Sports for Social Impact

Ryan Redondo is the CEO of Youth Tennis San Diego and Barnes Tennis Centre. Ryan has spent a career in racquet sports, first as a All-American tennis player then as a developer of emerging junior American tennis talent through his work at San Diego State University, University of the Pacific and Youth Tennis San Diego. Ryan is also Tournament Director of the WTA San Diego Open. Under Ryan’s leadership, Barnes Tennis Center / Youth Tennis San Diego is helping educate and train future generations of American tennis talent, from diverse backgrounds. The centre has a focus on increasing access to tennis for all young people through fee free options along with a growing wheelchair tennis program.

Youth Tennis San Diego's vision is to inspire and lead the international tennis community in transforming the lives of youth. Youth Tennis San Diego, a nonprofit organization, contributes to the development pathway of all youth by providing physical, mental, emotional, educational, and social platforms through tennis for children to thrive.

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Youthful Cities is a social enterprise that creates data-driven solutions to make cities more youthful — connected, open, dynamic, inventive, curious and playful — places.

Laura Smith is a Project Manager for Park People. She holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Queen's University. Her planning interests include healthy community planning, equitable placemaking, and exploring marginalized peoples' experiences in city-building.

Park People supports and mobilizes community park groups, community organizers, non-profits, park professionals and funders who activate the power of parks.

Laura Bernier is a Public Outreach Education Officer with Parks Canada. Parks Canada is the federal agency that manages and protects Canada's national parks and national park reserves.

Charles Frémont is the UEFA Innovation Hub Manager.

UEFA – the Union of European Football Associations – is the governing body of European football and the umbrella organisation for 55 national associations.

The UEFA Innovation Hub helps them shape the future of football through collaborative innovation. The world is experiencing unprecedented change and this brings great opportunities for football. The UEFA Innovation Hub is a vehicle for future-proofing UEFA and ensuring we stay one step ahead of the latest trends to shape the future of our sport.

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Scott Marshall is a recent graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he received his Masters of Arts, Urban and Regional Planning. He focused on how sport venues can be catalysts for change in our communities, and how we can harness the power of sport through them. He was a student-athlete, competing on the American Football team. Articles:

Louis Frapporti is the Chair of the 2030 Commonwealth Games Bid for Hamilton. 

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada gave birth to the Games almost 100 years ago. Ontario has not hosted the Commonwealth Games since their inception. Bringing them back to Ontario on their centenary would be noteworthy. But while noting the historical significance of this bid is important it’s not enough. Large-scale international sporting events the world over are at a crossroads.  In the face of pressing societal need, their cost to taxpayers is seen as excessive, particularly on the heels of the economic dislocation caused by a global pandemic. Therefore, if we are to secure the privilege of hosting the Commonwealth Games there is a need to reinvent them. This is our mission. Having given birth to the Games 100 years ago what better legacy than their revitalization for the next century?

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Marika Warner is the Director of Research and Evaluation for community engagement and social impact initiatives at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE). Her portfolio includes program evaluation, academic research partnerships, and technology and innovation. Marika uses data to explore issues relating to Sport for Development, positive youth development, sport equity, and corporate social responsibility in professional sport.  Marika is also a retired professional dancer, a former physical therapist, and a mom.

Bryan Heal is the Social Impact Research Lead at MLSE Launchpad, which involves helping a sports & entertainment enterprise drive wide ranging social impact outcomes through its investments in youth and communities - a career in sport he never thought possible growing up dabbling in baseball, football and basketball as a kid.

MLSE Launchpad is located in Toronto’s urban centre of Moss Park, our 42,000sq ft space serves as an ambitious ‘living lab’ to explore and measure how sport can help improve the lives of youth. Sport For Development is a specific methodology supported by extensive research that suggests the intentional use of sport and physical activity can build healthy communities and help people reach their full potential.

Located in Toronto’s urban centre of Moss Park, MLSE LaunchPad serves as an ambitious living lab to explore and measure how sport can help improve the lives of youth. MLSE LaunchPad was built and is supported by the MLSE Foundation to advance positive developmental outcomes for youth facing barriers aged 6-29. 

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Childreach Nepal is a leading organization that uses sports as a unique approach to engage children and their communities. With over 5 years’ experience under their belt, they have tailor designed curriculums that addresses the needs of the young people. A part of a global street football world network, they collaborate with like minded organizations to identify and mitigate issues like gender inequalities, child trafficking, child labor, school bullying etc. Childreach Nepal believes in the power of play and sports, creating safe spaces for young people to express themselves in the sports field and beyond.  

