San Antonio Sports Foundation

It will be a challenge to supersede the super year we had in 2004 and our celebration of the Sports Foundation’s 20th anniversary, but you can bet your Sports Foundation staff will be out there trying. We won’t be able to do it without you. Join us as we work to achieve ten resolutions for 2005:

Work with the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame Tribute committee to make the 2005 gala one of the best ever. Congrats again to the inductees!
Increase the Whataburger Roundball Ruckus 3-on-3 basketball tournament participation by 20%. We are on our way! This year’s event will take place on the final weekend of Fiesta. What fun!
Leverage the 2004 USA Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championships to insure that they are impactful for as many of our tourism partners as possible.
Assist with the Texas High School Coaches School insuring that San Antonio is an ongoing site in the rotation of the convention for 10,000 delegates.
Increase participation in the Diamond Shamrock Go!Kids Challenge™. Let’s fall farther down on the “fattest city” list.
Establish an interactive web site for the Diamond Shamrock Go!Kids Challenge so that participants, parents, teachers and all of us can KEEP MOVING!
Increase the city and county commitment for community soccer fields by 24 fields. (A nice even number!)
Have standing room only at the finals of the Big 12 Women’s Soccer Championship in November.
SELL OUT the Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship on December 15 and 17th. Let’s WOW the NCAA again!
Find meaningful ways for every member of our community to feel a part of the San Antonio Sports Foundation! What a Christmas present that would be!!!!!!!

If you’d like to get involved in any of these efforts, don’t be shy. Just give us a call at 210-820-2100.

George P. Becknell, III, a registered representative and financial services professional, has been elected chairman of the San Antonio Sports Foundation board of directors. He will serve a two year term and succeeds Jim Callaway, group president, SBC Communications.

Becknell joined the Sports Foundation board in 1991. He has served in several key roles, including chair of the North American, Central American, and Caribbean International Track Meet, chair of NCAA Final Four Youth Education in Sports (YES) clinics and on the local organizing committee’s executive committee during the basketball championships. He was also one of four area venue managers at the U.S. Olympic Festival-‘93.

“I have a passion for the role the San Antonio Sports Foundation plays in our community and its commitment to youth,” says Becknell. “That passion extends to the economic impact of the events the Sports Foundation brings to the city and its impact on the lives of the kids in our youth programs. Plus it’s fun!”

The Sports Foundation also named ten new board members, who will each serve a three year term:

• Danny Buck, regional CEO, Sterling Bank;
• Dana Carter, vice president, Wells Fargo Bank;
• Craig Collins, partner, KPMG, LLP;
• Matt Conner, general manager, Oak Farms Dairy;
• Don Gallian, president, Halo Distributing;
• Kevin LaRue, CEO, Creative Link;
• Mike Lynd, Jr., vice president, The Lynd Company;
• J. Michael Madigan, managing director, Merrill Lynch, South Texas Complex;
• Rob Tobias, ED director, City of Live Oak; and
• Gary Walton, president/CEO, Walton Signage.

Appointed as ex-officio members of the board of directors are Olympic gold
medal swimmer Josh Davis and Augustus Bray, president of the South Texas Amateur Athletic Union.

Immediate past-chairman, Jim Callaway, was named chairman of the Sports Foundation’s bid for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming. He currently serves as chairman of Golf San Antonio.

USA Taekwondo has awarded the 2005 U. S. Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championship to the San Antonio Sports Foundation. Slated for June 21-15 in the Alamodome, the 25th anniversary of the event is expected to draw more than 6,000 taekwondo athletes to the Alamo City.

“We would like to thank the San Antonio Sports Foundation and the city of San Antonio for hosting this prestigious event,” said USA Taekwondo CEO Bob Gambardella. “We are very excited to award the 2005 Junior Olympics to San Antonio. They have been a longtime partner to USA Taekwondo and we are confident they will put on a first-class event.”

The Sports Foundation first hosted the U.S. Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championship in 2000. At that time, it attracted 4,000 athletes to San Antonio and generated a direct economic impact of $14.7 million. The 2004 event will be larger with competition in 882 divisions (sparring and forms combined.)

San Antonio Hoping to Make an Olympic Splash

The San Antonio Sports Foundation has submitted its bid to host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming. The bid document, which was sent to USA Swimming last week, outlines plans to build both practice and competition pools in the Alamodome.

“The strength of our bid is that it’s all in the Alamodome. All of the athletes’, coaches’ and media’s needs can be met under one roof,” said Bill Hanson, Sports Foundation associate executive director who would serve as meet director. “Of course, the convenience of San Antonio’s downtown hotels, restaurants and beautiful River Walk is also appealing to USA Swimming.”

Several other U.S. cities have expressed an interest in hosting the prestigious Trials including Indianapolis, St. Louis, Omaha, NE., St. Paul, MN, and Chapel Hill, NC. USA Swimming officials expect to narrow the list based on the submitted bids and then schedule site visits to the remaining cities in the near future.

There is still time to buy your table or ticket to the 2005 San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame tribute! Join Ryder Cup Champion Bill Rogers, football great Gabe Rivera, the family of college football coach Jim Wacker, Parlaympic gold medalist Ross Davis and Olympians Stacey Johnson and Ruben Reina on Thursday, February 10, at the Alamodome.

In addition to celebrating the accomplishment of these great athletes, the Sports Hall of Fame Tribute has one of the best auctions in town! Featuring fabulous getaways, sports memorabilia, exquisite jewelry and delectable dining, this black-tie gala is your one-stop shop for your favorite Valentine!

Please visit our website to learn more about the Tribute, the inductees, the auction and to buy tickets. We hope to see you on February 10!

The Countdown Begins!

