May 4 – May 17, 2025
Welcome to issue four hundred and sixty-five of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Battling back from brain surgery, the indestructible Austin Forkner seeks dirt bike glory (CNN)
2. Can watching sport really improve your wellbeing? The science suggests it can (The Guardian)
3. Setting records and continuing a legacy: CJ Kirst is carrying on his family name (ESPN)
4. This nation is threatened by rising sea levels. It is raising awareness as it sets up its first soccer team (CNN)
5. FC Mother Brings Soccer And Science Together To Improve Maternal Care (Forbes)
6. How baseball lifted Palisades Charter High after wildfires (ESPN)
7. Swimming legend Gary Hall Jr receives 10 replacement Olympic medals after losing originals in LA wildfires (IOC)
8. Rayno Nel wins 2025 World’s Strongest Man, becoming first champion from Africa (USA Today)
9. How the Cowriters of Eephus Made the Best Sports Movie of the Decade (GQ)
10. Epic Breakthrough: Crystal Palace End 164-Year Trophy Drought With FA Cup Glory (ETT)


10+
Alive & Kicking to Transform Play for Visually Impaired Kids in Kenya (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/05/09/alive-kicking-to-transform-play-for-visually-impaired-kids-in-kenya/
The climate is changing the game — now sport must change the climate (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/climate-changing-game-now-sport-must-change-climate
A historic leap for equality: Bangladesh’s first divisional women’s football championship (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/historic-leap-equality-bangladeshs-first-divisional-womens-football-championship
Mental Health Awareness Special: Celebrating Mental Health Advocates Across the U.S. and UK (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/05/09/mental-health-awareness-special-celebrating-mental-health-advocates-across-the-u-s-and-uk/
Powering Through (by Ronnie Stanley) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/ronnie-stanley-nfl-baltimore-ravens-football


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!

Take Back Sports – ESPN’s Support of Youth Sports (Healthy Youth Sports)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6A0UqavIjemXCcIQ3P1JOD?si=w9W7a1uWS8yZPJP_mS4wlQ&nd=1&dlsi=db2ba369be9f46b4


Introduction
I am starting off with a heads up about an opportunity to salute one of the greatest global citizens, Mr. Dikembe Mutombo. On May 31, in Atlanta, Dikembe’s family will host a “Celebration of Life” at Georgia Tech that showcases the brilliance, on and off the court, of one of my favorite people. For more information about the event, please click here. You can also make a contribution to the new memorial fund that will be used to continue the impactful work that is associated with this basketball legend and humanitarian. Finally, here is a beautiful video posted by the Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri about Dikembe.

I also want to take a moment to encourage you to contact me if you are looking for college or graduate student interns for the summer, both in the sports space but also in areas such as international business, international relations, health & wellness, etc. You can email me at sab@sportsdoinggood.com or at 516-287-7141.

One of the things that Dikembe advocated and proved effective was sports as a tool for positive change, for individuals, communities, and the world overall. Some of the challenges being faced may seem too big to fix. Thankfully, there are so many people connected to the world of sport who don’t think that, who know, and have proven, how powerful sports can be in effecting change. That is where the idea of “soft power” comes from. While there are some today who question the value of soft power, I stand as one who believes in it, but in any way I can, make it felt in impactful ways. Two stories that are featured this week have to do with climate change (one of those BIG problems out there) and examples of those who see a need to do better, in one case, for the literal survival of a country, the Marshall Islands, who is taking to the soccer/football field to amplify their fight.

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.

Battling back from brain surgery, the indestructible Austin Forkner seeks dirt bike glory (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/09/sport/austin-forkner-supercross-racing-profile-spt

Can watching sport really improve your wellbeing? The science suggests it can (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/may/12/can-watching-sport-really-improve-your-wellbeing-the-science-suggests-it-can

Setting records and continuing a legacy: CJ Kirst is carrying on his family name (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/45038553/cornell-cj-kirst-goal-record-college-lacrosse-tournament-2025

This nation is threatened by rising sea levels. It is raising awareness as it sets up its first soccer team (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/07/sport/marshall-islands-football-team-climate-change-spt-intl

FC Mother Brings Soccer And Science Together To Improve Maternal Care (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/vitascarosella/2025/05/12/fc-mother-brings-soccer-and-science-together-to-improve-maternal-care/

How baseball lifted Palisades Charter High after wildfires (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45111129/palisades-charter-high-school-dolphins-baseball-palisades-fires-california-wildfires

Swimming legend Gary Hall Jr receives 10 replacement Olympic medals after losing originals in LA wildfires (IOC)
https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/swimming-legend-gary-hall-jr-receives-10-replacement-olympic-medals-after-losing-originals-in-la-wildfires

Rayno Nel wins 2025 World’s Strongest Man, becoming first champion from Africa (USA Today)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2025/05/18/2025-worlds-strongest-man-results-rayno-nel-wins/83714940007/

How the Cowriters of Eephus Made the Best Sports Movie of the Decade (GQ)
https://www.gq.com/story/eephus-movie-interview

Epic Breakthrough: Crystal Palace End 164-Year Trophy Drought With FA Cup Glory (ETT)
https://extratimetalk.com/crystal-palace-164-years-trophy-drought-fa-cup/

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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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