Due to the nature of our work, we are fortunate to receive positive feedback from the many schools and community organizations we work with. This feedback also serves as the catalyst for the overall success of our mission.

The relationship between Good Sports and our community partners is perhaps the most important factor toward helping us provide better youth sports opportunities to as many kids as possible. Since Good Sports serves programs across the nation, the feedback we receive provides invaluable insight into some of the environmental and local factors which affect the youth our community partners serve, for better or worse. It also helps us better understand the unique characteristics of each program, which in turn alerts us to specific needs and obstacles that may be holding one’s programming back.

This information is essential when working with the various sporting goods manufacturers which provide us with the equipment, apparel, and footwear we are able to donate. The more we are able to tell them about the specific type of equipment our programs desire, the greater the chance there is for us to actually obtain such equipment.

But perhaps most importantly, the responses we receive create great conversation and reinforce the very reasons why we all love the work that we do every day!

Take a look at some of the quotes we have received from programs recently:

“The addition of warm-up jackets to our competition cheer squad really boosted the girls’ confidence, as they participate against other teams that are decked out to the nines, so to speak. They helped improve our overall team appearance, which is scored in competition cheer judging. No matter what the temperature, our girls were able to be UNIFORM, and they proudly strutted their stuff at competition this year in their new jackets. Thank you again so much for your generous donation!!!”

“This equipment donation has allowed [our program] to help young inner-city boys and girls build self-confidence and self-esteem. Because of the equipment grant, our young people feel good about themselves and how they present themselves. As one young man said, ‘I feel good when we go play against other teams, because we all look the same.’”

These quotes help to illustrate a very important issue: the glaring need for many underprivileged youth in this country to create a sense of identity and gain a true feeling of camaraderie and belonging, all while having fun doing so – after all, isn’t that what youth sports are really all about?

To all of the amazing community organizations we already work with, always feel free to reach out and tell us how things are going! We want to know!

And for those of those who we’ve yet to work with, we know that there are many other stories out there waiting to be told and many deserving young athletes who we’ve yet to reach. So please reach out and tell us your story; we’re all ears!
– Mike Mattes, Community Program Assistant