November 11, 2020 – Los Angeles, CA – The Foundation for Global Sports Development (GSD) announced today the ten athletes who have been selected to receive grants through the foundation’s BOOST2020 Athlete Grant Program. The foundation is awarding a total of $100,000, with each athlete receiving $10,000.
The BOOST2020 grant, which launched in July, is a COVID-19 relief effort by the foundation, created to support high-performance athletes whose training for the 2020 Summer Games was disrupted by the pandemic. The foundation received close to 100 applications for the grant.
"These athletes train tirelessly to compete at the highest level of sport, so they can represent the United States at the Games. Now, due to COVID-19, they are facing canceled sponsorships and job losses, reduced income, and lack of access to housing and healthcare," said Dr. Steven Ungerleider, GSD Executive Board Member.
David Ulich, GSD Executive Board Member, added, "Our BOOST2020 grant provides much needed aid to these hardworking, talented athletes whose lives and dreams for gold have been upended by the pandemic. We are committed to ensuring sport and fair play continue on during these difficult times."
J. Dee Marinko, a Paralympian and member of the U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball team, is one of the grant recipients. "We have had to put training on hold and work to keep our families taken care of," Marinko said. "This grant will allow athletes to get back to training with a clear mind and focused on the goal instead of worrying about how our families will eat."
The ten recipients of the BOOST2020 grant are:
• Byron Branch, Dayton, OH – Wheelchair Fencing
• Felicia Brown, Lexington, KY – Track & Field
• Amanda Dennis, Peachtree City, GA – Goalball
• Ella Eastin, Newport Beach, CA – Swimming
• Desmond Jackson, Durham, NC – Long Jump
• J. Dee Marinko, Guthrie, OK – Sitting Volleyball
• Pearl Outlaw, Charlottesville, VA – Para Rowing
• Aaron Scheidies, Lynnwood, WA – Paratriathlon
• Jennifer Schuble, Homewood, AL – Paracycling
• Shannon Solares-Rowbury, San Francisco, CA – Track & Field
To learn more about the BOOST2020 Athlete Grant Program or The Foundation for Global Sports Development, please visit www.globalsportsdevelopment.org.
About The Foundation for Global Sports Development and Sidewinder Films
The Foundation for Global Sports Development, established in 1996, was born out of a desire to promote and protect the best parts of sport. Guided by its original mission, the foundation delivers and supports initiatives that promote accessible, fair, and abuse-free sport for youth. The foundation achieves this objective through grants, awards, educational projects, and filmmaking. In 2015, the foundation launched its media company, Sidewinder Films, to inspire and educate audiences through films that shed light on the remarkable, untold stories that celebrate the sport of life. Visit www.globalsportsdevelopment.org and www.sidewinderfilms.org to learn more.
****
Brooke Bumgardner
brooke@gsdswf.org
(541) 683-9278
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
