Aug. 10 – Aug. 23, 2025
Welcome to issue four hundred and seventy-two of the Sports Doing Good newsletter. This week’s 10 stories include:

1. Congo’s Teens Brave Bombs, Rebels and Abduction to Play Hoops (New York Times)
2. Jonathan Edwards holds one of track and field’s longest-standing records. His jump still ‘brings a smile’ 30 years on (CNN)
3. How Jen Pawol Became the First Female Umpire in MLB History (Mental Floss)
4. Rivals and friends: How the World Transplant Games connected Erik and Elmar (CNN)
5. How Clubs Got Their Colours (ESPN)
6. Women’s baseball trailblazer hopes new league helps girls ‘fall back in love’ (USA Today)
7. What It’s Like to Ride a Motorcycle at 175 Miles an Hour (GQ Sports)
8. The biggest hockey player on Earth is a 7-foot-tall teenager from Moldova (The Athletic)
9. Baltimore Ravens draft pick Carson Vinson: I want to give HBCU players like me hope (Andscape)
10. How a card shop became a much-needed resource for the community (Yahoo! Sports)


10+
Ukrainian Futsal Club Phoenix shows the way forward in the Global Aid Crisis (Sport and Dev)
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/ukrainian-futsal-club-phoenix-shows-way-forward-global-aid-crisis
UEFA Foundation Expands Humanitarian Efforts for Children in Conflict Zones (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/08/21/uefa-foundation-expands-humanitarian-efforts-for-children-in-conflict-zones/
NBA Delegation Visit to Bhutan – Hoops for Happiness Tour (BOC)
https://bhutanolympiccommittee.org/nba-delegation-visit-to-bhutan-hoops-for-happiness-tour/
For All The Kids Still Wishing (by VJ Edgecombe) (The Players’ Tribune)
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/vj-edgecombe-nba-philadelphia-76ers-basketball
Gotham FC Launches First-of-Its-Kind Children’s Book to Inspire Girls to Stay in Sport (Beyond Sport)
https://beyondsport.org/2025/08/21/gotham-fc-launches-first-of-its-kind-childrens-book-to-inspire-girls-to-stay-in-sport/


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!
John Oliver’s minor league debut, AI robot soccer match and baseball’s influence across generations (NBC News)
https://youtu.be/tVrAKFLmDiM?si=is8s_vmCAek6pWBM
Redefining The Underdog: The Invisible Athlete | Gautam Kapur | TEDxTufts
https://youtu.be/K5qyKVIdTSA?si=Q_yxfC8npmgocfr7


Introduction
One of the (good) problems I have in doing the newsletter is picking the story to focus on in this section, the Introduction. All the stories are worthy of attention. I do hear back from subscribers saying how particular stories really resonated with them, how they were touched by the monumental efforts of athletes and others in the world of sports, and inspired to take action in furtherance of opportunities for athletes locally and around the world.

This week, again, there are articles worth your time and attention. But I will highlight, not one, but two, as when taken together, really educate us on what it means to achieve and the work we must do to spur that development, instead of just hoping things go our way.

The first story is, “Women’s baseball trailblazer hopes new league helps girls ‘fall back in love’, in USA Today. The second is a terrific Ted Talk by sports business professional Gautam Kapur, “Redefining The Underdog: The Invisible Athlete.” In the first article, we learn about the launch of the Women’s Professional Baseball League, which includes baseball trailblazer Kelsie Whitmore. The League is riding the wave of attention, and dollars, that are deservedly making its way into women’s sports. More than 600 players registered for the tryouts that took place this past week. Kelsie talks about some of the challenges she had being the only female on men’s baseball teams, how isolating it could be. She would probably agree with the statement that in a way, she was “invisible.” Which brings us to Gautam’s Ted Talk and his reference to “The Invisible Athlete.”

While he was talking about South Asian athletes in particular, his words were right on point when we look at women’s baseball. As Kelsie said, “Everything starts with a foundation.” This echoed Gautam’s points. Success in sports doesn’t “just happen.” Actually, it’s the opposite. Improvement and success, especially at the professional level, comes from a lot of hard work. And this work is not just from the players, but also from all those individuals who are part of a system that cultivates the talent of these athletes.

Young athletes dropping out of sports is a real problem that needs addressing. As Gautam says, maybe the worst thing that can happen is when athletes, along with the families, and potentially their communities, “self-disqualify.” It is one thing for the market to determine that you are not an elite professional athlete, but it is defeatist to make the decision about yourself before you have even had a chance to put forth your best efforts.

I hope that you will have a chance to read the article and watch the Ted Talk, along with the other articles, of course. I anticipate that you will also believe that “having a chance,” is what most of us want in life, including in sports. The sports business industry certainly has the money and expertise to foster these chances.


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.

Congo’s Teens Brave Bombs, Rebels and Abduction to Play Hoops (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/world/africa/goma-congo-basketball-academy.html

Jonathan Edwards holds one of track and field’s longest-standing records. His jump still ‘brings a smile’ 30 years on (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/07/sport/jonathan-edwards-triple-jump-world-record-spt-intl

How Jen Pawol Became the First Female Umpire in MLB History (Mental Floss)
https://www.mentalfloss.com/sports/baseball/jen-pawol-first-female-mlb-umpire

Rivals and friends: How the World Transplant Games connected Erik and Elmar (CNN)
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/17/sport/rivals-friends-world-transplant-games-intl

How Clubs Got Their Colours (ESPN)
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/41707514/how-clubs-got-their-colors-soccer-historic-iconic-jerseys-football-shirts

Women’s baseball trailblazer hopes new league helps girls ‘fall back in love’ (USA Today)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2025/08/22/womens-baseball-league-tryouts-kelsie-whitmore/85766038007/

What It’s Like to Ride a Motorcycle at 175 Miles an Hour (GQ Sports)
https://www.gq.com/story/ducati-panigale-v4

The biggest hockey player on Earth is a 7-foot-tall teenager from Moldova (The Athletic)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6560201/2025/08/21/biggest-tallest-hockey-player-zdeno-chara-alexander-karmanov/

Baltimore Ravens draft pick Carson Vinson: I want to give HBCU players like me hope (Andscape)
https://andscape.com/features/baltimore-ravens-draft-pick-carson-vinson-i-want-to-give-hbcu-players-like-me-hope/

How a card shop became a much-needed resource for the community (Yahoo! Sports)
https://sports.yahoo.com/collectibles/article/how-a-card-shop-became-a-much-needed-resource-for-the-community-221311269.html


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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~