All posts tagged Making A Difference:
A Play It Forward* tale from one of the many global human catalysts making a positive impact on the lives of others with a ball - thanks, Beth McGill! Her story is another wonderful demonstration of the transformational power of sport & how a “ball can change the world!”
*A special thanks & shoutout to: Joanne, Paul, Brian & Julie for your contributions to this Play It Forward moment!
Hello Kevin,
The balls were an absolute hit and the little ones started digging into the balls instantly. Fifteen of the balls are being used for the HIV education program, 4 are being used for the local street leagues and soccer tournaments held on the weekend and the final ball I personally delivered to a very small squatter community. The children were trying to play soccer with a flat rugby ball so I found a mother that I designated as the ball care taker and she is currently letting the kids play all day and bringing the ball in at night. Such a great gift and I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity to bring them over to South Africa.
September brought only smiles in the smallest of ways to a rural community in South Africa. Thanks to Molten USA and Kevin Carroll, 20 soccer balls were delivered to Richmond, South Africa through the Hope In Richmond (HIR) organization to continue the youth HIV and sports education programs. The soccer balls are being used at the community center for after school sports programs, used in HIV education activities, and also were given out to smaller areas for the kids to participate in friendly sport.
Richmond, South Africa is home to 9,000 South Africans with unemployment exceeding 70% and HIV/AIDS infection rates estimated at 35% . HIR adopted the small community in 2005 and, to date, has renovated the soccer facilities creating a community center with a soup kitchen, indoor and outdoor recreational areas, meeting spaces, a youth library, improved sanitation for the community, and provided medical supplies and equipment for the local hospital. On the last HIR trip to Richmond, I was privileged to deliver 20 new Molten soccer balls to support our local Grassroot Soccer HIV program which teaches the youth HIV/AIDS education through interactive activities often involving soccer balls. The Grassroot Soccer Skillz curriculum also provides youth with the knowledge, life skills and support to live healthier lives, HIV Free.
HIR staff and children attending the community center were ecstatic to see the brand new beautiful balls to replace their popped soccer balls which did not survive the desert terrain. September_SA_2009_1_.JPG Even with all the despair and hardship that surrounds the African people, they still find time to laugh, play, and sing. Sometimes something as small and as simple as a soccer ball can bring smiles and laughter to a community in need.
On behalf of the community of Richmond and HIR, special thanks to Kevin Carroll and to Molten for donating soccer balls to a community and education program dedicated to enriching the lives of the people of Richmond, South Africa.
Dankie!
Enkosi!
Beth
Got Play?!
There are 12 categories for the Beyond Sport Awards 2010 covering the entire sporting spectrum of
health, social inclusion, corporate and social responsibility, and philanthropy.
These categories are split into three clear sections –
Beyond Sport Community Awards; Corporation and Federation Awards; and the Judges’ Awards.
The Shortlisted entries from each category will receive:
A free invitation to the Beyond Sport Summit on September 27-30 in Chicago
Flights to and accommodation during the Summit
Access to Beyond Sport’s global network of international sports organisations, company leaders, and influential political figures
Opportunities for business mentoring and to become members of the most influential group of social entrepreneurs ever assembled around sport
The winners of the six Beyond Sport Community Awards will receive a minimum of £10,000 funding each
and a package of substantial business support to enable them to move forward and become fully sustainable in the future.
Learn more - Beyond Sport Awards 2010
Got IDEAS?!
On January, 18, 2010, people of all ages and backgrounds will come together to improve lives, bridge social barriers, and move our nation closer to the “Beloved Community” that Dr. King envisioned. Dr. Martin Luther King devoted his life’s work to causes of equality and social justice. He taught that through nonviolence and service to one another, problems such as hunger and homelessness, prejudice and discrimination can be overcome. Dr. King’s teachings can continue to guide us in addressing our nation’s most pressing needs—-poverty, economic insecurity, job loss and education. Volunteer with Americans across the nation on the 2010 King Day of Service and make a real difference in your community.
Play It Forward BONUS: if your MLK day of service effort involves play or sport in your community, share your story on my site & earn the chance to receive a custom KC playground ball , soccer ball or basketball!!
Got SERVICE?!
About the Alliance for a Healthier Generation:
The American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation joined forces in May of 2005 to create a healthier generation by addressing one of the nation’s leading public health threats—childhood obesity. Along with our co-leader Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, the Alliance works to positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor’s offices and communities.
A catalytic equation for making a difference:
KC + The Alliance + Little Rock, AR + The Clinton Presidential Library = an inspiring gathering of like-minded, social innovators (aka social do-gooders) who intend to positively impact GenNext!
