Recognizing that community service helps promote responsibility and character in young people, TeamUp4Community partnered with Met-Rx and NBTY Helping Hands in the “Spring Into Action Sports Community Service Challenge,” an interactive contest that challenged our Long Island Athletes to compete in service projects this past Spring season. This challenge encouraged community service among student athletes between the ages of 6 and 24. Three prizes totaling $5,000 in sports grants were awarded throughout the months of May and June. “NBTY Helping Hands & Met-Rx are very proud to team up with the W20 Foundation in support of their Team Up 4 Community program. It’s an inspiring program that allows athletes to win in their local communities by taking action and volunteering to help those in need. “ Jim Flaherty Director NBTY Helping Hands

The interactive contest, which ran from March 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014, required participants to share a short video of their community service work or their team’s community service work. The top 10 videos with the highest number of votes was posted on the www.TeamUp4Community.org website for viewers to vote on. The voting took place in the beginning of May and winners were announced shortly after.

The video with the most votes won a $3,000 sports grant- Longwood Athletics; the second-most voted video, a $1,500 sports grant – Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Athletes; and the third-most voted video, a $500 sports grant- Brentwood Student Athletes. For official contest rules go to www.TeamUp4Community.org

The “Spring Into Action Sports Community Service Challenge” successfully completed submissions totaling 12,605 hours of community service work performed by Long Island Athletes between March 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014. The value of their time served in the community is valued at over $91,386 given back in service.

Brentwood Student Athletes specifically teamed up in this challenge for a day to clean up Ross Park this past spring. Twenty Student (20) Athletes volunteered for Five (5) hours to clean up Ross Park in their local community. In Addition, Brentwood student athletes have completed close to 9,000 hours of community service work this year alone through their participation in two (2) of Team Up 4 Community’s Community Service Challenges. They were presented with the Presidents Call to Service Award that recognizes those who demonstrate a commitment and sustained example to inspire others to engage in volunteer service. This recognition inspires others to take positive action and make a difference.

Students athletes recorded and submitted their efforts to TU4C Long Island Community Service Challenges, two contests from Team Up for Community and NBTY Helping Hands during the 2013-2014 School Year that encouraged community service among LI student athletes and awards $5,000 in sports grants. The team’s efforts are posted on TU4C Website. https://www.teamup4community.org/users/brentwood-athletic-booster-club

Brentwood Athletes received the first highest number of votes for their work in the Holiday community service challenge, which awarded them with a $1,500 sports grant and the third highest number of votes for their work in the Spring community service challenge awarding them a $500 sports grant.

Retired New York Islander Hockey Player Steve Webb created project Team Up 4 Community through his W20 Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to promoting social responsibility and community giveback through athletics. By highlighting different types of community service, young athletes will learn life skills that in turn increase their self-confidence, promote responsibility and independence, and help build strong character. Community services performed by youth strengthens young peoples’ senses of civic engagement and community and helps them to achieve their educational, developmental and social goals.

“Similar to athletics, volunteering helps build character and self esteem in young people, while simultaneously helping make a difference in the lives of others,” said Steve Webb, Team Up 4 Community Founder and President.

Communities are the backbone of Long Island, and its neighborhoods, organizations, teams, schools and friends join together to collectively make a difference. TU4C builds and strengthens communities and individual characters by promoting social responsibility and community giveback.

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About the W20 Foundation

When the W20 Foundation started in 2007 by retired NY Islander Steve Webb, it began with a focused local vision to assist young student ice hockey players with partial educational scholarships. These scholarships were designed to bring forth the presence of new possibilities for the Long Island youth hockey community. Since then, the increasing number of youth participation in organized sports throughout North America has reached over 60 million. Taking this growing number into consideration, the foundation believes it is the right time for social responsibility to be introduced to youth, which will create a very positive effect on our communities. With the mission to promote social responsibility and community giveback through athletics in North America, the W20 Foundation launched Team Up 4 Community, an international community giveback project, in 2012.

About the NBTY Helping Hands

NBTY Helping Hands is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization initiated by NBTY, Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements worldwide.

For many years, NBTY has shared its success by supporting the local community through charitable contributions to worthy causes. With the formation of NBTY Helping Hands, they hope to make an even greater impact by providing much-needed funds to more people than ever before.

