Key Takeaways

• The Philadelphia Sixers and Flyers donated $15,000 worth of sports equipment to young athletes at Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington
• Equipment was purchased from a local store and included basketballs, ice skates, hockey sticks, and other gear
• Travis Sanheim and Quentin Grimes attended the December 10 event alongside team mascots Franklin and Gritty
• The initiative addressed cost barriers in youth hockey, where equipment expenses often prevent participation
• Bank of America, Comcast Spectator, and Harris Blitzer Sports partnered on the community event

Equipment Distribution Targets Cost Barriers in Youth Hockey

The Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers delivered $15,000 worth of sports equipment to young athletes in Kensington on December 10, distributing gear purchased from a local retailer at Scanlon Recreation Center. The donation included ice skates, hockey sticks, basketballs, and other equipment designed to reduce financial barriers preventing youth participation in organized sports.

Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim, who attended the event with Sixers guard Quentin Grimes, pointed to hockey’s high equipment costs as a primary focus. “Hockey, it’s an expensive sport, so being able to help kids out and show them the game that we love and enjoy playing,” Sanheim said. “Hopefully it’s something kids take up and enjoy themselves, and they get the opportunity to do it.”

Multi-Organization Partnership Brings Resources to Kensington

Bank of America, Comcast Spectator, and Harris Blitzer Sports joined the two professional franchises in organizing the event. Jim Dever, president of Bank of America in Greater Philadelphia, described the Kensington location as strategic for reaching families who could benefit most from the equipment support.

“We are in the perfect spot here in Kensington where you can really make some dreams come true,” Dever said. “For the kids, for the parents, and that’s what really, what both the organizations and ourselves, are really involved with.”

The event extended beyond equipment distribution to include a pizza party and ice time with Sanheim, creating direct interaction between professional athletes and local youth.

Players Emphasize Community Connection

Grimes, who joined the Sixers earlier in the 2024-25 season, emphasized the importance of engaging with young athletes facing financial challenges. “I love giving back to the community,” Grimes told NBC10. “Since I’ve been in the NBA I’m aspiring the youth and doing stuff with people who may not be as fortunate as others. It gives a lot of hope and a lot of inspiration to the youth.”

The Sixers guard declined Sanheim’s invitation to join him on the ice, suggesting the hockey player try basketball instead. “On skates, I can skate a little bit, but I’ll leave that to my brothers,” Grimes said.

Addressing Participation Gaps Through Direct Support

The equipment donation model targets a documented barrier in youth sports participation, particularly in hockey where startup costs for protective gear, sticks, and skates can exceed several hundred dollars per athlete. By purchasing equipment from a local store and distributing it directly to families at a neighborhood recreation center, the partnership created immediate access without requiring advance registration or application processes.

The Kensington location places resources in a community where such support addresses documented need, according to participating organizations. The December timing allows families to access equipment heading into winter sports seasons when hockey programs typically begin.

via: NBC Philly

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About Youth Sports Business Report

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• Youth sports coaching and sports recruitment strategies
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• Sports content creation and digital media monetization

Whether you’re a sports industry executive, institutional investor, youth sports parent, coach, or sports business enthusiast, Youth Sports Business Report is your most reliable source for the actionable sports business insights you need to stay ahead of youth athletics trends and make informed decisions in the rapidly evolving youth sports landscape.

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Are you a brand looking to tap into the world’s most passionate fanbase… youth sports?

Introducing Play Up Partners, a leading youth sports marketing agency connecting brands with the power of youth sports. We specialize in youth sports sponsorships, partnerships, and activations that drive measurable results.

About Play Up Partners

Play Up Partners is a leading youth sports marketing agency connecting brands with the power of youth sports. We specialize in youth sports sponsorships, partnerships, and activations that drive measurable results.

Why Sponsor Youth Sports?

Youth sports represents one of the most engaged and passionate audiences in sports marketing. With over 70 million young athletes and their families participating annually, the youth sports industry offers brands unparalleled access to motivated communities with strong purchasing power and loyalty.

What Does Play Up Partners Do?

We’ve done the heavy lifting to untangle the complex youth sports landscape so our brand partners can engage with clarity, confidence, and impact. Our vetted network of accredited youth sports organizations (from local leagues to national tournaments and operators) allows us to create flexible, scalable programs that evolve with the market.