Got HOPE?!
Photog:Fran Meckler
A Ball Can change The World! features inspiring images captured by Fran Meckler* from three events/projects that are part of the global sport for social change movement. Featured in Fran’s images are:
Girls Kick It! - Namuwongo, Uganda; The 2009 USA Cup - Washington, DC; The 2009 Homeless World Cup - Milan, Italy.
*Fran & I were connected via my freind & fellow social-do-gooder Jeremy Goldberg, Founder of Global Youth Partnership for Africa this year - thanks, JMG!
Got Hope?!
Graffiti Courtesy of The Red Rubber Ball Company/UK
Enjoy Your Chase!
On Monday, November 30th at Niketown London, NIKE, Bono and Didier Drogba, arguably the world’s best striker, came together to launch a partnership between Nike and (RED)™. NIKE and (RED) together will leverage the power of sport to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.
The idea is simple: Educate + Medicate
How it works
1. You purchase (NIKE)RED laces.
2. Nike contribute 100% of the profits from the sale to the Global Fund and to football-based programs that help fight AIDS in Africa.
3. Funds are received by programs like Grassroots Soccer, which uses football as a framework to teach youths how to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS.
4. Funds are also contributed to The Global Fund to fund HIV/AIDS programs that support the purchase of lifesaving Antiretroviral (ARV) medication, training of medical staff, HIV testing and treatment to help prevent the transmission of the virus from pregnant mothers to their babies.
5. Life-saving knowledge is received by the next generation in Africa.
Since its inception, (RED)™ partners and events have generated over £80 million to the Global Fund and the number keeps growing.
Got LACES?!
Photo: Tom White for The New York Times
The Chess-in-the-Schools program has sought to foster analytical skills on the theory that these will help students succeed academically. The group teaches 20,000 children a year and calculates that it has taught 425,000 children since 1986. Children gather to learn the game at the group’s headquarters in Manhattan.
On the plane ride back from Blacksburg, VA & my exhilarating visit on the campus of Virgina Tech (among my highlights was a java chat with Nikki Giovanni!), I read a great story in the NY Times/Giving Section about Marley Kaplan & the Chess-in-the-Schools program. After becoming disenchanted with her career/life in the banking world she made a decision to pursue work in the world of “making a difference” aka the non-profit sector - read more!
This story will serve to further embolden the efforts of “social do-gooders” (me included) who have accepted their “calling” to be human catalysts and make a difference in the lives of others.
BTW, back-in-the-day my older brother (Donnie) used me as his chess practice “victim” to hone his game strategies, skills and moves - I learned how to concede gracefully!!
Got Hope?!
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley
I know the story. The 1995 Rugby World Cup. South Africa’s improbable run to the final match. Mandela’s beleif in sport’s unifying ability. I heard about this remarkable, power of sport moment from Archbishop Desmond Tutu at The Beyond Sport Summit. Archbishop Tutu said that it was a transformational moment for all of South Africa. He exuberantly shared the story of how he witnessed sport’s ability to make a positive difference in his nation!
A BALL Can Change the World!
The Finals of 2009 Homeless World Cup/Milano with Buddy from Buzz Films
Though the teams may be gone and the army barrack tents where they stayed taken down, the energy remains. Relive the grit and glory of the final match- Ukraine v Portugal. The Ukraine pulled it out in a closely-contested match, where one teams goal always seemed to meet with a counter goal from the other squad. But words can’t do it justice. Check out the video to see the joy of victory and the agony of defeat unfold for yourself. And to get one last jolt of energy from lives being changed.
Got HOPE?!
Youth sports is an enterprise worthy of a bailout
By JIM LITKE (AP)
If the high school and youth sports programs in your town aren’t already having trouble paying their bills, they will soon.
And if that doesn’t sound like headline-worthy news in this battered economy, just wait. You’ll have your pick of headlines from the ripples it creates soon enough: fatter kids, more dropouts and less safe streets. You also won’t have to wonder why the college and pro teams you follow from the couch don’t seem quite as good as they used to be.
The public-private partnership that helped make youth sports part of the fabric of every neighborhood in America for decades is going broke.
“Sports are something everybody takes for granted, but already for some kids in some places, those programs are a lifeline,” said Paul Caccamo, executive director of Up2Us, a coalition of school and community-based sports programs from around the country.
“It’s already an endangered species in some inner cities, some rural areas and now, even middle-class suburban kids are getting hit with pay-to-play fees. We know as that cost goes up, participation goes down. ... And while we don’t know for certain how many it’s affected in all those places already,” he added, “it’s got to be in the hundreds of thousands.”
