Dec. 28 – Jan. 17, 2026
Welcome to issue four hundred and eighty-one of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Colossal Athletes Fill These Modern Arenas (New York Times)
2. How life at a small football powerhouse shaped Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss into a star on the biggest stage (CNN)
3. Julio Rodriguez Funds Renovation of Dominican Republic Baseball Field, Photos Revealed (Bleacher Report)
4. ‘Chess Wimbledon’ starts with world champion challenged by rising stars (The Guardian)
5. Meet the US Olympic figure skaters: A soldier, a daredevil ice queen and a son who triumphed over tragedy will head to Milan (CNN)
6. How Sportable’s smart ball technology is revolutionising sports data for teams, leagues and fans (SportsPro)
7. How killing time at a laundromat set Lily Zhang on a path to multiple Olympics (CNN)
8. The Best Sports for Longevity (New York Times)
9. His Classmates Were Ticketed for Wall Street, but He Became a Brilliant NFL Coach (SI)
10. As high school teammates, Mario Cristobal, Fernando Mendoza’s dad ‘were freaking perfect’ (USA Today)


10+
New MLK Documentary: When Basketball Became a Tool for Civic Engagement (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2026/01/15/when-basketball-became-a-tool-for-civic-engagement/
From burning streets to floodlit stadiums: How cricket became Nepal’s great healer (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/burning-streets-floodlit-stadiums-how-cricket-became-nepal%E2%80%99s-great-healer
Liverpool Fans Turn Mourning into Momentum After Diogo Jota’s Passing (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2026/01/15/liverpool-fans-turn-mourning-into-momentum-after-diogo-jotas-passing/
Laureus Review of the Year 2025 (Laureus)
https://www.laureus.com/news/laureus-review-of-the-year-2025
Olympic Torche Relay : Champions for Peace in action to carry a message of unity (Peace and Sport)
https://www.peace-sport.org/news/olympic-torche-relay-champions-for-peace-in-action-to-carry-a-message-of-unity/


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!

Jesse Williams Explores Intersection Of Sports, Activism In ‘Hoops, Hopes & Dreams’ (The View)
https://youtu.be/GQtoV0ban7A?si=aD6aC8cXdgKJltyO
473: Ward Selman on Chasing the Olympics and Breaking Barriers in Lebanon (The CUSP Show)
https://podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/the-cusp-show/id1073489617
Resilient Dreamers | Ward Salman | TEDxInternationalCollegeBeirut (TEDx Talks)
https://youtu.be/Tv_gSaynmzE?si=AFY5LXxqkZs24Asg

Introduction
The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, begin on Feb. 6 and runs through Feb. 22. The Games will be held in Northern Italy, co-hosted by the cities of Milan (for ice events like figure skating, hockey, and speedskating) and the mountain resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo (for mountain sports like skiing, luge, curling). This is the fourth time Italy is hosting the Olympics.

The Winter and Summer Olympics are perhaps the greatest showcases for the types of incredible efforts that are highlighted at Sports Doing Good. This newsletter has always been about giving a bigger platform to the people, places, and organizations, who bring individual and group success to the forefront and every 2 years, we are privileged to witness such efforts on a global scale. But the road to the Olympics, and the Games themselves, even in light of great accomplishments, are not immune from difficult, and even, tragic occurrences. That is just how life works.

One of the articles featured this week gives us a look at the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, a collection of athletes who often attract the most attention during the Winter Games. (“Meet the US Olympic figure skaters: A soldier, a daredevil ice queen and a son who triumphed over tragedy will head to Milan”) (CNN). The introduction this year of the figure skating contingent, and frankly the entire U.S. team, carries with it the heaviness that comes with tragic loss. Just one year ago, 28 members of the U.S. skating community died in a plane crash in Washington, DC.

Loss of such magnitude is incredibly hard to take. My heart goes out to the family, friends, and other members of the skating world who were forced to find a way to continue on not just athletically, but as people whose community lost so many cherished members. As former Olympic gold medalist Dr. Tenley Albright said last year, ““I don’t know how to handle this.”

The reality is that we have to find a way to handle this and to move on. Time stops for no one so whether they are ready or not, these athletes and coaches and skating community members must move forward. Sport, which gave these folks a way to meet each other and develop beautiful relationships, is also the stage upon which they can find strength as they skate in honor of all of those who were lost. I hope you have a chance to watch these and the other fantastic athletes from around the world because they all epitomize the essence of sports doing good.

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.

Colossal Athletes Fill These Modern Arenas (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/arts/television/cosm-sports.html

How life at a small football powerhouse shaped Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss into a star on the biggest stage (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/sport/football-ncaa-ole-miss-trinidad-chambliss-cfp

Julio Rodriguez Funds Renovation of Dominican Republic Baseball Field, Photos Revealed (Bleacher Report)
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25352935-julio-rodriguez-funds-renovation-dominican-republic-baseball-field-photos-revealed

‘Chess Wimbledon’ starts with world champion challenged by rising stars (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/16/chess-wimbledon-starts-with-world-champion-challenged-by-rising-stars

Meet the US Olympic figure skaters: A soldier, a daredevil ice queen and a son who triumphed over tragedy will head to Milan (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/12/sport/olympics-winter-2026-us-figure-skating-team

How Sportable’s smart ball technology is revolutionising sports data for teams, leagues and fans (SportsPro)
https://www.sportspro.com/analysis/broadcast-ott/sportable-smart-ball-technology-sports-data-teams-league-fans/

How killing time at a laundromat set Lily Zhang on a path to multiple Olympics (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/14/sport/table-tennis-lily-zhang-profile

The Best Sports for Longevity (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/well/move/sports-exercise-longevity.html

His Classmates Were Ticketed for Wall Street, but He Became a Brilliant NFL Coach (SI)
https://www.si.com/nfl/mike-macdonald-classmates-were-ticketed-for-wall-street-he-became-nfl-coach

As high school teammates, Mario Cristobal, Fernando Mendoza’s dad ‘were freaking perfect’ (USA Today)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/01/16/mario-cristobal-columbus-high-school-miami-football-fernando-mendoza-dad/88142086007/

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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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