Our Approach

Every partnership we build is rooted in authenticity and value creation. We don’t just broker deals. We craft youth sports marketing strategies that:

• Deliver measurable ROI for brand partners
• Create meaningful experiences for athletes and families
• Elevate the youth sports ecosystem

Our Vision

We’re positioning youth sports as the most desirable and effective platform in sports marketing. Our mission is simple: MAKE YOUTH SPORTS BETTER for athletes, families, organizations, and brand partners.

Common Questions About Youth Sports Marketing

Where can I sponsor youth sports? How do I activate in youth sports? What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? How much does youth sports sponsorship cost?

We have answers. Reach out to info@playuppartners.com to learn how Play Up Partners can help your brand navigate the youth sports landscape.

Youth sports organizations: Interested in partnership opportunities? Reach out to learn about our accreditation process.

IMG Academy

Dec 11, 2025

BRADENTON, Fla. (Dec. 11, 2025) – IMG Academy today is celebrating the 25-year anniversary of NCSA College Recruiting. Since its founding in 2000, NCSA has helped redefine how student-athletes and college coaches connect, becoming an industry leader in college sports recruiting technology, education, and guidance.

Now a core part of the IMG Academy digital product ecosystem alongside SportsRecruits and online personal development coaching product, IMG Academy+, NCSA continues to advance IMG Academy’s purpose of empowering student-athletes to win their future by providing families with unmatched tools, guidance and personalized recruiting coaching throughout the recruiting journey.

A Legacy of Scale and Impact

Since 2000, NCSA has supported more than 750,000 student-athletes, facilitated over 330,000 college commitments, and helped coaches across all 50 states and around the world discover college recruits across 31 sports. Today, NCSA serves more than 175,000 student-athlete premium members and 4.5 million student-athlete free members, and over 50,000 college coaches engage with NCSA student-athletes each year.

Over the last five years, on average more than 30,000 NCSA student-athletes per year are placed on college roster sports each year, which is approximately 25% of all college freshman roster spots across DI, DII, DIII and NAIA.

Driving Innovation in the Modern Recruiting Era

What began 25 years ago in a living room, serving a few hundred student-athletes each year, has grown into the world’s leading college recruiting organization. Today, NCSA alongside SportsRecruits stand at the forefront of the recruiting industry, powered by a tech-enabled digital platform and the largest team of college recruiting coaches anywhere in the world.

Over the past quarter century, NCSA has built a proven system that helps student-athletes gain visibility earlier, connect with college coaches more efficiently, and navigate the recruiting process with expert guidance and confidence. Each year, NCSA facilitates hundreds of thousands of coaching sessions, evaluations, recruiting workshops, and highlight videos, creating the most comprehensive and far-reaching recruiting ecosystem in youth sports.

Now, as part of IMG Academy, NCSA enters its next chapter with expanded opportunity and continued momentum. With additional services planned, its purpose remains clear and unwavering: empowering student-athletes to win their future. In this next phase, IMG Academy is focused on broadening global reach, deepening recruiting education, strengthening strategic partnerships, and integrating new technology to support student-athletes in even more dynamic and personalized ways.

“NCSA has shaped the recruiting landscape for 25 years, creating opportunity and impact at a scale no one else in our industry has ever achieved,” said Chris Ciaccio, Chief Commercial Officer of IMG Academy. “NCSA’s impact is measured not just in numbers, but in lives transformed and futures unlocked. As part of IMG Academy, NCSA will continue to evolve and lead from the front with best-in-class services designed to serve the next generation of student-athletes around the world.”

For 25 years, NCSA has helped student-athletes play their sport in college. The next 25 years will be defined by new innovations and added expert services to support athletic development and to provide guidance and resources to navigate an ever-changing college recruiting environment no matter where they live, what sport they play, or what dreams they’re pursuing.

About IMG Academy

IMG Academy is the world’s leading sports education brand, providing a holistic education model that empowers student-athletes to win their future, preparing them for college and for life. IMG Academy provides growth opportunities for all student-athletes through an innovative suite of on-campus and online experiences:

• Boarding school and camps, via a state-of-the-art campus in Bradenton, Fla.
• Online coaching via IMG Academy+, with a focus on personal development through the lens of sport and performance
• Online college recruiting, via NCSA and SportsRecruits, providing unmatched college recruiting education and services to student-athletes and their families, club coaches, and event operators, and is the premier service for college coaches.

To learn more about IMG Academy and its on-campus and online experiences, visit www.imgacademy.com.

Beloved local youth basketball coach and former Harlem Globetrotter William Bullard says his truck was vandalized with racist slurs and hate symbols near his downtown Petaluma apartment complex, an incident he shared in two Instagram videos posted Tuesday.