Beginning Wednesday, Caccamo and an army of do-gooders will descend on Washington, D.C., bearing that message, some provocative research and high hopes of drawing attention to the problem and bending a few influential ears in Congress and even the White House.
During two days of conferences, co-hosted by Up2Us and the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation, the people struggling to keep those programs running want to make policy-makers and the public understand how close they are to the tipping point. It’s not about learning to make do with less money; in many neighborhoods, any less will mean having to do without.
A ball/sports can change a life - I know this first-hand & I’ve witnessed it in communities all over the globe. Countless times President Obama has expressed how sports helped to shape his understanding of the team concept & how to be a coachable team member (he regularly plays pick-up hoops on the White House grounds & he even has a former Duke baller as his personal aide) - without a doubt, he’s a believer in the power of sports.
Generation Next deserves the same opportunities that President Obama & I had via sports to learn lifelong, catalytic lessons! So, I firmly believe that youth sports programs in the US are absolutely worthy of a bailout.
Show youth sports…the MONEY!
Gotta love the web! My daily Google search for the phrase “business innovation” sent an email alert for this innovation gathering that’s happening in Providence, RI this week…
The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) shares “proof of concept” at BIF-5
The BIF-5 Collaborative Innovation Summit, co-hosted by Bruce Nussbaum and Bill Taylor, will bring together today’s most compelling innovators, business model renegades and true transformers to discuss innovation success through personal storytelling. Over two days you will hear twenty five stories about creating change and directly connect with pioneers who created environments and opportunities where transformative innovation emerged.
Learn more about The Business Innovation Factory (BIF)
Got IDEAS?!
Press Release 09/17/09
During National Coach Appreciation Week, Members of Congress, Coaches, and Youth Launch -
Coach for America
New national program will recruit, train 10,000 college grads to become coaches in underserved communities.
Washington, DC (Vocus) September 17, 2009—At a Capitol Hill press conference recognizing National Coach Appreciation Week today, members of Congress, coaches, and youth announced the launch of Coach for America, a first-of-its-kind national program designed to recruit 10,000 recently graduated college-athletes to participate in a year of training and service. Coach for America is a project of Up2Us, the leading national coalition focused on youth sports and development. Coach for America participants will receive sports and youth development related training and will serve, teach, and support children and youth in communities across the nation.
Nike and Homeless World Cup/HWC are delighted to announce Buzz Films as the winner of the “Spiritus Concordia Victoria” Film Competition.
Buzz Films will see up and coming presenter, Buddy, capture the spirit and essence of the Homeless World Cup/HWC, which unites 500 players from 48 nations in Milan in September. Buddy’s last assignment was for National Geographic with a trip through Outer Mongolia.
Over 75 submissions were received from filmmakers from 5 continents when Nike and Homeless World Cup/HWC put the call out with a $50,000 fund to produce a short film capturing the Spirit, Unity, Victory of The Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup, which takes place in the Arena Civica, Sempione Park from 6-13 September 2009.
About BUZZ Films & Buddy…
Here’s Buddy in BUZZ Films’ episodes #1 & 2…The Arrival & The Draw
Homeless World Cup, MILAN 2009 - The Arrival from Jan-Paul Bednarz on Vimeo.
Homeless World Cup, MILAN 2009 - The Draw from Jan-Paul Bednarz on Vimeo.
Stay tuned for more HWC episodes from Buddy & BUZZ Films…
Got PLAY?!
A BALL CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
There are one billion homeless people living in our world today.
The Homeless World Cup exists to end this, so we all have a home, a basic human need.
The Homeless World Cup/HWC is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.
The first tournament took place in Graz 2003 uniting 18 national teams. 6 years on 56 nations were united for Melbourne 2008, which included the first Women’s Cup. We are on the road to Milan 2009 from 6-13 September.
The impact is consistently significant year on year with 73% of players changing their lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro or semi-pro football teams.
The Homeless World Cup/HWC supporters include UEFA, Nike, UN, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Ambassador Eric Cantona and international footballers Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand.
Got Hope?!
HWC Press Release
United Nations backs Homeless World Cup
3 September 2009, With just three days until the kick off of the 7th Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup, the United Nations have announced their support with a message from the special adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace. The Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup welcomes 48 nations to the Arena Civica, Sempione Park, Milan from 6-13 September 2009.
The United Nations considers sport as a powerful tool to promote education, health, development and peace. Sport unites people of all social classes, cultures and religions in a positive and educational way.
