San Antonio Sports Foundation

Do we have an opportunity for you! This month, the San Antonio Sports Foundation will launch its Champions Club for individuals who believe in our mission and want to help us create sports opportunities for our community and its youth.

Don't miss the information below about becoming a member of this exclusive group. Our goal is to induct 100 new members in 2005. If you are interested, please click here to send me an e-mail with your contact information so that I can personally visit with you about this top-level investor group.

Sign up to volunteer for our next two events – the Whataburger Roundball Ruckus and USA Taekwondo Junior Olympics. Meet our new volunteer coordinator, Donna Browne, and learn more about two entertaining sports. Click here to let us know of your interest. See you on the courts and mats!

The San Antonio Sports Foundation membership committee, chaired by Gary Arthur of Valero Energy, announces the formation of the Sports Foundation Champions Club. Champions Club members are those individuals who contribute $1000 annually to increase the sports and fitness opportunities for children in San Antonio and to boost Sports Foundation efforts bring major economic-generating amateur sporting events to our city.

Additionally, Champions Club members enjoy great benefits which include tickets to premier Sports Foundation events, such as the NCAA Div. I Women’s Volleyball Championship and the Sports Hall of Fame Tribute. To learn more about this fun, exclusive group of sports enthusiasts and the benefits of membership, click here. You may also contact Mary Ullmann Japhet at 210-820-2123 or mjaphet@sanantoniosports.org.

The San Antonio Local Organizing Committee (SALOC) for the NCAA Final Four split duties to attend the 2005 NCAA Men’s Final Four in St. Louis and the Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis. San Antonio will host the Men’s Final Four in 2008 and the Women’s Final Four in 2010.

In Indianapolis:

Susan Blackwood and Jenny Carnes (left) of the Sports Foundation, Athletic Director Lynn Hickey and Head Women’s Basketball Coach Rae Blair of UTSA, and Cody Clem and Jim Mery representing the Alamodome took notes and attended meetings for future hosts on behalf of the 2010 Women’s Final Four. Congratulations to the National Champion Baylor Lady Bears and to Indianapolis for an unforgettable Final Four!

In St. Louis:

UTSA Athletic Director Lynn Hickey (left), John Solis of the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, Alamodome director Mike Abington, and UTSA Assistant Athletic Director/Media Relations Rick Nixon attended the championship.

"I thought St. Louis did a great job continuing the momentum of a tremendous NCAA Tournament this season. Their set-up mirrored a lot of what we have been able to do in San Antonio, namely having a quality dome facility downtown that is in close proximity to their convention center and hotels.

The one thing they can't match is the River Walk and the ambience that brings to the event. It's never too early to start thinking about 2008, because it will be here before we know it," said Hickey.

The San Antonio Sports Foundation is proud to announce the newest additions to its “Salute Awards” program: “Salute to Coaches” and “Salute to Sport Achievement.”

The “Salute to Coaches” awards, to begin with the 2004-05 school year, will be given annually to a male and female coach of the year at the junior high and high school level, as well as community-based youth organizations. The “Salute to Coaches” awards will honor coaches for sport accomplishments and for displaying qualities of sportsmanship, citizenship and a positive influence on their athletes.

The “Salute to Sport Achievement” awards will be administered year-round to local athletes who attain the highest level of achievement within their sporting discipline. This year-round recognition will honor athletes on four levels: junior high age or younger, high school age, athletes enrolled in college and Olympic competitors.

Nominees are being accepted now for the “Salute to Coaches” awards through April 29, 2005.

Just like the Texas sun, the Sports Foundation's 2005 Whataburger Roundball Ruckus will soon be heating things up at the Alamodome, April 23-24. This annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament is open to men and women, boys and girls of all ages and skill levels.

Other than being able to prove your team skills on center court for bragging rights, you can also win cool prizes when you enter the numerous featured contests this event has to offer. Not only will you be given the opportunity to show off your individual skills in the Slam Dunk Contest, 3-Point Challenge, Free Style Dribbling Competition or the Hot Shot Shootout, but you can also take a shot at the national $1 Million Dollar Shot Free Throw Contest! With this wide variety of featured competitions, there's something for everyone. For free entry into these contests, just save your Whataburger receipts and present them at the contest registration.

Team registration for the 2005 Whataburger Roundball Ruckus will end April 18th at 5 p.m., so round up your team and register online, by calling (210) 820-2100, or by retrieving an entry form from area TETCO stores and Texas Med Clinics before it's too late! The entry fee for each three to five person team is $100 and the first 200 teams to sign up will receive a free basketball. So get on the ball and register now!

There is a new addition to this year's Roundball Ruckus…it's wheelchair basketball. This fresh and exciting segment of the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament is meant to open doors to everyone and anyone who is looking for a fun-filled time. Wheelchair basketball is also open to able-bodied persons. Any wheelchair athletes wanting to include an able-bodied person on their team are allowed to do so.