Bullard, 41, found swastikas and racist slurs etched into the dust on all of his car windows. He filed a police report and said he intends to press forward with the case if a suspect is identified.

He said he last checked on his vehicle the day before and believes the vandalism happened overnight or early Tuesday morning. Surveillance cameras in the parking garage may have captured the act, and Bullard said he has asked both police and his property management company to review the footage.

“It is tough to deal with being a minority here in Sonoma County, where it is 1-2% Black,” Bullard told The Press Democrat on Tuesday night. “With my impact within the community, to walk outside to your car and see that is really tough.”

Bullard said he shared the videos with his more than 30,000 Instagram followers to raise awareness about racism.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “Sometimes these things get swept under the rug, but for me it is very apparent that this needs to be brought to light.”

Bullard has called Petaluma home for about five years and said he is no stranger to racism in Sonoma County, citing an incident in February where a white woman in a Petaluma grocery store called him “boy,” a term long used to demean Black men. 

This latest incident has left him unsettled.

“It makes me worry about my safety a lot because they found my truck on site and put those words on it as big as possible,” he said, adding that he has always enjoyed taking walks around his neighborhood to clear his head.

After around 15 years with the Harlem Globetrotters and a long career coaching youth basketball, Bullard sees himself as a mentor to young people in Sonoma County. He fears teenagers who often gather late at night in the parking garage could be responsible for the vandalism, saying that “education needs to start in the home.”

He hopes to turn the incident into fuel for youth outreach. In October, he opened Bam Bam Training, his own gym in Petaluma, shortly after beating throat cancer.

“I want to have all of these kids in the gym or out on the field with me so I can break down life to them,” he said. “They are not going to be able to get away with things like that. When these kids get into trouble it is because they don’t have safe spaces to go to.”

Despite the fear and disgust he felt, Bullard said he remains committed to being an outspoken community leader and creating the safe spaces he believes young people desperately need.

Petaluma police Lt. Zilverio Rivera confirmed Bullard filed a police report and said detectives are actively investigating the hate incident.

Dozens of friends, followers and young athletes who call him “Coach Will” flooded the comments on Bullard’s video with messages of support.

“Just imagine how little their world must be… filled with hate and fear,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “We love you. Thank you for what you do for this small community.”

The Sixers and Flyers teamed up to give back to the Philadelphia community on Wednesday by giving out $15,000 worth of sports equipment to young athletes at the Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington.

The Flyers’ Travis Sanheim and Sixers’ Quentin Grimes were on hand, along with Franklin and Gritty, to hand out basketballs, skates, hockey sticks and other sports gear bought from a local store.

The donations especially helped aspiring ice hockey players, as gear for the sport can be expensive for families.

“Yeah, hockey, it’s an expensive sport, so being able to help kids out and show them the game that we love and enjoy playing,” Sanheim said. “And, hopefully it’s something kids take up and enjoy themselves, and they get the opportunity to do it.”

Grimes also told NBC10 that it was important to him to give back and inspire the next generation of athletes.

“It’s a great thing to do. I love giving back to the community,” Grimes told NBC10. “Since I’ve been in the NBA I’m aspiring the youth and doing stuff with people who may not be as fortunate as others. It gives a lot of hope and a lot of inspiration to the youth.”

The event, which was also in partnership with Bank of America, Comcast Spectator and Harris Blitzer Sports, also included a pizza party and a chance to hit the ice with Sanheim.

However, Grimes had a different proposition for his fellow professional athlete.

“I think he should come out and play basketball,” Grimes said. “On skates, I can skate a little bit, but I’ll leave that to my brothers. I’m all good.”

Jim Dever, the president of Bank of America in Greater Philadelphia, also shared how the event was important to him.

“I think it’s unbelievable, and we are in the perfect spot here in Kensington where you can really make some dreams come true,” Dever said. “For the kids, for the parents, and that’s what really, what both the organizations and ourselves, are really involved with.”

“Our Christian principles — of respect, forgiveness, and service to others — are the foundations of our community, where athletes feel supported not only physically but spiritually. Families are reassured by knowing their children are in a safe environment where faith is as central as fitness. This framework has helped parents see FightLife as more than a gym; it is a trusted institution shaping future leaders with discipline, compassion, and resilience,” said Ayvazyan.

