Sports Doing Good Newsletter #373

Sept. 19 – Oct. 2, 2021
Welcome to issue three hundred and seventy-three of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. JR Smith’s college tweets show maturation — and hilarity (The Undefeated)
2. Elite athletes love this cult massage-gun brand. Now it’s branching out to mental health (Fast Company)
3. The Dark-Horse NL MVP Candidate Who Looks Like Ted Williams 2.0 (Bleacher Report)
4. ‘The One That Stayed’: Reds Star Is Finding Satisfaction in Abandoning Perfection (Sports Illustrated)
5. ‘A truly abstract, different type of player’: Gerd Müller, the NASL’s quietest superstar (The Athletic)
6. Seimone Augustus Found Her Voice Long Before Coaching (New York Times)
7. Rebekkah Brunson: ‘I feel like people who are actually really fans of the game, respect my game’ (The Undefeated)
8. The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver (GQ)
9. How Soccer Made Me a Survivor (Sydney Park) (Newsweek)
10. ‘Every single time I lift the bar, I’m just lifting my country up’: Shiva Karout’s quest for powerlifting glory (CNN)


10+
2021 RWJF Sports Award Winners Announced (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2021/09/2021-rwjf-sports-award-winners-announced.html
Sport to promote peace and transform lives (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/sport-promote-peace-and-transform-lives
Announcing a New Tool for US Youth Sport Organizations to Address Racial Inequities (Beyond Sport)
https://www.beyondsport.org/articles/announcing-a-new-tool-for-us-youth-sport-organizations-to-address-racial-inequity/
Back to the pitch with European Football Week 2021! (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/back-pitch-european-football-week-2021
“Proving the impact of Sport for Development programs: Peace and Sport’s approach” – Marlene Harnois (SportWorks)
https://sportworks.sport/talks/proving-the-impact-of-sport-for-development-programs-peace-and-sports-approach-marlene-harnois/


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!

High school analytics team plays pivotal part in Ben Wallace’s Basketball Hall of Fame selection (The Undefeated)
https://theundefeated-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/theundefeated.com/features/high-school-analytics-team-pivotal-in-getting-ben-wallace-into-the-naismith-basketball-hall-of-fame/amp/
Exclusive: Romelu Lukaku urges social media CEOs to sit down with players to stop online abuse (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/23/football/romelu-lukaku-urges-social-media-ceos-to-stop-abuse-spt-intl/index.html
How one man uses scuba diving to encourage youth to protect the environment (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/09/17/cfc-whitfield.cnn


Introduction
I want to start off by highlighting two great events coming up in the next two weeks. Please take a look and if you have time and are able, please attend.

Back in action! Here’s the Kickng+Screening New York 2021 film lineup
https://www.kickingandscreening.com/news/back-in-action-heres-the-ks-new-york-2021-film-lineup

2021 Sporting Chance Forum (Oct. 4th – 7th)
https://sportingchanceforum.com/

One of the great things that I have seen doing the newsletter for more than eight years is the variety of sources from which I am able to pull stories. The increase in the number of sources is partly due, I guess, to me expanding my reading list but I think it is more than that. I think more entities are publishing stories that fit under the “sports doing good” banner. It is fun to have GQ, Vogue, NPR, 60 Minutes, and others highlight positive efforts in sports by individuals and organizations. I think it is part of a larger movement that is a combination of the democratization of content distribution and the recognition that our efforts to do good are fueled by regularly seeing good stories that continue to motivate and energize us.

That is part of the reason we have been highlighting interesting videos from around the web. It is also the reason that we have had folks contact us about interesting stories they are hearing on the growing number of podcasts out there. There is a phrase used in another context that says, “you can’t be it if you don’t see it.” The idea of positivity is certainly no secret, but I think it has gone much further than that. It is becoming a regular part of our conversations. And that is more than good, it’s great.

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.

JR Smith’s college tweets show maturation — and hilarity (The Undefeated)
https://theundefeated.com/features/jr-smith-college-tweets-show-maturation-hilarity/

Elite athletes love this cult massage-gun brand. Now it’s branching out to mental health (Fast Company)
https://www.fastcompany.com/90670708/elite-athletes-love-this-cult-massage-gun-brand-now-its-branching-out-to-mental-health

The Dark-Horse NL MVP Candidate Who Looks Like Ted Williams 2.0 (Bleacher Report)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2948495-the-dark-horse-nl-mvp-candidate-who-looks-like-ted-williams-20

‘The One That Stayed’: Reds Star Is Finding Satisfaction in Abandoning Perfection (Sports Illustrated)
https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/09/22/joey-votto-daily-cover

‘A truly abstract, different type of player’: Gerd Müller, the NASL’s quietest superstar (The Athletic)
https://theathletic.com/2830827/2021/09/16/a-truly-abstract-different-type-of-player-gerd-muller-the-nasls-quietest-superstar/

Seimone Augustus Found Her Voice Long Before Coaching (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/sports/basketball/seimone-augustus-lgbtq-sparks.html

Rebekkah Brunson: ‘I feel like people who are actually really fans of the game, respect my game’ (The Undefeated)
https://theundefeated.com/features/rebekkah-brunson-minnesota-lynx-transition-to-coaching-pushing-for-social-change/

The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver (GQ)
https://www.gq.com/story/freediver-alexey-molchanov-profile

How Soccer Made Me a Survivor (Sydney Park) (Newsweek)
https://www.newsweek.com/how-soccer-made-me-survivor-opinion-1632606

‘Every single time I lift the bar, I’m just lifting my country up’: Shiva Karout’s quest for powerlifting glory (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/28/sport/shiva-karout-powerlifter-lebanon-beirut-blast-spt-intl/index.html


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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