Urgen Lama has been working with Childreach Nepal for the past 9 years, under various capacities, starting as the Programmes and Institutional Fundraising-Manager and now over looking the over all functioning of the organization as the Director. His experience over the past 17 years, has seen him working directly with displaced children and youth overlooking their rescue, rehabilitation, development and eventually their reintegration to designing programmes and implementing them with partner organizations.   

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Stientje van Veldhoven is the Vice President and Regional Director for Europe and is based in the Europe Regional Office in The Hague. Stientje has been a prominent politician in the Netherlands, most recently serving as a Member of Cabinet responsible for Public Transport and Environment and as Minister for the Environment and Housing. She has also been a Member of Parliament, an international diplomat, representing the Dutch government in the European Union in Brussels and has been working with the European Commission DG research and development. Stientje has had longstanding involvement in environmental issues, especially related to climate change, energy and the circular economy. Stientje is based in the Europe Regional Office in The Hague.  

World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global nonprofit organization that works with leaders in government, business and civil society to research, design, and carry out practical solutions that simultaneously improve people’s lives and ensure nature can thrive.  

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Elena Mercedes is a former member of the Women’s Saber National Fencing Team of Guatemala. She holds a Master’s degree in Sports Management and a Bachelor’s in International Relations. Her goal is to generate transformative change in and through sports to accomplish both social and economic development goals in Latin America. Through the project, the aim is to improve access to sports/physical activities in local communities by implementing socially responsible initiatives that:  1. Increase the opportunities for physical activity participation for least active groups (such as girls, women, older adults, rural and indigenous communities, and vulnerable or marginalized populations)  2. Facilitate access to safe, regular, and affordable or free sports physical activities in public spaces  3. Raise knowledge and awareness about the benefits of applying socially responsible principles in sports events/activities in Latin America.  

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Koun, a Lebanese NGO, started operating in 2018 in refugee camps and community centres across the country, and was registered in January 2020. Koun aims at promoting mental health, empowerment and peace in marginalized communities in Lebanon through Yoga. We are driven by the belief that well-being is a condition that every individual should have, regardless of age, race, or social class. Yoga is an ancient body-mind practice and an efficient psychosocial support activity that works on every aspect of one’s being. Each yoga activity focuses on enhancing the practitioner’s self-awareness while releasing their muscular, mental and emotional tensions, leading to an enhanced psychological state. 

Sandy Boutros, a Lebanese activist and yoga instructor, founded her non-profit Koun to promote mental health and total well-being in the most disadvantaged communities in Lebanon through Yoga. She believes that yoga should be accessible to everyone regardless of age, race and social class. Koun is the perfect way for Sandy to propagate yoga not only as a powerful tool for well-being but also as a discipline that promotes inclusion, equity and empowerment. 

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Rishav Bhowmik is an architect and also a national level air rifle shooter. He got selected as a Young Sports Maker at Global Sports Week in Paris 2020 and 2022. He has done a Master trainer workshop in Olympic Value Education Programme and has been working with a NGO to help create a better future. His IOC Young Leaders project is called SportxALL. 

SportxALL aims to provide free training and expert coaching to underprivileged children in the locality. The idea is to create an online platform which will connect all the sports clubs with everyone who wants to play sports. This will create traction for the clubs and in partnership with the project, the underprivileged kids will receive free training. These kids will also be provided with the appropriate sports equipment and sports goods to further their sports careers and journeys. 

The IOC Young Leaders programme, launched in 2016, empowers talents to leverage the power of sport to make a positive difference in their communities.With the support of seed-funding from the IOC and a network of mentors, these inspiring young people have delivered over 100 initiatives reaching over 30,000 individual participants.As agents of Olympism they have also spoken at many international events spreading the message of sport for good and 17 IOC YLs are currently IOC Commission Members. 

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This week is our first solo episode with some featured guests! Host David Thibodeau attended COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt as a Canadian Youth Delegate. This episode is all about his experience at COP27. He discusses what he got up to each day, what it was like to be at COP and how sports can relate back to climate action. 

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Dan Wilcock grew up in Australia, the Philippines and the United States, competing in multiple sports, including swimming, soccer, athletics, cricket, field hockey and dragon boat racing. He then specialised in snowboarding, following winter around the world and had the opportunity to represent Australia as both a competitor and a coach. During his career in snowboarding, Dan also developed experience in sport program management, talent development and events management. Dan holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the Australian National University, and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Ottawa. He is also a qualified lawyer in both Canada and Australia. Dan has served in a number of executive roles in the Government of Canada, in areas including competition law, marketing law, environment and climate change, and international relations. Join the Canadian Alliance on Sports for Climate Action: Born from the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework - the Canadian Alliance is a community of practice on sport & sustainability issues in Canada. Participants collectively leverage the power of sport to raise awareness of climate issues and improve sustainability in Canadian sport.