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December 9, 2022
Last Saturday, The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation’s Sports Matter Giving Truck made its third tour stop of the year in Houston, Texas, hosting 500 youth athletes for a ‘Sports Matter Day’ and gifting sports equipment. The day included coaching, mentoring and play as well as a coach leadership course run by Beyond Sport and The DICK’s Sporting Goods Foundation.
Since 2014, DICK’S and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation have committed over $150 million to support young athletes through its Sports Matter initiative. The day is dedicated to raising awareness for the “youth sports funding crisis as the fight to save youth sports continues across the US.” Since the first tour in 2020, more than 75,000 gifts of sports equipment have been given to youth across the country.
The Giving Truck stopped at the University of Houston Campus Recreation and Wellness Center where kids had the chance to meet MLB World Series Champion (Houston Astros) and MVP Jeremy Peña and WNBA Hall of Famer and former Houston Comets All-Star Sheryl Swoopes. The pair spent time coaching, mentoring and playing alongside the kids at the event.
In partnership with national non-profit Good Sports, the Foundation provided 10,000 young athletes from 29 Houston-area youth sports organizations with equipment kits containing apparel, sports-specific training gear, water bottles and more to encourage participation in sports.
Beyond Sport and The DICK’s Sporting Goods Foundation also offered coaches participating in Sports Matter Day leadership training courses. The first course was an in-person workshop titled, Coaching with Empathy, with additional courses to come that will cover a variety of topics such as fundraising, governance and stakeholder engagement.
“Beyond Sport was proud to partner with The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation to deliver leadership and capacity-development workshops as part of Sports Matter Day, Houston. This level of investment into community coaches – who put youth at the center of all that they do – will ensure sustained community impact, something to which Beyond Sport is wholly aligned,” shared Amy O’Brien, Senior Manager, Grants and Programmes at Beyond Sport who delivered the workshop on the day. Coaching with Empathy, delivered with support from Positive Coaching Alliance, was a huge success and we’re excited to continue working closely with coaches and organizations in the new year!”
“Sports Matter Day in Houston was a huge success that enabled us to share the gift of sport with thousands of incredible and deserving kids in Houston,” said Aimee Watters, Executive Director of The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation. “We are so thankful for all of our partners who helped to make this a great day and proud to have partnered with Beyond Sport for the first time to offer life-changing leadership and development workshops for coaches who continually invest their time in youth sports.”
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