Feb. 12 – Feb. 25, 2023
Welcome to issue four hundred and eight of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. California makes flag football a girls’ high school sport (ABC News)
2. A young fan can’t contain her excitement sitting next to LeBron James. And her reaction goes viral. (CNN)
3. Preet Chandi: Woman sets new record for polar expedition (BBC)
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Greater Than Any Basketball Record (New York Times)
5. How The Lab became a Harlem hot spot for MLB pitchers (ESPN)
6. This Stanford Freshman Wants His Play to Represent India New York Times)
7. Balancing Football and Track, Devon Allen Takes Aim at the 110 Hurdles World Record (Team USA)
8. Michael Jordan Donates $10 Million to Make-A-Wish for 60th Birthday (SI)
9. Arthur Ashe: A lifetime of service (Andscape)
10. Watching Kids Drop Out of School in My Slum, I Used Football to Transform 14000 Lives (The Better India)


10+
The Healing Power of Sport (Women’s Sports Foundation)
https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/articles_and_report/the-healing-power-of-sport/
Fundraising in Sport for Development: State of the Sector Report (Oaks Consultancy)
https://www.oaksconsultancy.co.uk/post/download-the-third-edition-of-fundraising-in-sport-for-development-state-of-the-sector-report
How Basketball has the power to influence young people’s lives (Laureus)
https://www.laureus.com/news/basketball-influence-young
#Return2Play Fund in Focus: Our Q&A With Renata Simril (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/articles/return-to-play-fund-in-focus-interview-with-renata-simril/
From Scarcity to Abundance: Changing your Mindset (17 Sport)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-scarcity-abundance-changing-your-mindset-17-sport/


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!

Rumble Ventures Elevating Africa’s Sports Market (Bloomberg Business of Sports)
https://omny.fm/shows/bloomberg-business-of-sports/rumble-ventures-elevating-africas-sports-market
Agents of Inclusion (Special Olympics)
https://link.chtbl.com/AgentsOfInclusion?fbclid=IwAR20NFor_G9i12fccMFZ8ddja1Yc7XVSIX3bb3sfQlg_hFBTqfihgEyM-Pk
103-year-old celebrates 80 years of bowling: ‘Ed has bowled here forever’ (The Hill)
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/3857813-103-year-old-celebrates-80-years-of-bowling-ed-has-bowled-here-forever/
The beautiful rewards of sacrifice in the life of an athlete. (Nishaad Shah) (TEDx)
https://youtu.be/JPqn50b4IdY


Introduction
The Sports Doing Good newsletter is very much a current events-driven forum. In each two-week period I look for timely articles that speak to people, places, and things impacting sport and greater society. However, this focus on the present and future doesn’t mean ignoring influencers from the past. Oftentimes it is their longevity and consistency of positive impact that makes them very much “today’s news.”

Two stories this week speak to individuals, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Arthur Ashe, whose influence remains with us, even as we recognize the 30th anniversary of the passing of one (Ashe). Both of these trailblazers have been featured in the newsletter multiple times as they are the epitome of sports, doing, good. Admittedly not celebrated by everyone, these men faced implicit and explicit racism throughout their lives, even at the height of the athletic achievement. Some considered these men ungrateful for the achievements that surely should have been enough when it came to being happy and satisfied with life. What I have admired about these two is their pursuit of excellence for themselves and for society, no matter their age. Never settle when things can be better.

I was a fan of these guys when I was a kid and I remain a fan today, for some of the same reasons, and definitely for reasons that have grown in importance as I have gotten older and seen more of the world. These gentlemen were and are definitely “citizens of the world.” We see many of the sports world’s greatest today, e.g., LeBron James, Michael Jordan (also featured this week), Lewis Hamilton, Roger Federer, etc., double down on their influence in furtherance of a better world for all. This is surely descendant from what we have seen from Abdul-Jabbar, Ashe and others. That type of commitment to do better will always be timely and have a home at Sports Doing Good.

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.

California makes flag football a girls’ high school sport (ABC News)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-weighs-making-flag-football-girls-school-sport-96877281

A young fan can’t contain her excitement sitting next to LeBron James. And her reaction goes viral. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/sport/lebron-james-fan-reaction-spt-intl/index.html

Preet Chandi: Woman sets new record for polar expedition (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-64348510

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Greater Than Any Basketball Record (New York Times)
https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/sports/basketball/kareem-abdul-jabbar-record-legacy.amp.html

How The Lab became a Harlem hot spot for MLB pitchers (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35570270/how-lab-became-harlem-hot-spot-mlb-pitchers

This Stanford Freshman Wants His Play to Represent India New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/sports/ncaabasketball/stanford-ryan-agarwal.html

Balancing Football and Track, Devon Allen Takes Aim at the 110 Hurdles World Record (Team USA)
https://www.teamusa.org/News/2023/February/10/Balancing-Football-And-Track-Devon-Allen-Takes-Aim-At-The-110-Hurdles-World-Record

Michael Jordan Donates $10 Million to Make-A-Wish for 60th Birthday (SI)
https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/02/15/michael-jordan-10-million-donation-make-a-wish

Arthur Ashe: A lifetime of service (Andscape)
https://andscape.com/features/arthur-ashe-a-lifetime-of-service/

Watching Kids Drop Out of School in My Slum, I Used Football to Transform 14000 Lives (The Better India)
https://www.thebetterindia.com/310340/mumbai-resident-ashok-rathod-uses-football-to-help-slum-children-stay-in-school-oscar-foundation/amp/


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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.

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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