NBTY Helping Hands is the only charity to bear the NBTY name. It is run solely by their very own associates who volunteer their time to continue in the NBTY tradition of giving.
The executive committee of NBTY Helping Hands carefully reviews each potential contribution recipient, ensuring that your contributions are put to the best possible use.
NBTY Helping Hands raises the majority of its funds through the NBTY Golf Outing Classic.

Their hope is to help those less fortunate or may need financial assistance or may be suffering from illness, trauma, poverty, abuse, or abandonment. Our dream is to help as many as possible.

Arizona State University American Indian students traveled with student athletes to Hopi and Navajo lands June 20-22 to bring the university to tribal nations, learn about Native cultures and share in healthy activities.

This is the second year that this Health and Wellness/Culture Exchange component of the longstanding “Tribal Nations Tour” has taken ASU students and staff to the far reaches of the state in an innovative endeavor to interact with tribal members, encourage higher education and wellness, and work on community service projects.

“ASU works hard to provide their student athletes with experiences within the communities throughout Arizona. It’s great to see them reaching out to the Native American communities. Their presence will serve as a reminder to all youth that a college education is a dream that can become a reality,” said LuAnn Leonard, Arizona Board of Regents member and executive director of the Hopi Education Endowment Fund.

ASU has one of the highest American Indian student populations in the nation and is a leading university in the country for awarding graduate degrees to American Indian students. In addition, the Tribal Nations Tour was featured as a best practice at the National Indian Education Association Conference and the annual College Board conference.

Students who joined this year’s tour learned about traditional Hopi perspectives on running, dined as Navajos do on roast mutton, participated in a “Sun Devils 5k Run and 3k Walk” and learned about Navajo contemporary and traditional culture. Tribal Nations Tour participants met with the Hopi Opportunity Youth Initiative, enjoyed a Hopi dinner and learned about the tribe’s culture. The tour is coordinated by the ASU President’s Office of American Indian Initiatives.

Joining the Tribal Nations Tour last year was a meaningful endeavor for Sun Devil Athletics student athletes and staff members who had “an incredibly powerful and memorable experience,” said William Kennedy, ASU associate athletic director.

“The opportunity to engage with the Native American community through service projects and cultural exchanges gave the group an in-depth look and appreciation of the Native American culture,” he added.

Some students are joining the tour again after a great experience last year that proved beneficial to all of the parties involved.

“The collaboration between the American Indian Initiatives office and the ASU Athletic Department is beneficial in strengthening relationships between the university and Tribal Nations. The partnership demonstrates ASU’s commitment to not only attracting American Indian students, but also to the improvement of tribal communities,” said Justin Hongeva, who is a member of the Hopi tribe and earning his master’s degree in American Indian Studies at ASU.

ASU American Indian students encourage youth to pursue higher education by setting an example, and student athletes on the tour promote healthy lifestyles through physical activity. “In exchange, ASU athletes learn about life on the reservation, which is important as American Indians are very much underrepresented in American society,” Hongeva added.

Source: https://asunews.asu.edu/20140619-tribal-nations-tour

Each May, as friends and family members visit USC’s campus in support of another accomplished graduating class, the Trojan Athletic Parents Association (TAPA) honors an athlete who brings a special sense of pride to the commencement ceremony. The TAPA Community Service Award recognizes an athlete who’s extra-curricular involvement has shaped an impressive career. But often, this volunteer work extends beyond the four years of athletic eligibility to a lifetime of service.

This year, Jackie Dion of Track & Field garnered the honor for her tireless dedication to the local community. A consistent volunteer at the TAPA Community Bowl, a Day in Troy, and a range of other outreach activities, Dion embraced the opportunity to give back.

“USC has given so much to me, so it was important to me to give back to our community,” said Dion, who graduated with honors and as a Pac-12 All-Academic Team member. “Service helped me grow as a person, because I now realize how much of an impact just one individual can have in the community.”

As a runner with impressive bests at the 400 and 800 meter distances, Dion has become accustom to evaluation based on time. But her zeal for service cannot be expressed by the clock alone, though her more than 20 volunteer hours each season wouldn’t fail to impress.