As the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Wifried Lemke said: it is with great pleasure that I offer my support to the “Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup”, a football initiative which has been uniting teams of homeless people to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever.
The Homeless World Cup initiative is an extraordinary example of the application of sport as a tool for community development. The Homeless World Cup has triggered the establishment of over 50 local grass roots projects working with people who are homeless and excluded from society.
The impact of the Homeless World Cup has been consistently significant with a large majority of players changing their lives for the better, by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and some even going on to become players and coaches for professional or semi-professional football teams.
Considering the increase in the number of participating teams from 18 national teams in the year 2003 to 48 national teams for the current event in Milan, the Homeless World Cup is well on the way to realizing its vision - a healthy, abundant, confident world where everyone has a home, a basic human right.
The initiative has been a very successful means to raise awareness of issue surrounding the homeless and to improve the image of homeless people amongst the general public. The positive impact that this project has been able to have on individuals from more than 70 countries makes it an initiative that deserves any additional support it can obtain.
I look forward to a continued collaboration with the Homeless World Cup initiative and wish all participants the very best in this life-changing experience!”
I had the honor of meeting & spending time conversing with Wifried Lemke at the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards - he’s a “true believer” in the power of sport movement!
The 7th Annual Homeless World Cup kicks-off tomorrow/September 6th in Milan, Italy!
Got Hope?!
Rob Hughes, NY Times/July 10, 2009
LONDON — The sporting superstar has reached a level of global recognition beyond any film star.
“There is no movie star in the world who could get thousands of people to wait six hours just to see their arrival, as Cristiano Ronaldo did this week,” said David Puttnam, filmmaker turned law maker in the British House of Lords. Puttnam, who over 30 years produced award-winning films, including “Chariots of Fire,” “The Killing Fields,” “Bugsy Malone,” and “Memphis Belle,” is certain that Tom Cruise could not hope to draw 80,000 to a movie theater the way Ronaldo did to his signing ceremony at Real Madrid’s Bernabéu stadium last Monday.
“I have watched the dynamic of the superstar shift from film to sports,” Puttnam added. “The whole level of globalization of sports is bigger. The key is engagement. The power of sport has taken the movie industry by surprise.”
We were speaking at the Beyond Sport Summit in London where Puttnam — now Lord Puttnam, legislator and ambassador for Unicef — joined people from government offices to ground workers in some of the world’s most violent crime spots to discuss the power of sports.
Fame need not be frivolous. Puttnam, 68, has witnessed the emergence of celebrity added to charitable causes, from Danny Kaye, the American actor, singer and dancer of the 1950s, to the David Beckham phenomenon today.
Katalyst Note: On Day 3 of the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards gathering, I had a wonderful time conversing with and listening to Lord David Puttnam. He possesses a unique combination or wisdom, insight, intellect and devilish humor that quickly disarms an audience and inspires all listeners!
Got Stories?!
I’ve had the honor of cultivating a friendship with Awista since 2006 when I learned about her amazing, life-changing, power of sport work via the 2006 ESPY Awards. We quickly discovered that we shared the same passion, intention and commitment to making a difference in the lives of others via sport & play. Awista was also gracious enough to share her story about sport & play’s impact on her personal growth and her lifelong chase (aka her Red Rubber Ball!) in my recent book, The Red Rubber Ball at Work.
Enjoy the read & enjoy your chase…
The Play It Forward campaign is a collaboration of Up2Us, YouthNoise and Nike, Inc. that seeks to promote the importance of youth sports and to recognize the role of coaches in shaping young people’s futures.
Play it Forward centers around the Coach Appreciation Week Resolution, which was introduced with the help of Rep. McIntyre, N.C. and will go to a House of Representatives vote on September 14. Coach Appreciation Week is intended to spark a national dialogue about the importance of sports as a vehicle for youth development and to inspire volunteerism around youth sports. The Play it Forward campaign will highlight the stories of coaches from around the country who have made a difference in the lives of their players, both on and off the field. Three winning coaches will win a trip to Washington, D.C. and be honored with the National Coach Appreciation Week “Coach of the Year Award at the Up2Us National Conference.
KC’s Catalytic Coaches: Coach Schmidt (Coopertown ES 5th & 6th Grade - Football), Coach Bellini (Haverford JHS 7th & 8th grade - Football), Mr. Ritts & Mr. DeCampli (Haverford JHS 7th-9th grade - Track), Coach Bush & Coach Keyser (Haverford HS Varsity Soccer)
Books by KC
