Sports for Social Impact

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 act...

Football for Forests (F4F) is a non-profit initiative on a mission to restore tropical forests through the power of football. Forest destruction is often depicted in football pitches. They are working to flip this narrative: the football pitch becomes a symbol of forest restoration. They are targeting the biggest crowd in the world with their digital app - 3.5 billion football fans across the glob...

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...

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 an...

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.  Articles:  Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: https://www.quee...

Protect our Winters Canada (POW) is a passionate community of enthusiasts, professional athletes and industry brands uniting the outdoor community to advocate for policy solutions to climate change. They believe that their love of adventure in nature demands their participation in the fight to save and protect it.  Anik Champoux is a Program Director with POW Canada. Having grown up in the sk...

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 experi...

Greg Dingle, Ph. D., is a Lecturer in Sport Management, and a Researcher at the Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Greg’s research is focused on the impacts of climate change on sport, and associated risks, vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation responses. Greg has published refereed articles in Managing Sport and Leisure, Science of the Total Environ...

Stephen McMcurray joined Capital Bike because of his interest in getting people active and improving access for everyone. Riding to school, work, play and getting groceries is a wonderful way for him to interact and enjoy the cities he lives in. Capital Bike's aim is to be there for everyone who wants to enjoy cycling in the Capital Region (Victoria, B.C.) – whether you’re new to the Region and pe...

Sustainable eating pilot show huge potential for football fans to help tackle climate change Nearly 6,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved if Premier League fans just swapped to veggie burgers for one weekend. The impact would be even bigger if they were inspired to make simple changes in their everyday lives. Manchester is Green was a three-week challenge run by environmental charity Hubbub in May 20...

Wattsgood is a company based in France that produces sport equipment using recycled materials. This isn't just any sport equipment either. It harnesses human power to create electricity. Working to create a circular economy in the sport equipment industry, Wattsgood is at the leading edge of innovation.  Cyril Masson is the Associate Director of Wattsgood.   https://www.wattsgood.com/   https://ww...

Tracy Edwards MBE skippered the first all-female crew to sail around the world when she and her team raced Maiden in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race. Despite overwhelming odds and negativity, they won two legs and came second overall. Tracy was awarded and MBE and became the first women to win the Yachtsman of the Year Award in its 34 year history. She then went on to skipper the first...

Muhammed Kisirisa-Mo is a former armature soccer player, his passion for sport drove him to start Golden Boots Uganda in 2019.  Growing up from Bwaise, the biggest slum area in Kampala capital and raised from a family of more than 20 children, Mo started playing football from the age of 11 which eventually earned him a high school scholarship. At 19 years, he established a football academy to help...

Matt Rogan (author) is the co-founder of Two Circles, writer, and respected sports business leader. Matt led the business from 2011-2020, during which time it grew to 300+ people and worked with the 6 biggest rights holders in the world. He is a non-executive director of the English Institute of Sport, delivering technology and sport science to Britain's Olympic and Paralympic teams as well as a M...

Kelly-Ann Paul is the President and CEO of the Canada Games Council. Before this she was the Senior Vice President Games Delivery and has held several other positions in the Canada Games Council.  The Canada Games brings together more than 2,000 able-bodied athletes and athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities for the largest amateur multi-sport event in the country. Alternating b...

Ashleigh Milani hails from Winnipeg, MB, where she grew up playing any sport that she could. She has spent the last 8 years working and volunteering as a coach across Canada in the sports of rowing, competitive swimming, and strength and conditioning. She believes that the foundation of any successful sport program is based on an educated coaching staff, and a supportive learning environment for a...

Danny Corr is a Martial Arts Coach and Co-Founder of Fight to Unite. He is also the founder of ZKJ Ltd a not for profit community Dojo, and chair of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) Peace Through MMA commission. Fight to Unite is alternative education programme. It supports young people who are struggling in society and/or not in formal education, employment or training...

Iva Glibo, is an ENGSO youth Committee member representing the Croatian Olympic Committee. She is a Research Associate and PhD Candidate at the Technical University of Munich. Her areas of interest and study are sustainable development, physical activity and mental health, monitoring and evaluation.  ENGSO Youth is the independent youth body of the European Sports NGO (ENGSO).  ENGSO You...

Noémie Claret is the Managing Director of Global Sports Week Paris. Formerly she held the roles of Communication Director of Sport dans la Ville, Head of Brand Comms of the Paris 2024 Bid Committee and Managing Director of Havas Sports & Entertainment Brazil.  Laura Stargel is a graduate student at the German Sport University in Cologne studying International Sport Development and Politic...

Eric Houghton has been involved with the Homeless World Cup since he was the England captain back in 2003. But it was a chance conversation with one of his mates Dave Morton – who doesn’t like football one bit – that led to them launching the Homeless Games. There are huge benefits for each and every homeless person who takes part. A chance to improve their health, both physical and mental. Develo...

Conny Wenting is a passionate all-around business leader with over 30 years of experience in a wide rande of marketing, (solution) sales, strategy, operations and people management roles. She is a strong team builder and driver of success. During one of her sport leaderships programs, she challenged herself in using sport as a driving force  in personal development and healing and decided to...

Mathatho Manaka is currently a Masters in Philosophy (MPhil) student pursing her research in the topic of ‘Delivery on sustainable development programmes by non-governmental organisations in the sport-for-development sector in Johannesburg’. Her goal is to serve sport on multiple platforms whilst making an impact. Rough Diamond is a university sports development recruitment project that uses sport...

Anna Louise Bradley is both an urban psychologist and geographer in training, as well as a fitness professional, based in Amsterdam. Working with STIPO and Placemaking Europe since 2018, Anna has worked on projects using an integral placemaking and feminist approach to coalesce the perspectives of health, well-being, public space, inclusivity, and participatory processes to make our cities more li...

Mogens Kirkeby is the President of the International Sport & Culture Association (ISCA) since 2007. He holds a Master of Science in Sport, organizational development, sport policies, social sciences and international politics from Copenhagen University, Denmark. Mogens is a member of the Council of Europe’s Consultative Committee of the sport collaboration EPAS and a board member of the Danish...

Heather Chapple is a community builder who is passionate about bringing people, tools, and technology together to build adaptive ecosystems. She holds a Master’s in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and is trained in design thinking, data analysis and public engagement. Her career has spanned international humanitarian response coordination with the United Nations,...