"Opening up events to create more opportunities for people who play wheelchair basketball was our main purpose for this new addition to the tournament," said Ross Davis, Sports Foundation creative director, gold medal Paralympian and a former wheelchair basketball athlete.

Register online. For any questions, call (210) 820-2101.

The Asics Colorado Crossroads is one of the largest volleyball club tournaments in the country -- 768 teams of girls, from the ages of 12 to 18, all under one roof. That’s nearly 8,000 volleyball competitors vying for a bid to the Junior Olympics. Each of these athletes works to improve her game, and to catch the eye of a college coach who could potentially extend her volleyball career beyond high school.

Eight young athletes from San Antonio not only played in the tournament, but added another item on their to-do list over the weekend.

Volleyball enthusiast and club dad, Jim Wilkes, first contacted the Sports Foundation a few months ago and eagerly offered his assistance to make the 2005 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship a success in San Antonio. He quickly became an information resource for club volleyball in the region and scored big with local organizers when he volunteered to take flyers to the Colorado tournament. Wilkes, his 14-year-old daughter Meghan, and her Centex 141 teammates, passed out 4,000 flyers in the Colorado Convention Center throughout the weekend.

Two days later, more than 100 tickets had been purchased as a direct result of their grassroots marketing efforts!

Any child who has seen Pirates of the Caribbean, Zorro, or even Star Wars has seen fencing. The sport of fencing is fast and athletic, but so much more. Modern fencing requires the courage, stamina, speed and agility of a fighter combined with the brains to out-think an opponent. It builds confidence in physical and mental skills, and often appeals to children not interested in team sports. It’s also FUN!

This summer the Sports Foundation’s Dreams for Youth program is offering three summer camps for beginning fencers to learn the sport. During these fencing camps, boys and girls, ages 7 and up, will learn the sport’s history, safety, basic technique and form, and basic competition strategies. All equipment is provided and all coaches are certified by the United States Fencing Coaches Association and the United States Olympic Committee.

Congratulations to local fencer Kelley Hurley, who became the first American woman ever to win a world championship title in epee by winning the Cadet (Under 17) World Championships in women's epee in Linz, Austria on March 24.

There were 100 competitors from 30+ countries represented at the championships. A former fencer with the Sports Foundation’s Community Olympic Development Program, Kelley is coached by Paul Pesthy and her father, Robert Hurley. She is a junior at Warren High School.

Sidelines will periodically highlight businesses and organizations that provide valuable budget-relieving goods and services that enable the Sports Foundation to serve the community. We hope this gives you a different perspective on just one of the many entities that help and support our organization.

Maverick Video Production

If you’ve ever seen one of the Sports Foundation’s television commercials, then you’ve seen the work of Maverick Video Productions. This full-service production company and Sports Foundation sponsor has helped produce and edit our video and audio ads—from the Diamond Shamrock Go!Kids Challenge™, to Whataburger Roundball Ruckus, to the Sports Foundation’s 20th anniversary campaign and San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame tributes.

“Maverick’s good work allows the Sports Foundation to project a creative, professional image and share our story with San Antonio,” says Mary Japhet, associate executive director, external affairs. “We all know the power of the media, and Maverick helps us utilize that power, which aids in fundraising and boosting enrollment in our programs.” Mary often works with editor Albert Wooten. “He believes in what we do and can take my idea and really bring it to life.”

Maverick Video Productions has been in business for 13 years and counts the NBA San Antonio Spurs, WNBA Silver Stars, Rampage hockey team among their many clients here and across the United States.

According to Pat Iverson, the partners at Maverick feel it’s vital to give back to the community, and the Sports Foundation is a worthwhile organization. “We feel it is important to help bring sports events to San Antonio and to help out the kids that benefit from their programs.”

Click here to view Maverick’s latest effort to help the Sports Foundation – the TV spot promoting this year’s Whataburger Roundball Ruckus.

New and Renewing Individual Champions

Robert Leel; Lance Blanks

Champions Club
Individual Members at $1,000+

Gary & Shelia Arthur; Susan Blackwood; June Bratcher; Howard Burris; Jim Callaway; Cassandra Carr; James Doyle; Jim Dublin; Charlie Ebrom; Larry Franklin; Pat & Kelley Frost; Dr. Jamie Garza; Claud Gilmer; William Greehey; Joe Guinn; Bill & Marcia Hanson; Peter Holt; Stacey Johnson; Michael Jourdan; Greg & Leigh Ann King; Michael Lynd; Lowry Mays; Red McCombs; James Mickey; Tom Reardon; Dr. David Schmidt; Dr. Earl Smith; Steve Souter; Neill Walsdorf, Jr.; Carri Wells; Jeff Wentworth; Paul Young