With fewer than 11 months until the next NCAA tournament hits the floor of the Alamodome, the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee (SALOC) for the 2005 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship is well underway. SALOC is preparing to sell out 12,000 seats by next December 15 & 17. This event will not only mark the 25th anniversary of the championship, but will also take the stage in a domed facility for the very first time!

Four-time National Championship head coach and current USC Women’s Volleyball Coach, Mick Haley will join us Tuesday, January 25th for a press conference announcing the NCAA Championship and how to purchase tickets. The press conference will take place at 2:30 p.m. at the San Antonio Factory of Champions, 8227 Broadway.

Don’t miss this early opportunity to secure your $45 all-session tournament pass. Tickets are on sale today! Click here to purchase or call Jenny Carnes at (210) 820-2104 to ask about hospitality packages.

Saturday, February 26, marks the 21st annual running of the UTSA Diploma Dash 5K Run/City Championship Race and Fitness Walk. Presenting sponsor is Argonaut Group, Inc. The run supports scholarships for UTSA athletes and other students and takes place on a certified course around the UTSA campus. Fitness walkers will enjoy a scenic 1.5 mile course. Cash prizes, compliments of RUMBO de San Antonio will be awarded for the top three men and women along with running shoes compliments of Roger Soler Sports. Master's men's and women's division will also receive prizes. Thirteen age groups receive medals. The Corporate Team Challenge is sponsored by the San Antonio Express-News, and new this year are the Clydesdale and Filly divisions.

Dreams for Youth coach Stephen Reyna’s interest in fencing started at an early age. Growing up on weekend matinees featuring Zorro or the Three Musketeers, you could say it was inevitable he would be a fencer. His father took him to the library so he could find information on the sport since fencing schools were hard to come by in San Antonio in the 70’s. He finally realized his childhood dream his freshman year at San Antonio College in a PE class. The class is still taught by Les Bleamaster, a 1964 Olympian in Modern Pentathlon, who Stephen respectfully refers to as his fencing father. Stephen took to the class with gusto, finally able to practice the sport, which had previously existed only in encyclopedias and reference books.

Stephen now works for San Antonio College in the math department, but every
semester he participates in the fencing classes. After seven years as a competitive fencer, Coach Bleamaster offered some advice: "If you are going to be around fencing for life, then you ought to teach the next generation."
This advice was an epiphany. Now, he had the opportunity to make sure other day-dreaming musketeers had the chance to learn at an early age. In 1998,
San Antonio secured a USOC grant, and Stephen established the only YMCA recreational program in San Antonio.

Stephen coached for the YMCA for 4 years. He is one of the few Prevost d' Arme in San Antonio, an international ranking just below Fencing Master. He credits Les Bleamaster, former Sports Foundation Community Olympic Development Program (CODP) coach Vinnie Bradford, current CODP coach Wendell Kubik, and the Pan American Fencing Association for their guidance and instruction.

Stephen joined the Dreams For Youth program as an epee coach last fall. This brings him full circle in his fencing career: started as a young want-to-be swashbuckler, found his first opportunity later in life in college, and now helping the other young day-dreamers enter the sport. For Stephen, the following quote sums it up:

"The purpose of fencing is to give and not to receive."
-Guiseppe Vitaralle, 1600

Sports Foundation Volunteer Coordinator Nancy Christensen has worked or volunteered for every San Antonio Sports Foundation event over the past 12 years! This remarkable achievement is about to come to an end when Nancy retires on March 1st. Whether its marshalling 1,400 volunteers for the NCAA Final Four Men’s Basketball Tournament, or 14 to survey schools, Nancy makes sure our events—as well as other sports events that come to San Antonio—have the people needed to do everything from pass out water to drive athletes to and from the airport.

“Our volunteer corps is one of our greatest assets when we bid to host major sporting events,” said Dr. Susan Blackwood, Sports Foundation executive director. “Nancy is largely to thank for that. She has elevated the professionalism of our volunteer efforts and we will miss her greatly.”

Nancy started volunteering for the Sports Foundation in 1992. Her first assignment was a swim competition at Palo Alto College. She enjoyed it so much that she volunteered for the U.S. Olympic Festival-‘93 and 1995 Senior Olympics. Her talents did not go unnoticed, and she was snatched up as staff (initially a temporary position which became permanent) to work on the 1998 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament. She eventually resigned the position, but continued to volunteer. Three years ago, she was coaxed out of retirement and has been a fixture at the Sports Foundation ever since.

Nancy has been married to her husband Gene for 50 years and has two children, three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. While she won’t be on staff, Nancy has promised to continue volunteering for the Sports Foundation…she just won’t be at every event!

Volunteer Job Posting

Nancy’s retirement means the Sports Foundation is seeking a new part-time Volunteer Coordinator. The position would begin on February 15, 2005.

The Sports Foundation seeks an enthusiastic ambassador who will recruit and secure key coordinators and volunteers for the organization's ten annual events. The Volunteer Coordinator will also perform the necessary administrative and clerical support as required by the position. The individual must demonstrate a history of volunteer experience and strong organizational and leadership qualities. Computer skills are required. If interested, please e-mail a resume to Dr. Susan Blackwood at sblackwood@sanantoniosports.org. before January 25th.

Annual salary for the part-time position ranges from $12,000-15,000 based on experience.

Join the Team!

Give a gift that will delight your favorite sports fan and support the events and programs of the Sports Foundation, too. A Sports Foundation membership is just the ticket! From $50 to $1500, each membership level receives lots of goodies, including access to member-only events and ticket opportunities. Click here to join online or call 210-820-2100 and we’ll sign you, your friend or family member up today!

The Sports Foundation is pleased to recognize our Champion donors. Click here to learn how you can become a Sports Foundation Champion and join the team that makes things happen.

Individual Champions
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