Boxing to Help Others

Box Like a Champion Today (BLACT) is an exciting new aspect of the Play Like A Champion Today(TM): Sports as a ministry program as well as Notre Dame Boxing. Working alongside both the Men’s and Women’s Club boxing teams the purpose of BLACT is to organize the local impact arm of Notre Dame boxing. I felt it would be important to integrate both of the club’s charitable purposes within the surrounding community.
Starting in November, I along with Chris LaCosta and Kieran Bulger have volunteered at the South Bend Police Boxing Club. The SBPD Club was founded by Chief Boykins in order to try to prevent kids from joining gangs as well as for them to take advantage of everything the sport of boxing has to offer. The club is free of charge, partly thanks to the donations we have provided. Boxing is an appealing method to teach kids everything from work ethic to proper nutrition. With the help of the other volunteers I also began implementing a tutoring program at the club. This club is run by the Chief of Police assisted by Officer Scherer. On top of the Police presence the club also has Rod Parchman hired as an expert coach and Cody Yazzie as an expert trainer too. After months of observation, practicing, coaching, mentoring, tutoring, and of course boxing we’re finally ready to take the next step and really bring sustainable impact for the club. The fundraiser on 4/30/10 @ 5:00pm, hopefully in the JACC, will be in an effort to raise money for the club in order to buy mirrors for the clubs walls as well as mounts for the heavy bags (hopefully some other equipment as well). We hope to continue to utilize our creativity, education, and ability to continue to support the club in any way possible.
Our second club of our expanding list is the Chicago Youth Boxing Club, located on the Southside of Chicago. Robert Ramos, a former gang member, who wanted to provide kids an alternative to the devastatingly violent life of “gangbanging”, founded this club. Located on the boundary line between two warring/rival factions the club serves as a beacon of hope in a rather dangerous neighborhood. Although very different from the SBPD club, this club is equally beneficial and has a lot of members. The club serves as a connector between the youth of different races who wouldn’t otherwise come into contact with each other because of the racial emphasis in gang culture. This club currently charges $15 a month in order to cover its costs. We plan on implementing various sustainable business practices as well as help coach, mentor and train everyone involved at the club.
Furthermore after speaking both to Chief Boykins and Robert Ramos it seems that creating a relationship between the two clubs would be mutually beneficial. Although located about 2 hours away from each other, the future prospect of charity boxing exhibitions between the two clubs is definitely not out of the question. On top of that the ability to exchange methodologies between the two clubs will be invaluable. Already I’m implementing things at both clubs, which I learned at the other. It will be very exciting to see how this relationship pans out.
In an effort to raise money for both of these clubs, I personally also began my own charitable entity called “Team Carnevale”. Most professional boxing fights are marketed as one on one test of skill, strength, and agility. Using this concept I, along with Bengal Bout champion Greg Bennett, agreed to market our fight in Bengal Bouts next year in this manner. This is in order to raise money for our separate causes. Greg plans on using the publicity for our fight to raise money for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh (where the money for Bengal Bouts goes). This will allow Greg to go above and beyond the minimum donation amount and hopefully continue the club’s legacy of consistently increasing its annual donation. I on the other hand created my own unofficial entity called “Team Carnevale” whose purpose is to raise as much money as possible for both the South Bend Police Boxing Club, the Chicago Youth Boxing Club and various other causes (for instance the upcoming Relay for Life received a donation through the collections at Rolfs). Team Carnevale will actually be making its first significant donation to the CYBC next week. Furthermore I plan on trying to raise about a $1000 through t-shirt sales for Team Carnevale (which can then be worn at the big fight).
Tom Carnevale
Notre Dame, 2012

It Takes A Village

You might have heard of the common ancient African proverb, “it takes a village to raise a child”. Have you every considered that perhaps an athlete, too, requires a “village” to reach his or hers fullest potential? There are so many people that help and support an athlete – the parents, coaches, doctors, trainers, managers, and scorekeepers…the list is truly endless. I think often times only the athlete reaps the full benefit of his or her athletic skills. However, perhaps we should also try to remember that an entire community is often involved in an athlete’s success.
Over the past weekend at the University of Notre Dame, there was a half-marathon race. This truly exemplified how it does indeed take an entire community to help athletes develop and reach their fullest potential. Over 900 runners participated in the race, but in reality the entire community was involved. Volunteers handed out water, police officers blocked off roads, and supporters came to cheer on the runners. This was such a fun and unique experience, and as a competitor in the race I know that I could not have finished the race without the support of many other people.
I think that this idea needs to be kept in mind when developing young athletes. While young athletes do need strong will and personal determination, they can be influenced by so many other things as well. It is essential to for young athletes to have positive influences so that they can continue to develop and learn to truly love their sport.
Colleen McKenna
ND 2012
Social Foundations of Coaching

Baseball Begins!

Today marked the true beginning of a new era for my favorite baseball team, the Minnesota Twins, with the official opening of their new outdoor stadium, Target Field. This will be the first season since 1981 that the team will play its home games outdoors, since their home has been the Metrodome for the past 28 years. Gone are the cramped locker rooms, no longer do the players and fans have to share an arena with the local NFL football team – this is a place they can truly call home, with all the modern amenities of any state-of-the-art ballpark.

I have been waiting for this my entire life. The Twins won two World Series’ in my first four years of existence, and have been relatively miserable until very recently. But I believe that they run their organization the right way, and like no other team in the big leagues. They preach fundamentally sound defense and value “small ball.” They relentlessly scout and home-grow their talented players within their own farm system, making shrewd trades and draft picks in order to survive in a league that mostly values money and the long ball. No team has done more with less over the past decade, and now they are finally reaping the fruits of their labors.

