Dec. 7 – Dec. 27, 2025
Welcome to issue four hundred and eighty of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Hello Sunshine’s ‘The Rise’ Five-Part Documentary Series On Women’s Sports Heading To Peacock (Deadline)
2. She Walked Away From a Law Career. Now She’s Coaching in the W.N.B.A. (New York Times)
3. Why the U.S. Needs a Better Strategy for Sports Diplomacy (Time)
4. Ivy League to NFL? How a kid can look at the big picture as a recruit (USA Today)
5. How Chris Paul helped shape the Oklahoma City Thunder’s budding dynasty (ESPN)
6. What it’s like to compete – and medal – at the taekwon-do world championships as a journalist (CNN)
7. The hope and heroism of Army safety Larry Pickett Jr. (ESPN)
8. Coach Snoop Joins the Team Behind the Team as Team USA’s First Honorary Coach (USOPC)
9. From Refugees to Olympians: South Sudan’s Basketball Diplomacy is on the Rise (Sports Diplomacy Unwrapped)
10. Faced with restrictive and uncomfortable uniforms, these women athletes fought to change their gear (CNN)


10+
Dear Fernando (by Elsa Mendoza) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/fernando-mendoza-elsa-mom-ncaa-football-indiana-hoosiers
News from the Policy Advocacy for Sport and Society Consortium (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/news-policy-advocacy-sport-and-society-consortium
Highlights from a Year Defined by Change (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/12/18/highlights-from-a-year-defined-by-change/
Laureus Sport for Good to support new digital series celebrating the power of sport (Laureus)
https://www.laureus.com/news/laureus-sport-for-good-to-support-new-digital-series-celebrating-the-power-of-sport
Peace and Sport alongside major international institutions at the UN International Forum for Peace and Trust in Ashgabat (Peace and Sport)
https://www.peace-sport.org/news/peace-and-sport-alongside-major-international-institutions-at-the-un-international-forum-for-peace-and-trust-in-ashgabat/


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!

Official Trailer EMMANUEL’S GIFT (2005, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah) (Trailer World)
https://youtu.be/pS-VEQDRkZU?si=xWOwutOV4DCV8tOT
The SAIS Podcast With Zunaid Suleman | Ep. 1: The Rise of the 4th Quarter & The Power of Community (SAIS)
https://youtu.be/rhT1clAOcHg?si=8ZVtKU8K_1tVBrbT
Pelé, The Cosmos & Hollywood: Werner Roth’s Untold Story ft. Werner Roth | Ep 11 (Pitchside Perspective Podcast)
https://youtu.be/BjzEOloSgAI?si=d5AdF921qwkDfesB
Watch: Heisman Trophy winner makes viral speech (CNN)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25323658-fernando-mendoza-wins-historic-2025-heisman-trophy-cfb-fans-hype-indiana-qb

Introduction
On a plane to Geneva, Switzerland this week I got a chance to do one of my favorite things. Sleep? No. Well, yes, but no. Watch documentaries. That is something I love but don’t do nearly enough. However, not moving for seven hours on a flight gives you the chance to do some exploring. Turns out I missed a truly great documentary that came out in 2005.

Emmanuel’s Gift (trailer copied above in the video section) had me transfixed for more than hour. It was so good that I just wanted the story to keep going, but alas, reaching continental Europe meant we were close to our destination. But I pledged to mention the film in this, the last Sports Doing Good newsletter of 2025.

I normally don’t highlight people or events from 20 years ago. It has happened over the past 14 years, just not that often. However, the beauty and reality of sports/doing/good is that it can have a legacy for however long we as a society commit to it. Emmanuel’s story is great on so many levels. For me, his commitment to never compromising on his goals nor his commitment to changing society’s view of an entire segment of a vulnerable population, the disabled, in Ghana, and around the world, is inspiring.

Emmanuel’s impact on his community reminded me of one of my favorite people ever, global citizen and fellow Georgetown Hoya Dikembe Mutombo. (Speaking of Dikembe, it was announced last week by the NCAA that it honored him with its Theodore Roosevelt Award for a life spent serving others. Bravo NCAA. Please click here for more on that.)

Again, you can see the Emmanuel’s Gift trailer by clicking here. I urge you to take the time to have your spirit lifted by watching the documentary, looking up the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and learning about another amazing individual, the late Jim MacLaren.

It has been another stellar year for the people, organizations, companies, governments, leagues, teams, etc., in and around sports that made doing the newsletter such a great joy. As I approach the 500th edition of the newsletter in 2026, I ask you to help me make the newsletter more impactful, getting the newsletter and its stories out to more people, who then will go on to do their own good things. I am open to your ideas.

Happy Holidays and New Year to you all.
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.

Hello Sunshine’s ‘The Rise’ Five-Part Documentary Series On Women’s Sports Heading To Peacock (Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/12/hello-sunshine-the-rise-doc-series-womens-sports-peacock-1236643977/

She Walked Away From a Law Career. Now She’s Coaching in the W.N.B.A. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/sports/basketball/sonia-raman-wnba-seattle-storm.html

Why the U.S. Needs a Better Strategy for Sports Diplomacy (Time)
https://time.com/7339500/us-sports-diplomacy-strategy-world-cup/

Ivy League to NFL? How a kid can look at the big picture as a recruit (USA Today)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/12/06/how-to-get-recruited-ivy-penn-trinity-football/87634917007/

How Chris Paul helped shape the Oklahoma City Thunder’s budding dynasty (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47258039/how-chris-paul-helped-shape-oklahoma-city-thunder-budding-dynasty

What it’s like to compete – and medal – at the taekwon-do world championships as a journalist (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/sport/taekwondo-itf-world-championships-experience-intl

The hope and heroism of Army safety Larry Pickett Jr. (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47257956/army-football-larry-pickett-jr-heroism

Coach Snoop Joins the Team Behind the Team as Team USA’s First Honorary Coach (USOPC)
https://www.usopc.org/news/2025/december/10/coach-snoop-joins-the-team-behind-the-team-as-team-usa-s-first-honorary-coach

From Refugees to Olympians: South Sudan’s Basketball Diplomacy is on the Rise (Sports Diplomacy Unwrapped)
https://sportsdiplomacy.substack.com/p/from-refugees-to-olympians-south

Faced with restrictive and uncomfortable uniforms, these women athletes fought to change their gear (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/16/sport/tight-sports-uniforms-women-girls-wellness

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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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