June 18 – July 1, 2023
Welcome to issue four hundred and seventeen of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nike Show How Sports Change Lives (Adweek)
2. It’s Tennis vs. Pickleball vs. Padel. Or Is It? (New York Times)
3. What Victor Wembanyama is leaving behind for the NBA (ESPN)
4. Boosting the Bengals (Cincinnati Business Courier)
5. As Media Changes, Bob Costas Hopes Standards Remain (BSM)
6. ‘More than Hockey’: Jake Thibeault and the Power of Brotherly Bonds (Babson)
7. The WNBA’s Male Practice Squads Lose to Women All the Time — and Enjoy It (SB Nation)
8. How stars like Liverpool’s Gakpo study NFL, NBA to improve (ESPN)
9. Women’s sport is entering uncharted waters – can it remain true to its roots? (The Guardian)
10. Juneteenth, the Black athlete and the pursuit of freedom (Andscape)


10+
IBERO and Peace and sport sign agreement in favor of peace through sport (Peace and Sport)
https://ibero.mx/prensa/ibero-y-peace-and-sport-firman-convenio-en-favor-de-la-paz-mediante-el-deporte
Meet Our Inaugural #SportTogether Fund Grantees! (Beyond Sport)
https://youtu.be/lvpMXpgj7QM
UNESCO and Yunus Sports Hub partner to drive sustainable development through sport (UNESCO)
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-and-yunus-sports-hub-partner-drive-sustainable-development-through-sport
The Oakland Roots And Soul: Purpose-Driven Soccer Clubs Committed To Positive Social Impact And Sustainability (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/vitascarosella/2023/06/26/the-oakland-roots-and-soul-purpose-driven-soccer-clubs-committed-to-positive-social-impact-and-environmental-sustainability/
Club to host Laureus Sport For Good Global Summit 2023 (Tottenham Hotspur)
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2023/june/club-to-host-laureus-sport-for-good-global-summit-2023/


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!

Trailer Woolf Women – Now or Never (2Dare2 Productions)
https://vimeo.com/582123454
U.S.’ Claiborne gives inspiring advice during opening ceremony (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=37869451
Challenges and opportunities of sports diplomacy in the 21st century (UIK)
https://youtu.be/b6VEcsR5cxE
New National ACL Injury Coalition Aims to Make High School Sports Safer (HSS Presents)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-national-acl-injury-coalition-aims-to-make-high/id1671570733?i=1000618073871


Introduction
I want to start off with a post from our friend Erika Mueller Chen regarding an amazing career opportunity.
“The Sports Diplomacy Chief vacancy at U.S. Department of State is open until *July 3*. Must be an American citizen and able to work from Washington, DC. Great for a super established leader (20+ years) who brings experience working with major league sports teams, leagues, international federations, and government experience is a bonus. Understanding, leveraging, and being committed to using the positive power of sport for social impact and diplomacy is a must.”
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/733416400

When I am asked about Sports Doing Good and what articles I feature, I make a point to say the newsletter is inclusive when it comes to content. That is, I did not want to focus on any one “good,” however great it may be, e.g., charity, philanthropy. There are many things that I thought people would be moved by, inspired by, anything positive they would want to see when it came to sports. More than 6,000 stories later, I think I made the right call.

Even with this wide variety of good stories, I am still asked at times what is a “classic” Sports Doing Good story. Despite my hesitation to pinpoint only one, there are ones that stand out. We have one this week that fits the bill.

The title of the article, “‘More than Hockey’: Jake Thibeault and the Power of Brotherly Bonds,” caught my attention immediately. This idea of “more than sports” is not meant to diminish sports. Rather, it implies that the benefits from sport are not limited to only playing. And of course, “the power of brotherly bonds,” lets us know that we are about to read of special connections, this time amongst players and coaches. This article captures all that positivity.

Jake Thibeault (C’26) is an elite college hockey player (just because he is injured does not mean he is not still elite). Jake suffered a paralyzing hit in a game his senior year of high school. His dream of playing college hockey, and maybe beyond, were now on hold. One of the folks who reached out to him was someone he was still getting to know, Jamie Rice, the hockey coach at Babson College.

Jake ended up enrolling at Babson and despite not being on the ice, is absolutely a part of the hockey program, and the college overall. The article talks about his relationship with fellow first-year players, as well as upperclassmen on the team. It talks about his relationship with Rice. And it talks about how he is making a life as a student at Babson.

Another part of the story that fits the Sports Doing Good “narrative” is goal setting and the pursuit of that goal. Jake is putting in more than 15 hours a week in rehab work with the purpose of one day walking again. And in every other way possible, he is a member of the hockey team and a student-athlete at Babson College. Those are major accomplishments already. So, yes, if I am asked again about a classic Sports Doing Good story, Jake Thibeault, Coach Rice, and Babson Hockey will be top of mind.

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.

Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nike Show How Sports Change Lives (Adweek)
https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/dicks-sporting-goods-and-nike-show-how-sports-change-lives/

It’s Tennis vs. Pickleball vs. Padel. Or Is It? (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/sports/tennis/pickleball-platform-tennis-padel.html

What Victor Wembanyama is leaving behind for the NBA (ESPN)
https://www-espn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37708936/wembanyama-farewell-france-nba-draft-2023?platform=amp

Boosting the Bengals (Cincinnati Business Courier)
https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/06/05/caroline-elizabeth-blackburn-bengals-turnaround.html

As Media Changes, Bob Costas Hopes Standards Remain (BSM)
https://barrettsportsmedia.com/2023/06/09/bob-costas-standards-remain/

‘More than Hockey’: Jake Thibeault and the Power of Brotherly Bonds (Babson)
https://entrepreneurship.babson.edu/jake-thibeault-more-than-hockey/

The WNBA’s Male Practice Squads Lose to Women All the Time — and Enjoy It (SB Nation)
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-wnba-s-male-practice-squads-lose-to-women-all-the-time-and-enjoy-it

How stars like Liverpool’s Gakpo study NFL, NBA to improve (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37845788/how-soccer-stars-liverpools-cody-gakpo-study-nfl-nba-improve
Women’s sport is entering uncharted waters – can it remain true to its roots? (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/jun/16/womens-sport-is-entering-uncharted-waters-can-it-remain-true-to-its-roots

Juneteenth, the Black athlete and the pursuit of freedom (Andscape)
https://andscape.com/features/juneteenth-the-black-athlete-and-the-pursuit-of-freedom/

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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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