There definitely has not been a more exciting time for Twins fans – the team could not look much better on paper, and they have won 5 of their first 7 games on the road against the formidable Los Angeles Angels and their division archrival, the Chicago White Sox. The recent blockbuster deal for hometown hero Joe Mauer could not have come at a better time. The organization clearly realizes that they play a special brand of baseball and have some of the most devoted fans in the Majors, and they have responded in kind by locking up some of the fan favorites like Mauer and power-hitting first baseman Justin Morneau for long-term contracts.

They have the talent, they’ve begun paying their players the big bucks, they now have a place to truly call their own – all my beloved Minnesota Twins need now is a World Series victory. They definitely took the first step this afternoon – they won the first game in their new home – a 5-3 thriller against the Boston Red Sox – and moved into sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division. Only 154 games to go…GO TWINS!!

- Michael Flattery, ND 2010
Social Foundations of Coaching

Is LeBron’s Free Agency Hoopla Bad for the NBA?

LeBron James will be facing his first free agency opportunity this upcoming offseason, as I’m sure you have heard at least once by now, if not for the 792803024 time. Mr. James has embraced the opportunity by making a circus-like atmosphere around each game, media appearance, even celebrity parties with guests the likes of Drake, Beyonce, and none other than Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z. This season, more than others, LeBron seems as focused on winning an NBA championship with his current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers in case you’ve forgotten, as would a blue-collar worker who was a few months away from signing the most financially lucrative contract of his life. The problem is that LeBron is acting like he has never been able to drop millions on whatever he fancies. Let us not forget the $100 million contract he has with Nike, and the $83 million contract he is currently still under. While he has never before been a free agent, he certainly is behaving like he has never been there before. Instead of averaging the triple-double he is well capable of, it seems as though he is toying with the opposition on the court, and enjoys preoccupations such as dancing on the sidelines, changing jersey numbers, paying homage to Michael Jordan, eating fans’ popcorn in-game, entertaining with rap stars, and most of all, cultivating the fan-fair surrounding his impending free agency.
Although each of these non-basketball related issues affects only LeBron and his teammates, the structure of the NBA may be taking a hit due to LeBron’s eagerness to indulge in the rumors that he is bound for New York. Let’s make a few things clear; LeBron is just as entitled to his free agency as any other player, he is entitled to earn as much as the market will pay for him, and he is entitled to play where he chooses if they will have him. However, there is something wrong when he seems to be hinting at a future in the Big Apple while he is still in the championship-chase with Cleveland. It is one thing to be BFFs with Jay-Z, self-proclaimed king of New York and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets soon to be relocated to Brooklyn, but it is another when you spend your free time at shows and parties in New York sporting Yankee ball-caps, and even taking it as far as wearing custom-made signature shoes with NY etched on the base of the shoes while playing for the Cavs! Just because the Cavs new retro uniforms happen to share the same colorway as the Knicks jerseys does not give one right to put an opposing city’s name on your shoe. Now keep in mind, LeBron is not from New York, he has never even lived there; rather he is playing for his hometown team; he is Cleveland born-and-raised.
Not only are these actions a slap in the face of his current teammates and fans, but teams’ reactions to LeBron’s hints that he wants the bright lights of Broadway have been nothing short of sabotage. Fans in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles (Clippers), and Chicago are all waiting on pins and needles to see if the King James will grace their throne; however they may all be disappointed for more than just one reason. If LeBron fails to join any of the aforementioned squads, they will have failed at the two, even three-year plans that they have been attempting to execute. Dumping salary, not signing players who could improve their teams immediately, and darn near losing games on purpose to secure better draft picks have been employed by each of these teams just to have a shot a LBJ, but what cost does this have on the league? At the current moment all of these teams are outside the playoffs looking in, with only Chicago having a remote chance to break in as the eighth seed in the eastern conference. These cities’ fans have reason to be upset if they don’t land LeBron because of the years of suffering would be all for naught. Lets face it, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh aren’t consolations to sneeze at, but they would definitely not be reason enough to lose for a few years just to have a shot at. Any time one player needs to be praised in a bigger city with brighter lights, more storied arenas, more famous crowds, all with no promise of a better team, fans should take a step back and contemplate what is really happening. The competition in the NBA, especially the eastern conference, is at an all time low, and the magnetism of one player is polarizing the field even more. If LeBron and the others coveted in the summer end up remaining with their respective teams, this theory will become clearer, especially when teams question their future and have to answer to 20,000 livid fans every night while LeBron continues to put on a show in Cleveland.
Ryan Woods
Social Foundations of Coaching

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last week, the Minnesota Twins took the field for the first time at Target Field, a $425 million brand new outdoor baseball park in Minneapolis. Despite an afternoon of rain, thousands of fans flocked to the new park in the evening to watch their beloved Twins take on the Cardinals. Naturally, the event was a major feature on every form of media in the state, and news stories debating the pros and cons of the new facility have been running since the plan for the project was announced years ago. Although there have been countless arguments made and statistics gathered about the value of the ballpark, what impressed me most about the inaugural day at Target Field was the photo on the front page of the Saint Paul newspaper the day after the event. This photo featured Anneka, a 3-year-old girl, giggling in pure delight as her father holds her high in the air between innings at the game.
To me, these are the standards by which the success of Target Field should be measured. Especially for young children, attending sporting events should be fun, playful, exciting and memorable times. By cheering with other fans, watching the players in action, spending quality time with family and friends, and learning the workings of the game, children learn a love of sports by watching. These are the same children who grow into future athletes, or at the very least, lifelong fans. If Target Field, or any athletic venue, can bring families together, give children lasting memories, and provide a great experience for all attendees, it is a successful facility.

Emily Stewart
Social Foundations of Coaching
University of Notre Dame 2010