Innholdsfortegnelse for The 2025 Sports Edition i The Goodnewspaper

According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, football tackles account for 300,000 annual sports-related concussions, which can later lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). To the average sports viewer, head-to-head tackles may look like a swift, seamless throw-down — but to the player, it’s the equivalent of driving a car into a brick wall at 30 miles per hour. As experts gather emerging data on the value of Guardian Caps — soft-shelled helmet covers designed to reduce concussions — they’re utilizing other methods. For Ben Peterson, former head of player health and performance for the San Francisco 49ers, that means using artificial intelligence to guide player safety. An AI tool called Digital Athlete creates a three-dimensional rendering of players and runs them through data-driven simulations to flag probable hazards.…

In 2013, park ranger Dale Osborne noticed that the plains of Watermead Country Park North in Leicestershire, England were constantly flooding. As torrential rain poured down, the floodplains failed to drain properly — and local harvest mice lost their nests. “I was picking mice up swimming around in the water and putting them on dry land because some had been washed out of their homes,” Osborne told the BBC. To help the harvest mice survive, Osborne and his colleague employed a conservation tactic that had been slowly circulating in Britain for years: rehoming rodents in used tennis balls. The team cut small openings in the rubber-core balls and propped them up on raised stakes throughout the park. “They will lay their young in there and they are so small you…

In 2024, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes entered his rookie season with a major goal: To donate $100 for every strikeout he records to veterans and first responders. “Having veterans in my own family, and having spent two years at the Air Force Academy, my mission is to now support these heroes and their families,” Skenes wrote in a post on Instagram. The former Louisiana State University star aimed to raise $100,000 by the end of the season — a rather ambitious objective for the pitcher’s first-ever Major League Baseball season. During his university career, he participated in a similar fundraiser, donating $10 per strikeout to veterans in need. Skenes started his pro career with a bang, striking out seven people in his debut game against the Chicago Cubs. He…

In Harlem, New York — a city with a population mostly made up of Hispanic, Latino, and Black families — white-dominated sports like figure skating are especially out of reach. Enter: Figure Skating in Harlem. The nonprofit offers sliding-scale figure skating classes and tuition to girls of color. Beyond breaking barriers for skating, FSH also offers academic and leadership classes, college and career support, and social-emotional learning opportunities. FSH goes even further, connecting students to social justice and community activism efforts to help instill a sense of responsibility in social change. “Our students live in the real world, and at FSH, they are changemakers,” founder and CEO Sharon Cohen told Beyond Sport. “They are encouraged to use their voices effectively and to persuasively fight injustices; simply by participating in a…

In the 2010s, headlines about abuse and misconduct in amateur and professional sports dominated headlines. Most notable was the story of USA Gymnastics — and over 150 other claimants — who spoke out about the abuse they suffered at the hands of their team doctor, Larry Nassar. Their bravery led to a 175-year prison sentence for Nassar, but it went even further. In 2017, an act of Congress designated the U.S. Center for SafeSport as the country’s independent safe sport organization. It sets safety standards, oversees athletic governing bodies, and investigates misconduct reports. And while it has been fundamental to confronting athletic abuse, survivors are still not satisfied. Cases of abuse are still unacceptably high, with SafeSport receiving an estimated 9,000 reports in 2024. So, other advocates are stepping in…

The Next Gen Gym-Goers Of Papua New Guinea Grass Skirt Project is a nonprofit pioneering social change in Papua New Guinea by using youth sports and mental health initiatives to end gender-based violence. Their latest project is the Gymbox program, which repurposes 20-foot shipping containers into mobile and sustainable fitness facilities in underserved communities. Here, coaches provide a safe space for all who enter. The shipping containers are multipurpose: giving young girls a place to access fitness and education, and coaching boys from a young age to seek mental health resources and respect their peers. “By leveraging the universal appeal of sports, we have created safe spaces for individuals to rebuild their confidence, develop leadership skills, and challenge harmful gender norms — offering hope and a path forward,” GSP’s general…

