March 20 – April 2, 2022
Welcome to issue three hundred and eighty-six of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. “I’m Trying to Leave it Better than I Found It” (SportsNet)
2. Teen tennis sensation Coco Gauff is on a mission to inspire (CNN)
3. ‘He is truly invaluable’: Dikembe Mutombo is still the NBA’s greatest ambassador for Africa (Andscape)
4. How Ken Griffey Jr. saved a man’s life (ESPN)
5. David Beckham Turned Over His Social Media Accounts to a Ukrainian Doctor (MIC)
6. Celebrating Women’s History Month Through Iconic Sports Illustrated Photos (SI)
7. Going on offense vs. Down syndrome (Washington Post)
8. Natalie Portman wanted to shift football culture. So she founded Angel City FC (Guardian)
9. Leaky Roofs, Disappearing Balls and Frozen Offices: Inside a Real Cinderella Story (SI)
10. The N.C.A.A. Undervalued Women’s Basketball. Marketers Didn’t. (New York Times)

10+
Commission published high-level group’s recommendations to achieve gender equality in sport (European Commission)
https://sport.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-published-high-level-groups-recommendations-to-achieve-gender-equality-in-sport
The pioneering Tongan leader who’s inspired by netball (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/en/article/news/pioneering-tongan-leader-whos-inspired-netball
Lacrosse Legend Paul Rabil Joins Laureus as Ambassador with a Shared Belief in the Power of Sport to Transform the Lives of Young People Around the World (PR Newswire)
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lacrosse-legend-paul-rabil-joins-laureus-as-ambassador-with-a-shared-belief-in-the-power-of-sport-to-transform-the-lives-of-young-people-around-the-world-301512758.html
Women’s History Month Madness (Up2Us Sports)
https://www.up2us.org/blog/2022/3/23/womens-history-month-madness
Up2Us Sports Launches New Mental Wellness Initiative with Support From Booth Ferris Foundation (Up2Us)
https://www.up2us.org/blog/2022/3/2/up2us-sports-launches-new-mental-wellness-initiative-with-support-from-booth-ferris-foundation

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!

Crowd Goes Silent So Blind Basketball Player Can Hear The Hoop (Sunny Skyz)
https://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/11410/Crowd-Goes-Silent-So-Blind-Basketball-Player-Can-Hear-The-Hoop
Justin Hardy’s Story: Mind Over Matter (ESPN SportsCenter Featured)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFRHjxffp8
Should College Athletes Get Paid? ft. Sabrina Ionescu – Beyond the Scenes | The Daily Show
https://youtu.be/6SKskqttDPQ

Introduction
I had the good fortune on Friday, April 1 to be part of a very interesting meeting hosted by Eli Wolff of the University of Connecticut and Dr. Marion Kein of the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). The discussion, entitled “Role of Universities and Education in Sport for Development and Peace: Advancing Research, Teaching, Policy and Practice,” included speakers in-person in New York City with others participating remotely from around the world.

It was also an occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Journal of Sport for Development https://jsfd.org/. JSFD is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. The Journal’s mission is to “advance, examine, and disseminate evidence and best practices for programs and interventions that use sport to promote development, health, and/or peace.” To date, almost 100 articles have been published from 187 authors representing 23 countries.

Much of what the JSFD covers entails the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs are “a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.’ The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by 2030. They are included in a UN-GA Resolution called the 2030 Agenda or what is colloquially known as Agenda 2030. The SDGs were developed in the Post-2015 Development Agenda as the future global development framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals which ended in 2015.”

While I am not someone who does peer-reviewed, academic research, I do have 1 foot in that world as a professor of sport management who believes in the power of sport to make incremental and momentous change on the local and global level. The JSFD is the best journal to cover the latest ideas and pose the most important questions in that space. With that in mind, in addition to being a great resource for academics, students, practitioners, and funders, it is worthy of attention by sports business industry professionals and by those in the broader digital and traditional media space.

I have included the JSFD in the Sports Doing Good newsletter and featured related work in the 10+ section of the newsletter. However, I plan on doing more to bridge the gap between the academic and non-profit worlds and those in the professional realms of the world of sport, including teams, leagues, and corporations. I encourage you to also dip your toe in and learn more about the SDGs and how your work may already be making a difference in those areas.

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.

“I’m Trying to Leave it Better than I Found It” (SportsNet)
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/longform/why-the-seattle-krakens-chanel-keenan-is-exactly-what-hockey-needs/

Teen tennis sensation Coco Gauff is on a mission to inspire (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/tennis/coco-gauff-tennis-serena-williams-spt-intl/index.html

‘He is truly invaluable’: Dikembe Mutombo is still the NBA’s greatest ambassador for Africa (Andscape)
https://andscape.com/features/he-is-truly-invaluable-dikembe-mutombo-is-still-the-nbas-greatest-ambassador-for-africa/

How Ken Griffey Jr. saved a man’s life (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33564812/how-ken-griffey-jr-saved-man-life

David Beckham Turned Over His Social Media Accounts to a Ukrainian Doctor (MIC)
https://www.mic.com/culture/david-beckham-social-media-ukraine-doctor

Celebrating Women’s History Month Through Iconic Sports Illustrated Photos (SI)
https://www.si.com/photos/2022/03/22/celebrate-womens-history-month-sports-illustrated-photos

Going on offense vs. Down syndrome (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2016/03/02/going-on-offense-vs-down-syndrome/

Natalie Portman wanted to shift football culture. So she founded Angel City FC (Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/18/natalie-portman-wanted-to-shift-football-culture-so-she-founded-angel-city-fc

Leaky Roofs, Disappearing Balls and Frozen Offices: Inside a Real Cinderella Story (SI)
https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2022/03/25/saint-peters-cinderella-march-madness-daily-cover

The N.C.A.A. Undervalued Women’s Basketball. Marketers Didn’t. (New York Times)
https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/sports/ncaabasketball/womens-march-madness-endorsements.amp.html

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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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