an unwanted reality, that is, no one will want to host the Games. Just this month Brisbane was awarded the Summer Games in 2032. However, its victory was a bit hollow as NO OTHER city bid to host the Games. The huge undertaking for Tokyo and the solo bid of Brisbane will hopefully get the IOC to think of ways to showcase the world’s best athletes in a way that rewards the hosts for their hospitality rather than punishes them.

But here we are, halfway through the Games of 2020/21. I encourage all of you to give the Games a chance if you haven’t already, and for those who have, keep watching and supporting these amazing athletes. To help get you in the mood, please take a view of these amazing Opening Ceremony moments – https://fb.watch/6_uvur76uk/ – and read this Olympics-heavy Sports Doing Good newsletter.

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.

From Shohei Ohtani to Naomi Osaka, Japanese athletes dominate during golden era (LA Times)
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-07-12/shohei-ohtani-naomi-osaka-japan-has-begun-golden-age-of-sports

After This Weird NBA Season, We Have A Better Idea Of How Much Fans Matter (FiveThirtyEight)
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/after-this-weird-nba-season-we-have-a-better-idea-of-how-much-fans-matter/

A man of many interests, Olympian Noah Lyles is now only focused on winning the 200-meter dash (The Undefeated)
https://theundefeated.com/features/a-man-of-many-interests-olympian-noah-lyles-is-now-only-focused-on-winning-the-200-meter-dash/

How Washington Mystics Point Guard Natasha Cloud Became the WNBA’s Unofficial Minister of Social Justice (Washingtonian)
https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/07/08/how-washington-mystics-point-guard-natasha-cloud-became-the-wnbas-unofficial-minister-of-social-justice/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Long Island teen with 90+ mph fastball is the first known Orthodox Jewish player drafted in Major League Baseball (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/15/us/mlb-draft-orthodox-jewish-pitcher-trnd/index.html

The Bucks’ Long Game Pays Off (SI)
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/07/21/milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-nba-champions-2021-daily-cover

How a Ban on a Swim Cap Galvanized Black Swimmers (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/style/olympics-soul-cap-ban-swimming.html

Olympics 2021 swimmer Nicole Frank is living out her grandmother’s dream in Tokyo (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31870985/olympics-2021-swimmer-nicole-frank-living-grandmother-dream-tokyo

Anna Kiesenhofer is a math genius who just pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Olympics history (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/26/sport/anna-kiesenhofer-olympic-gold-tokyo-2020-spt-intl/index.html

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who ‘came from nothing,’ wins first-ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines (Next Shark)
https://nextshark.com/hidilyn-diaz-first-filipino-gold-medalist/



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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.

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516-287-7141
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