The adrenaline rush of racing down a field, or court, as the game clock ticks away can be hard to beat — but it turns out that cheering on the sidelines has its health benefits, too. A new study from Waseda University found that watching sports has a measurable impact on people’s well-llbeing, regardless of whether a preferred team was winning. The 2024 study was accomplished in three parts: first by conducting data analysis of existing research on 20,000 Japanese residents, hosting an online survey of 208 sports fans, and lastly — and most crucially — measuring the brain activity of participants as they watched sports clips. The study was led by professors Shintaro Sato and Kento Nakagawa, as well as Keita Kinoshita, an assistant professor from Nanyang Technological University…

GOOD Learn more about the history of sports-related concussions in “Another Player Down,” a documentary short produced by independent newsroom Retro Report. youtube.com/@RETROREPORT BETTER Donate to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting veterans, athletes, and all individuals affected by concussions and CTE. concussionfoundation.org/ways-to-give BEST Track and support “return to play” and concussionrelated policies on a national level using The Sports Institute’s legislation tracker: thesportsinstitute.com/sports-legislation-tracker…

01 Rent (or borrow!) sports gear and exercise equipment when possible. Most community gyms — and even some local public libraries — rent out items, so you can try pickleball before you go all-in on a paddle. 02 Buy gear and equipment secondhand. Sideline Swap, a community marketplace, lists baseball gloves, hockey pucks, lacrosse heads, and much, much more. sidelineswap.com 03 Donate gear to Leveling the Playing Field once you’ve outgrown it. The nonprofit accepts nationwide donations and distributes them to young athletes in need. levelingtheplayingfield.org…

Philadelphia Blind Hockey was founded in 2022 after students from the Overbrook School of the Blind partnered with the Philadelphia Flyers to give hockey a try. The initiative was so successful that Kelsey McGuire, a teacher at the school, was asked by USA Hockey to start a regional blind team. Now, she’s the group’s executive director. Philadelphia Blind Hockey holds free weekly sessions for youth ages 4-17, teaching basic skating and hockey skills. Their work is possible thanks to fundraisers like the annual Blind Awareness Showcase, which raised $11,000 in 2024. The event encourages skaters and hockey enthusiasts to wear low-vision simulators and blindfolds while they play, raising awareness about blindness and visual impairments. “We like to allow those who are sighted to be put under low vision simulation so…

The mission of Boston-based nonprofit Bikes Not Bombs? “Using the bicycle as a vehicle for social change.” What started as a group of passionate cyclists in 1984 providing aid bicycles to people in the Global South now has a double-sided mission: Bolstering international aid while building economic resilience among marginalized youth in Boston. The Bikes Not Bombs shop is full of teen mechanics in a 10-week program learning how to care for and operate a used bike, which they get to keep upon graduating. Then, they have the opportunity to work in the shop — about 200 young people repair and refurbish thousands of bikes every year. Over the last four decades, the organization estimates it has shipped over 80,000 bikes to developing countries, in addition to secondhand bikes sold…

Mental health struggles are a growing concern among athletes. Fortunately, a new no-cost mental health resource, The Courage First Athletes Helpline, expanded its access in 2025. The national helpline aims to meet the needs of athletes, coaches, and their families who are struggling with feelings of anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and more. “A lot of the contacts that we get are related to emotional abuse or emotional maltreatment,” Cathy Beach, national program director for The Courage First Athletes Helpline, said in a press release. “That line between strict coaching and what might be detrimental to mental health later on can be really fuzzy … I would say the main issue that we get reached out to is about kind of that treatment as an athlete and maybe how that…

When it comes to golf courses, people are more likely to think of environmental problems — not solutions. And that’s fair. In California, for example, the average 18-hole golf course guzzles up 90 million gallons of water per year — the equivalent of 136 Olympic-sized swimming pools. But the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona has been working to clean up golf’s reputation, and has been certified as a zero-waste event by UL Solutions for the past 12 years. With WM as its title sponsor, the event has developed innovative ways to divert 100% of waste from landfills through recycling, composting, and energy conversion. Lee Spivak, who leads WM’s advisory services team, said that the event is a guinea pig when it comes to testing out new environmentally friendly measures,…

