May 21 – June 3, 2023
Welcome to issue four hundred and fifteen of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Bethina Petit-Frere’s Historic 2023 World Cup Debut Begins With Grassroots Program GOALS Haiti (Play Academy)
2. From Tragedy to Domination: The Brothers Fueling a Wheelchair Basketball Powerhouse (SI)
3. Michele Kang to helm women’s soccer organization with Washington Spirit, Lyon (USA Today/Yahoo)
4. DePaul commit Dramane Camara’s BAL success shows growth of hoops in Mali (ESPN)
5. Bronx track coach inspires athlete to follow in her footsteps through New York Road Runners (Bronx Times)
6. Historical Stadium Reopens in One of Sports’ Best Comeback Stories (SI)
7. This Runner Finished Last, but Her Perseverance Won Over a Nation (New York Times)
8. How New Balance went from the ‘underdog’ to $5 billion fashion favorite: ‘It’s a cooler brand today than it was 10 years ago’ (CNBC)
9. UNESCO and Laureus partnership will lead the way on social development through sport (UNESCO)
10. Why the EFL Championship playoff is the best event in sports (ESPN)


10+
Project Play Summit recap: Olympic reform panel explores big changes (Aspen Institute)
https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/news/2023/5/19/project-play-summit-recap-olympic-reform-panel-explores-big-changes-1
Green sports stadiums growing in US (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/green-sports-stadiums-growing-us
Behind the Scenes with Haley Jones (The Players’ Tribune)
https://projects.theplayerstribune.com/haley-jones-wnba-draft-atlanta-dream-basketball/p/1
Sportswear brand to allocate 1.5mil euro for causes that support sustainability via sports (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/sportswear-brand-allocate-15mil-euro-causes-support-sustainability-sports
Up2Us Sports Awarded $2.7 Million in AmeriCorps Funding for 2023-24 National Coach Program (Up2Us Sports)
https://www.up2us.org/blog/2023/5/23/up2us-sports-awarded-27-million-in-americorps-funding-for-2023-24-national-coach-program


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!

The Power of Sports podcast w/ Aaron L. Miller, PhD (Episode 28 – Sab Singh – (“The Optimistic Sports Management Professor”)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-power-of-sports/id1574997548
Going Pro: Charlotte North (Athletes Unlimited)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbh1-MDAyQ


Introduction
I lead off this issue of Sports Doing Good with something I was involved with last week. I had the very good fortune of speaking with Dr. Aaron Miller as part of his Power of Sports podcast. The time just flew by as we talked about the idea of good in sports, trends I am seeing, what’s next (women’s sports!) and suggestions for improvement. I really appreciated the opportunity to talk about something I am passionate about and hope that you have a chance to listen to our discussion and check out other great interviews Aaron has done with Power of Sports.

One thing that came up in our conversation was the news about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s response to a reporter’s question about failure. Giannis’ response garnered a lot of attention and further discussion about what it means to succeed and fail, and why we participate in sports. A story this week absolutely captures that reason why we participate. That story, “This Runner Finished Last, but Her Perseverance Won Over a Nation,” from the New York Times was as heartwarming as the title implies. If I could buy a jersey with Bou Samnang’s name on the back, I would.

From Cambodia, where the race took place, Bou is but 20 years old, graduated high school last year, and had to deal with serious health issues before she ran. Despite that health challenge, and a torrential downpour, she finished the 5,000-meter race. According to a sports psychologist quoted at the end of the article, “That’s what life’s about: moving forward and using failures as lessons to bounce back,” he said. “If you take it in this spirit, it’s something inspirational.” It absolutely was and is inspirational.

Aaron Miller podcast – The Power of Sports, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-power-of-sports/id1574997548

Please also take a look at Aaron’s new book – https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538166444/Buying-In-Big-Time-Women’s-College-Basketball-and-the-Future-of-College-Sports

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.

Bethina Petit-Frere’s Historic 2023 World Cup Debut Begins With Grassroots Program GOALS Haiti (Play Academy)
https://playacademynaomi.com/2023/05/08/bethina-petit-freres-historic-2023-world-cup-debut-begins-with-grassroots-program-goals-haiti/

From Tragedy to Domination: The Brothers Fueling a Wheelchair Basketball Powerhouse (SI)
https://www.si.com/college/2023/05/25/berry-brothers-alabama-wheelchair-basketball-daily-cover

Michele Kang to helm women’s soccer organization with Washington Spirit, Lyon (USA Today/Yahoo)
https://sports.yahoo.com/michele-kang-helm-womens-soccer-204828888.html

DePaul commit Dramane Camara’s BAL success shows growth of hoops in Mali (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/37705889/depaul-commit-dramane-camara-bal-success-shows-growth-hoops-mali

Bronx track coach inspires athlete to follow in her footsteps through New York Road Runners (Bronx Times)
https://www.bxtimes.com/bronx-track-coach-new-york-road-runners/

Historical Stadium Reopens in One of Sports’ Best Comeback Stories (SI)
https://www-si-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.si.com/.amp/mlb/2023/05/19/hinchliffe-stadium-negro-leagues-reopens-paterson-daily-cover

This Runner Finished Last, but Her Perseverance Won Over a Nation (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/sports/bou-samnang-cambodian-runner-rain.html

How New Balance went from the ‘underdog’ to $5 billion fashion favorite: ‘It’s a cooler brand today than it was 10 years ago’ (CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/suddenly-obsessed-how-new-balance-built-a-5-billion-brand.html

UNESCO and Laureus partnership will lead the way on social development through sport (UNESCO)
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/shared-vision-unesco-and-laureus-partnership-will-lead-way-social-development-through-sport

Why the EFL Championship playoff is the best event in sports (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/soccer/insider/story/_/id/37728320/why-english-championship-playoff-best-sporting-competition-more-lucrative-thought


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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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