Sports Doing Good Newsletter #384

Feb. 20 – March 5, 2022
Welcome to issue three hundred and eighty-four of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Charlotte is ready for MLS: How the Panthers’ ‘Other Football Project’ became a real club (ESPN)
2. Sahith Theegala Is a Rarity on the PGA Tour in More Ways Than One (New York Times)
3. Why 6-8, 384-pound Daniel Faalele believes his NFL future looms large (Yahoo! Sports)
4. With new rules on college pay, this former Poly player created scholarship for disadvantaged students (Long Beach Post)
5. From Talking Fries To Talking Sports, ESPN Anchor Max McGee’s Inspiring Story (Because of Them We Can)
6. Never Give Up, The Charlie Davies Story (Boston Man)
7. Sports world hits back at Russia: Multiple sporting sanctions for war on Ukraine (Times of India)
8. You Really Should Know Connie Kunzmann (SI)
9. The Chapter of MLB History That Can Save Its Future (Front Office Sports)
10. Inside the Push for Women to Break into Baseball (SI)

10+
Actors who played soccer (kinda) seriously, from Cristo Fernandez to Julia Stiles (Kicking & Screening)
http://www.kickingandscreening.com/news/actors-who-played-soccer-kinda-seriously-from-cristo-fernandez-to-julia-stiles
Hockey Has Always Been Black (by Madison Bowey) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/madison-bowey-abbotsford-canucks-hockey
Sport for Development, Education, Human Rights, and the Paralympic Movement (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/event/sport-development-education-human-rights-and-paralympic-movement
Virtual Conference – Safeguarding: Knowledge to Practice (Safe Sport International)
https://www.safesportinternational.com/2022-virtual-conference-safeguarding-knowledge-to-practice/ (Safe Sport)
Meet Souleyman – 2021 Courageous Use of Sport Award winner presented by WWE (Beyond Sport)
https://youtu.be/8kQdpHTe7KI

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!

Crystal Dunn Reflects on Her Evolving Career (SI)
https://www.si.com/soccer/video/2020/10/08/crystal-dunn-unrelenting-uswnt-nwsl-challenge-cup
How the NFL HBCU combine is changing the game (ESPN)
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=33390051

Introduction
I start off by highlighting a wonderful award that has recognized some of the very best in the sport and social change space. It is given by our good friends at the SportsBusiness Journal. I hope that you will take the chance to nominate for the 2022 award another worthy entity by the March 14 deadline.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Conferences-Events/2022/SBA/Celebration-of-Service.aspx
“Sports Business Journal’s 2022 Celebration of Service Award recognizes the power sports has on improving society and in building community. This award honors those organizations who have led the way in exemplifying how sport is a catalyst for social change, who have both demonstrated innovation and provided inspiration through the power of sports. They have helped to lift people up and have demonstrated the power of sports to be a vehicle for good.”

I wanted to use this Introduction to talk about a matter that was not captured in any of the stories listed above. It was something that saddened a lot of people this week, both at home and afar, for several different reasons. I did not want to list the story without, in the same breath, explaining why I was including it in a newsletter focused on “sports doing good.” The story I am talking about was captured everywhere. Here, I include the story from Yahoo/Today Show, “Parents of Stanford soccer team captain Katie Meyer speak out about her death.” https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/parents-stanford-soccer-team-captain-123724730.html

On paper, the following words would likely make a younger version of me, ecstatic: 22-years-old, national champion soccer player, Stanford University. Yep, probably can’t get any better than that. So, to hear this week, that someone living that life, ended that life, was simply devastating. But nowhere near as devastating than to her own parents. As Katie’s mom said, “This is a parent’s worst nightmare, and you never wake up from it.” I included this article here in the newsletter because I can’t imagine what these parents are going through. And to speak out so soon, despite their immense pain, to let others know that something like this can happen, supposedly without any warning, is beyond courageous. It is a true act of love.

Suicide at every turn, but especially for our youth, deserves local, regional, and national attention. I have included several stories over the years touching upon mental illness/health. I don’t know if I ever included a story that dealt directly with suicide. Why now? For me, as I mentioned before, life can’t seem to better than what Katie had, on paper. And as a professor, I also am around young people in Katie’s age group all the time. Everyday I am encouraged by their potential, potential they might not truly understand that they have.

We all know folks, whether family, friends, or colleagues, who have in the past, or are currently dealing with very difficult circumstances. Hell, maybe it is us, going through those tough times. I see on Facebook pretty often, “Be kind, you never know what someone else is going through.” Or “your smile or handshake/fist bump may have just saved a life.” I never doubted those sentiments. But after this week, I will try to be even more sensitive to those who may be/are struggling.

As I have seen done in multiple places that have covered Katie’s story, I include the following note:
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

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.

Charlotte is ready for MLS: How the Panthers’ ‘Other Football Project’ became a real club (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/soccer/charlotte-fc/story/4607167/charlotte-is-ready-for-mls-how-the-panthers-other-football-project-became-a-real-club

Sahith Theegala Is a Rarity on the PGA Tour in More Ways Than One (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/sports/golf/theegala-arnold-palmer-pga.html

Why 6-8, 384-pound Daniel Faalele believes his NFL future looms large (Yahoo! Sports)
https://sports.yahoo.com/why-6-8-385-pound-112603466.html

With new rules on college pay, this former Poly player created scholarship for disadvantaged students (Long Beach Post)
https://lbpost.com/news/with-new-rules-on-college-pay-this-former-poly-player-created-scholarship-for-disadvantaged-students

From Talking Fries To Talking Sports, ESPN Anchor Max McGee’s Inspiring Story (Because of Them We Can)
https://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/the-feels/from-talking-fries-to-talking-sports-espn-anchor-max-mcgee-s-inspiring-story

Never Give Up, The Charlie Davies Story (Boston Man)
https://bostonmanmagazine.com/never-give-up-the-charlie-davies-story/

Sports world hits back at Russia: Multiple sporting sanctions for war on Ukraine (Times of India) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/89891203.cms

You Really Should Know Connie Kunzmann (SI)
https://www.si.com/wnba/2022/02/24/connie-kunzmann-wnba-daily-cover

The Chapter of MLB History That Can Save Its Future (Front Office Sports)
https://frontofficesports.com/the-chapter-of-mlb-history-that-can-save-its-future/

Inside the Push for Women to Break into Baseball (SI)
https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/03/04/women-in-baseball

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