A 2020 survey by Global Athlete found that 58% of 500 Olympians and Paralympians did not consider themselves financially stable. While competing professionally often comes with sponsorships or stipends for top athletes, many must take on additional jobs or crowd-fund for their chance to win gold. This is even harder for athletes with disabilities, who have even higher expenses due to customized sports equipment, unique travel needs, specialized healthcare, and limited funding and sponsorship opportunities. While systemic barriers for disabled athletes must be confronted, in the meantime, four-time Paralympic skier Danelle Umstead founded the Sisters in Sports Foundation to help women athletes with disabilities gain access to the opportunity to pursue sports. The foundation’s grant program helps pro and emerging athletes with disabilities cover the cost of equipment, training sessions,…

GOOD Watch the Paralympics! The 2026 Winter Paralympics will be your next chance to support disabled athletes just by being a spectator. Spoiler alert: You’ll be on the edge of your seat. paralympic.org BETTER Donate to Achilles International (achillesinternational.org) or Sisters in Sports Foundation (sistersinsports-foundation.org) to fund resources, equipment, and programming for para-athletics. BEST Support the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s One For All campaign, which aims to provide the same pay and benefits to all Team USA athletes by 2028. usopc.org/one-for-all-the-campaign-for-team-usa…

GOOD Start by understanding the economic disparities of play in areas across the country. Project Play by The Aspen Institute has reports on over 15 regions in the U.S. projectplay.org/communities/overview BETTER Donate to organizations like All Kids Play (allkidsplay.org) and Every Kid Sports (everykidsports.org) to cover sports registration fees and fund athletic programs for low-income families and communities. BEST Explore Project Play’s Teamwork Toolkit, which provides a framework and action steps to help you create positive and affordable sports opportunities for youth in your community. teamworktoolkit.projectplay.us…

You may get annoyed by lagging captions when the big game is muted at a bar, but do you ever wonder how deaf viewers keep up with the play-by-play when captions always pop up five plays behind? A slight shift in perspective can shed light on accessibility gaps remaining in the sports world … and the solutions that prove to be an actual game changer for the people who need them most. Blind Basketball Fans Can Now Watch Games ‘Through Their Fingers’ This year, startup OneCourt ushered blind and low-vision basketball fans into a new era of sports viewing by introducing free-to-rent haptic feedback devices at Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers games. OneCourt allows users to watch the game “through their fingers” by relaying real-time data to tablet-sized devices.…

Finally, Everyone is Watching. Here's How To Keep Their Attention. In recent years, women have dominated sports headlines in a way they truly never have before. The 2024 Paris Olympics achieved gender parity for the first time in the history of the Games. In January 2025, the NCAA unanimously approved a women’s March Madness revenue-sharing plan to provide the same compensation the men’s teams have had since 1991. This year’s Super Bowl MVP, Jalen Hurts, proudly boasted an all-women management team, onboarding a new slew of fans for the Philadelphia Eagles — and spotlighting career role models for countless young women of color. In major cities across the country, women are getting their own professional leagues. In 2024 alone, at least 20 teams had their inaugural seasons, and three new…

It’s Wednesday night at Just-In-Time Recreation in Lewiston, Maine, and 17-year-old Gwen Jordan stands by, readying a bowling ball with swirling bands of purple and white. Bracelets dangle from her wrists as she waits — including one marked with a heart that reads: “Lewiston Strong.” It may seem like a regular night at Just-In-Time’s youth bowling league, but it’s a ritual that local kids fought hard to keep alive. A year prior, on October 25, 2023, the bowling alley, along with a bar and grill down on the corner, had been the site of a mass shooting. Between the two locations, the gunman killed 18 people and wounded 13 more. Among the victims were 14-year-old youth league member Aaron Young, bowling coach Bob Violette, and his wife Lucy. In the…

Pickleball is taking over. Although the paddle sport was invented in the 1960s, its popularity has skyrocketed in the last decade. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, it has been named the “fastest-growing sport” in the U.S. for four consecutive years. At Connecticut’s MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, pickleball has had crossover appeal in prisons, too. The pickleball program at MacDougall-Walker was brought in by Sarah Gersten — lawyer and founder of the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit that fights for criminal justice reform. In 2022, she reached out to pickleball coach Roger Belair to inquire about his program at Chicago’s Cook County Jail with the hope of recreating its success. “There’s an element that’s built into the game that creates more camaraderie than other sports,” Gersten said. “Something we…