Dion dedicated her studies to helping others as well. A Gerontology major, she plans to begin a career aiding the elderly after volunteer experience at Meals-on-Wheels and similar organizations.

“Before coming to USC, I had no idea that one person could make such a big difference,” said Dion. “Fortunately, this school provided me with the opportunities to help others and grow from those experiences.”

A Southern California native, Dion experienced a unique connection with neighborhood residents. When looking back on her experiences, her involvement with the mentor-based Girls PLAY program stands out.

“Girls PLAY made me realize that the kids in neighboring communities really look up to Trojan athletes and hope to be like them one day,” said Dion. “I was proud to be able to represent USC in that way and hopefully inspire the youth to pursue higher education.”

As she hangs up the track spikes, Dion plans to continue her service. This summer, she will work for a website called Stitch which aides older adults as they combat loneliness. Next semester, she will pursue a Masters in Aging Services Management at USC’s Davis School of Gerontology and focus in Gerontechnology, a field that uses today’s technology to help ease the aging process.

TAPA is proud to honor an athlete whose community work will not end with her last race, but carry on to greater distances as she enters the world.

Source: http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/comm-outreach/spec-rel/062014aab.html

In late May, Long Island Lutheran, located in Brookville, was honored at its annual Spring Sports Awards by Team Up 4 Community, an international community giveback project of the W20 Foundation that was formed by former Islander Steve Webb in 2007. The Foundation focuses on building character among athletes through the promotion and collaboration of community service and social responsibility.

Throughout the school year, LuHi students and student athletes have participated in a large variety of service projects including; Habitat for Humanity Builds, Toys for Tots collections, putting together Thanksgiving baskets, and our LuHi Meal Packing Event for which we were honored. On hand for the $1500 check presentation was Steve and Theresa Webb, founder and director of Team Up 4 Community and Jim Flaherty and Marialice Dunphy, NBTY Helping Hands, Vice President and Director.

Mr. Webb took time to address student athletes and their families gathered for the awards ceremony to reinforce the importance of giving back to one’s community and congratulated the school for their second place finish in the Foundation’s Spring into Action Challenge.
This is the fourth year LuHi has hosted its Meal Packing Event and we were pleased to pack 316,224 meals. The completed meal packets were then distributed to Island Harvest, the Freeport Emergency Food Pantry, New Ground and other local food pantries in need. Additional meal packets were being shipped to the Andrew Grene School outside of Port au Prince, Haiti, an official feeding site that will prepare and serve the food to children in need.

See more @ http://www.syossetjerichotribune.com/2014/06/19/long-island-lutheran-honored-by-team-up-4-community-w20-foundation/

Former high school athletes are expected to display more leadership, self-confidence, and self-respect in the workplace than those who participated in other extracurricular activities, according to new Cornell University research published in the Journal of Leadership & Organization Studies. The findings also indicate that about 60 years later, former athletes are more likely to have volunteered their time and made donations than people who didn’t play a varsity sport in high school. “These findings are encouraging because they show evidence of long term, positive, personal and societal benefits of high school sports,” said lead-author Kevin Kniffin, PhD.

With his colleagues Brian Wansink, PhD, and Mitsuru Shimizu, PhD, Kniffin conducted two studies designed to explore the links between high school athletics and pro-social, community oriented behaviors. First they surveyed 66 employed adults to ask how much they agreed with statements about the character of those who played sports in high school as well as those who did other activities like the marching band or yearbook club. The findings showed that those surveyed believed that former high school athletes are expected to be more self-confident, self-respecting leaders.

The second study looked at a survey of 931 men who graduated high school about 60 years prior to taking the survey. These men answered questions about their professional successes and contributions to their communities. The researchers found that those who had played high school sports were more likely to volunteer their time and donate to organizations such as Girl Scouts, the United Way and the Red Cross.

These findings underscore the importance of maintaining high school sports programs. “What is particularly important to note about this research,” according to Dr. Kniffin “is that it shows that positive traits associated with playing sports can impact individuals and communities for decades!”

Article Summary by Katherine Baildon
Source: http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/op/sports_at_work

Also read more @ http://qz.com/223468/playing-high-school-sports-could-give-you-an-advantage-in-the-job-market/