Sept. 28 – Oct. 11, 2025
Welcome to issue four hundred and seventy-five of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. How do you advance gender equity in sport? One federation started by listening (SportsPro)
2. Athletes Can Lead the ‘Climate Comeback’ On and Off the Field (Newsweek)
3. Women’s World Cup in India watershed moment for the game: Sachin Tendulkar (India Today)
4. How Milwaukee’s silly sausages became one of the most beloved spectacles in baseball (CNN)
5. Steph Curry Was Overlooked Early in His Career — Now He’s Creating a Platform So Others Aren’t
6. Caitlin Clark fuels women’s memorabilia market growth (ESPN)
7. Why Karim López looms as Mexico’s first NBA star (ESPN)
8. Cecilia Brækhus was told women couldn’t enter boxing gyms. She still became an undisputed champion despite a ban on the sport (CNN)
9. The Future is Flag (New York Times)
10. Girls are fueling the flag football boom. Here’s why it matters for youth sports (SportsBusiness Journal)


10+
Playworks Receives $10 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to Develop Character Strengths in Kids Through the Power of Play (Playworks)
https://www.playworks.org/news/playworks-receives-10-million-grant-from-lilly-endowment-inc-to-develop-character-strengths-in-kids-through-the-power-of-play/
Afghan Women’s Refugee Team To Play First International Matches (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/09/25/afghan-womens-refugee-team-to-play-first-international-matches/
California dreaming | ‘Queen of Egypt’ Soraya Mohamed sets sights on LA28 Olympics (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/california-dreaming-%E2%80%98queen-egypt%E2%80%99-soraya-mohamed-sets-sights-la28-olympics
Jude Bellingham on World Mental Health Day (Laureus)
https://www.laureus.com/news/jude-bellingham-on-world-mental-health-day
Burundi Friendship Games 2025: Sport as a tool for peace and brotherhood (Peace and Sport)
https://www.peace-sport.org/news/burundi-friendship-games-2025-sport-as-a-tool-for-peace-and-brotherhood/


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!
Star man: Jonathan Taylor’s passion beyond the gridiron (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/46496521
Gabby Thomas on Athlos NYC and creating opportunities for women in track and field (CBS News)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/gabby-thomas-on-athlos-nyc-and-creating-opportunities-for-women-in-track-and-field/vi-AA1OdXHV
Kibble on Kimmel (Georgetown University)
https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/excklhvcg1x7b3jv08h3pmmjaei3yxi7

Introduction
I have heard, more than once, that there are too many sports in this country, and/or that we depend too much on sports. I understand the sources of such thinking, and like most debates, there is truth on both sides.

As a sports management professor at two schools and a lifelong sports participant and fan, not surprisingly, I lean more towards the “the more sports, the better.” I don’t discount the over-commercialization of sports at every level, but I feel it is a problem with solutions, not one to surrender to.

A sport that has emerged in the United States is flag football. Now flag football existed when I was a kid, so it is not new. However, it is emerging. Leagues are popping up all over the country. It is included in the physical education classes at schools. And it even has been elevated to varsity sport status in almost 20 states, with momentum carrying it to all 50 in the not-so-distant future. Oh yeah, it will be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as well.

Another indicator of the growth of flag football is its inclusion in this week’s Sports Doing Good newsletter, not once, but twice. I rarely include two stories dealing with the same subject. Each spot in the newsletter is just too important, and I want to highlight as many parts of the sports world as possible. But I could not resist including both articles, “The Future is Flag” (New York Times) and “Girls are fueling the flag football boom. Here’s why it matters for youth sports.” (SportsBusiness Journal). I am excited for the future of flag football, as a sport and as a business.

Ultimately, I feel that flag football can be not only another sport on the docket, but one of the best in driving important elements of sports – teamwork, dedication, determination, inclusion, and, of course, fun.

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.

How do you advance gender equity in sport? One federation started by listening (SportsPro)
https://www.sportspro.com/insights/analysis/curling-canada-gender-equity-women-in-curling-female-participation/

Athletes Can Lead the ‘Climate Comeback’ On and Off the Field (Newsweek)
https://www.newsweek.com/athletes-can-lead-climate-comeback-off-field-2134229

Women’s World Cup in India watershed moment for the game: Sachin Tendulkar (India Today)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/women-s-world-cup-in-india-watershed-moment-for-the-game-sachin-tendulkar/ar-AA1NxwnZ

How Milwaukee’s silly sausages became one of the most beloved spectacles in baseball (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/sport/baseball-milwaukee-brewers-sausage-race

Steph Curry Was Overlooked Early in His Career — Now He’s Creating a Platform So Others Aren’t (Entrepreneur)
https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/steph-curry-was-overlooked-early-in-his-career-now-hes/497372

Caitlin Clark fuels women’s memorabilia market growth (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/46377428/caitlin-clark-cards-women-sports-memorabilia-collectibles-growth

Why Karim López looms as Mexico’s first NBA star (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46415051/karim-lopez-looms-mexico-first-nba-draft-star

Cecilia Brækhus was told women couldn’t enter boxing gyms. She still became an undisputed champion despite a ban on the sport (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/sport/boxing-cecilia-braekhus-norway-intl

The Future is Flag (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/opinion/nfl-flag-football.html

Girls are fueling the flag football boom. Here’s why it matters for youth sports (SportsBusiness Journal)
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/09/02/girls-are-fueling-the-flag-football-boom-heres-why-it-matters-for-youth-sports/

Quick Links…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Website

More About Us
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarbjit “Sab” Singh
sab@sportsdoinggood.com
516-287-7141
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~