June 16 – June 29, 2024
Welcome to issue four hundred and forty-three of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Soccer goalkeepers literally see and hear the world differently (Big Think)
2. This all-migrant soccer team is chasing a dream together (CNN)
3. The story behind the most famous Jell-O shots in America (Yahoo! Sports)
4. Massive U.S.-based youth soccer development program taps Croatian and Austrian partners to help players find pro success (Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal)
5. How Cricket’s Saurabh Netravalkar Engineers Victory (The Juggernaut)
6. The Growing Legend of Brad Stevens (The Ringer)
7. ‘The Sports Industry Needs A Revolution’: Inside Juventus Creator Lab (Forbes)
8. ‘Cricket is the only source of happiness back home’: Afghanistan enjoys historic run to T20 World Cup semifinals (CNN)
9. A stranger paid Buzunesh Deba her 2014 Boston Marathon prize money. Why? ‘It was just about righting a wrong.’ (Boston Globe)
10. A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials (ESPN)


10+
My global football journey: How grassroots sports clubs enable strategic networking, intercultural cohesion, and facilitate sports diplomacy (Gavin Price/LinkedIn)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-global-football-journey-how-grassroots-sports-clubs-gavin-price-felhe/
Recent Report Helps Brands Navigate Online Hate Speech in Sport (Beyond Sport)
https://www.beyondsport.org/articles/recent-report-helps-brands-navigate-hate-speech-in-sport/
UK Sporting Bodes Call for Increased Investment in Sport Ahead of Election (Beyond Sport)
https://www.beyondsport.org/articles/uk-sporting-bodies-call-for-political-parties-to-expand-youth-sport-opportunities/
Khalida Popal Releases Memoir on Sisterhood & Fighting for Women’s Rights (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/articles/khalida-popal-releases-autobiography-on-sisterhood-and-fight-for-womens-rights/
Liverpool communities benefit from an international football tournament (…and it’s not the Euros!) (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/liverpool-communities-benefit-international-football-tournament-%E2%80%A6and-it%E2%80%99s-not-euros


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!

Cricket Making Its Case As America’s Next Big Sport (Front Office Sports)
https://frontofficesports.com/podcast/cricket-making-its-case-as-americas-next-big-sport/
Captain Ali (Peace and Sport)
https://youtu.be/dHB_og7mwVo?si=84p4geBtfR1wIZgI
Remembering the life and legacy of Willie Mays (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/40382553

Introduction
With so much content out there across a multitude of platforms, it can be overwhelming when thinking what the next book, movie, binge-worthy show, or podcast is to take up. While I am always open to suggestions, I have found that over the past few years, I seem to be my own source of suggestions via the Sports Doing Good newsletter. The articles themselves are wonderful to read, but getting to learn of a great documentary or a compelling podcast is definitely a fringe benefit of doing the newsletter.

A book that I highlight this week – and which I have already ordered and will start to read today – is “My Beautiful Sisters: A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women’s Football Team,” by Khalida Popal.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Beautiful-Sisters-Courage-Football-ebook/dp/B0CVLC2FZ6

Khalida, and her story, are beyond inspirational (and something we highlighted a few years back.). It is also one that highlights the fragility of one’s way of life, having your every day turned upside down by a new ruling entity. Khalida’s story is not just her own, but, as the title says, a story of her “beautiful sisters.” The concept of team, working together, lifting each other up, is a key part of the story. As featured at Beyond Sport, the following statement from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, captures the essence of Khalida and her love of her teammates and country:

“My Beautiful Sisters shows us the value of raising our voices in the face of injustice, the ability of sport to unite us all and the strength we have when we stand together. This is an inspirational story for girls and women everywhere, but essential reading for everyone.”

I hope you get a chance to read more about this amazing woman. And yes, I am open to more content suggestions!

Finally, I will be traveling for part of July and therefore the next newsletter will be coming out on July 28. Have a great July!

Please continue to send along your stories. You are both our audience and the best source of stories. Our Twitter handle is @sportsdoinggood, and you can find us at www.facebook.com/sportsdoinggood and on Instagram.

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.

Soccer goalkeepers literally see and hear the world differently (Big Think)
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/soccer-goalkeepers-see-hear-world-differently/

This all-migrant soccer team is chasing a dream together (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/06/sport/refugee-soccer-italy-cnnphotos/

The story behind the most famous Jell-O shots in America (Yahoo! Sports)
https://sports.yahoo.com/the-story-behind-the-most-famous-jell-o-shots-in-america-161516005.html

Massive U.S.-based youth soccer development program taps Croatian and Austrian partners to help players find pro success (Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal)
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/04/22/soccer

How Cricket’s Saurabh Netravalkar Engineers Victory (The Juggernaut)
https://www.thejuggernaut.com/saurabh-netravalkar-interview-team-usa-t20-cricket-world-cup

The Growing Legend of Brad Stevens (The Ringer)
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/6/20/24182180/brad-stevens-boston-celtics-general-manager-trades

‘The Sports Industry Needs A Revolution’: Inside Juventus Creator Lab (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danieleproch/2024/06/24/the-sports-industry-needs-a-revolution-inside-juventus-creator-lab/

‘Cricket is the only source of happiness back home’: Afghanistan enjoys historic run to T20 World Cup semifinals (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/sport/afghanistan-historic-semifinal-t20-cricket-world-cup-spt-intl/index.html

A stranger paid Buzunesh Deba her 2014 Boston Marathon prize money. Why? ‘It was just about righting a wrong.’ (Boston Globe)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/15/sports/doug-guyer-buzunesh-deba-boston-marathon/

A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/olympics/gymnastics/story/_/id/40459211/2024-gymnastics-olympic-trials-beacon-therapy-dog-usa

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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.

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