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Sporting a good cause
By Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf
January 14, 2008What do you think of when you see pro or amateur athletes on TV, in print, or hear them on the radio? Fame? Fortune? Status? Perhaps. Or maybe, beholding those perfectly sculpted bodies, you think of your New Year's resolution to get in shape and shed some of that excess flab. Could be.
But if you’re thinking outside the box just a bit, you may see something completely different; like a way to influence millions of people to help their fellow man and even their planet. Thankfully, there are those out there who see precisely through that lens and are in the midst of recruiting athletes to bring increased awareness to people in need.
Game time for Africa
It’s no secret that athletes of all stripes have lent their star power to numerous causes over the years. But one enterprising humanitarian is looking to take that concept a step further.Enter Adrian Bradbury, the 37-year-old Torontonian who founded the unique Canadian charity, Athletes for Africa, back in 2003. His vision: that sport can, and should, be making a difference well beyond the field of play. “Sport also has a gift, and that gift is a forum to send a message,” reads a blurb on the organization’s website.
As such, Athletes for Africa is the only charity in Canada (and maybe North America) that is driven almost exclusively by the work and word-of-mouth generated by amateur and pro athletes alike in getting the message out there that sports can help Africa and “breathe life into this continent in need.”
Bradbury conceived the idea while working as a freelance sports writer with access to the Toronto Raptors and University of Toronto varsity teams back in the early 2000s.
“I was frustrated and started to talk to athletes who didn’t want to simply do the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs [circuit]. Not that that was unimportant, but they wanted to do more and find new challenges,” Bradbury explains. So he decided to start recruiting as many athletes as he could convince to speak to Canadians about the dire need in Africa.
However, his message was not that Athletes for Africa wanted to put new programs on the ground in Africa. Bradbury says there are already enough of those. “Our vision and long-term goal is grassroots involvement and giving youth the tools to be better global citizens,” he says.
On its website, the charity lists some hard facts and reasons we should all become aware of sub-Saharan Africa’s plight.
- 400 million Africans (half the entire continent's population) live on less than $1 per day.
- Less than one-third of sub-Saharan Africa's 650 million inhabitants have access to clean water.
- 25 million Africans are infected with the HIV virus that can lead to AIDS, which is 75% of the world's infected people.
- There are already 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa, with that number expected to rise to 20 million by 2010.
- Of the world's 115 million primary school aged children not in school, over 40% live in Africa
It’s not hard to see why Bradbury believes it’s essential for Canadians to get more involved. And if an athlete can exercise his or her influence on a community’s psyche, so much the better.
Everyone can be an Athlete for Africa
To date, Athletes for Africa has recruited such names as Brett Hayden and Jen Button of Canada’s national swim team, Atiba Hutchinson from the World Cup Soccer team, Pape Sow formerly of the Toronto Raptors, Tammy Sutton-Brown of the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting, and most recently, Bradbury reveals, Steve Nash, two-time NBA MVP. “Captain Canada” to NBA fans everywhere.But don’t let the star-powered names fool you. Bradbury is equally motivated to recruit any and all interested parties to speak for his cause. “We want athletes who really believe in what we’re doing, not just [join us] for a month,” he notes. “Whether you’re Steve Nash or a 10-year-old on a soccer team, it’s about who you can reach.”
Scouting out the kind-hearted
Though the charity has been around for five years, it’s only recently that Athletes for Africa has started getting its legs gathered beneath it. That’s because Bradbury and co-founder Kieran Hayward were busy with another endeavour for the last four years, their annual Gulu Walk to raise the profile of the plight of Ugandan children.That project, running in tandem with the Athletes for Africa concept, was extremely successful, garnering Bradbury and Hayward accolades from far and wide, including Macleans magazine’s Newsmakers of the Year for 2005. The annual walk has so far raised more than $1 million for Ugandan kids. That’s a whole story unto itself.
However, Bradbury thinks that now is the time to really make a push with the Athletes for Africa brand. The first hurdle is a renewed recruiting drive.
“We’re updating our website and looking to put more online tools to help anyone raise money for Africa,” he says. “It’s difficult to [recruit] because if you’re an athlete, you’re inundated with requests for appearances all the time. Our hope is to now attract one or two athletes [who], once on board, will pick up their peers’ phone calls and e-mails” to let them know more about the work of Athletes for Africa and encourage them to spread the word.
Things are looking good for the project. Bradbury says that he’s been receiving increasing requests from athletes and those involved in sports at all levels from around North America to find out how best “to engage people and impact their communities.”
As he focuses exclusively on Athletes for Africa, Bradbury’s goal is to have a full media launch by the end of June and a complete roll-out of the program by this fall.
Build it and they will come
Sometimes jock power seeks out an organization without being prodded. Such is the case with the David Suzuki Foundation’s new alliance with the National Hockey League Player’s Association.Last summer, Andrew Ferrence of the Boston Bruins contacted the foundation of his own accord to see what he could do to help the environment. Turns out, quite a lot. After a face-to-face breakfast meeting with Dr. Suzuki - arranged after the foundation got word that Ferrence was a huge fan of the good doctor - he decided to approach his hockey peers through the players association and the idea spread like wildfire.
So far, more than 400 NHLers have signed on to the project. They’ve committed to reducing their carbon footprint during the regular season. Their numbers and enthusiasm have taken the David Suzuki Foundation by (pleasant) surprise.
According to the foundation website, participating NHL players are helping the environment by going carbon neutral. What does that mean? Trust the Suzuki Foundation website to explain succinctly.
“Going carbon neutral is an easy way to take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions we create every time we drive our cars, take a plane, or turn on our computers. It's based on the principle that, since climate change is a global problem, an emission reduction made elsewhere has the same positive effect as one made locally.
“Here's how it works: if you add polluting emissions to the atmosphere, you can effectively subtract them by purchasing 'carbon offsets'. Carbon offsets are simply credits for emission reductions achieved by projects elsewhere, such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency projects. By purchasing these credits, you can apply them to your own emissions and reduce your net climate impact.”
Got that? Good.
Skating for clean air
Randi Kruse, community relations specialist for the foundation and its lead on the NHLPA partnership, says she hopes there’s more to come.“We frankly didn’t expect this many players would sign on,” she says. “The door is certainly open for more. They definitely helped us increase public interest in what we’re doing. And there are organizations and associations who have contacted us saying ‘we want to do what the NHL players are doing.’” Now, anyone interested in emulating their favourite NHL players can participate in the foundation’s Carbon Neutral Challenge.
Playing for more than pride
In the end, it seems both Bradbury and Suzuki have discovered something important. Canadian athletes have much more to contribute to the pride of the nation than just their physical skills; they also have the power to influence their fans by speaking out on matters of global import and backing that talk with positive action.They shoot. They score.
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com
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