As a sanctuary, FightLife is a healing outreach to those traumatized by the grave losses during the 2020 war, and Azerbaijan’s consequent ethnic cleansing in 2023, which forcibly displaced over 120,000 indigenous Armenians from their ancestral homeland. The displaced refugees were resettled across neighboring Armenia and other countries. Fifteen-year-old Erik Bagiyants’ displaced family settled in the city of Vanadzor. One of eight children, Bagiyants, who lost his father in the 2020 war, found it challenging to be among strangers in Vanadzor. When he found FightLife’s community, he found “strength and purpose” which encouraged his faith.

“I have chosen to fight harder, grow stronger, and carry the memory of my father as a motivation. For me, FightLife is a second family and the path toward reaching my dreams,” said Bagiyants.

A Ray of Hope Amidst Dire Social Challenges

Two of FightLife’s three gyms in Armenia are in Vanadzor, a city of 100,000, and one of the country’s most socially and economically challenged cities. Over the past five years, they city’s crime rates have reached nearly 40 percent. Petty theft, substance abuse, and street violence disproportionately impact the young population, who face higher unemployment and limited access to constructive social outlets.

“FightLife offers an alternative path: a place where discipline and sport can counteract the exterior social pressures, transforming potential vulnerability into strength and leadership,” explains Ayvazyan.

While most members at the Vanadzor gym are local youth, many travel long distances daily from the surrounding regions. Among them is fifteen-year-old Hamlet Darchinyan who travels 14 miles daily from his northern hometown of Spitak.

As the epicenter of the December 1988’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake, Spitak, Armenia, was leveled into rubble. The 11,000-populated city still carries the traumas of the devastating aftermath of the most destructive earthquake in the Soviet Union’s history, which left 25,000 dead, 20,000 injured, and half a million inhabitants in the region homeless.

“Hamlet’s parents work as bakers in Russia and sacrifice a significant portion of their earnings to cover his daily taxi fees, so he can maintain his training. This sacrifice is worth it for his parents, who see FightLife’s positive impact on their son’s faith, character, discipline, and future,” Ayvazian said Hamlet’s father didn’t take his son to Russia seeing how FightLife’s impact on his son’s growth has made him “a stronger, better version of himself.”

This March, FightLife opened a third gym in the northern rural village of Tsaghkahovit. With just over 2,000 in population, the village sits on the slopes of the 4090-meter-high Mount Aragats — the highest point in the Republic of Armenia.

Guided By Personal, Lived Challenges

Born in Russia, Georg Ayvazyan and his mother moved to Vanadzor when he was 3, having just lost his father in a car accident. With the city steeped in youth drug and alcohol addiction and street violence, Ayvazyan took up martial arts at age 13 for self-defense and to stay clear of the crime-ridden influences.

Following the 2020 war, Ayvazyan saw the younger generation’s demise into the “darkness of addiction and street violence.” Leading a team, he established the first “Christian martial arts gym” in Vanadzor, naming it FightLife. It provided the youth training and guidance for a healthier lifestyle, away from addiction and violence–forces which Ayvazyan withstood as a youth.

Ayvazyan is also the father to two daughters and an 11-year-old son who is a mixed martial arts fighter at the FightLife Vanadzor gym. He proudly recounted his team’s faith-based sportsmanship at a recent international competition when a FightLife athlete defeated his Azerbaijani opponent and celebrated the win without too much fanfare. When Ayvazyan noticed the young Azerbaijani fighter’s coach harshly reprimanding him for losing the match, he approached the young athlete, and extending “a true spirit of sportsmanship” assured him of future victories.

“In choosing compassion, we demonstrated that even in the midst of national conflict, humanity and respect must prevail,” said Ayvazyan.

With emphasis on “Sport, Nation and Faith,” Ayvazyan hopes 10 additional FightLife gyms will soon sprout across rural regions “where youth lack spiritual direction and safe, structured environments.”

“Greater participation in international competitions will give young athletes the exposure and experience needed to elevate their careers and demonstrate the unbreakable spirit of the Armenian people. At its core, FightLife is not simply a set of gyms — it is a movement that provides young Armenians the tools to overcome trauma, build character, and find hope amidst difficulties. Every punch, every training session, every victory in the ring carries a larger meaning: that strength, when guided by faith and respect, can transform lives and communities,” Ayvazyan cited the transformational powers of FightLife in Erik Evoyan’s life.

Following his army service completion, Evoyan got involved in alcohol abuse and destructive behaviors to cope with his trauma as a veteran. Finding the FightLife community gave him a fresh start, a new direction with intense discipline, training, a newly discovered faith in God, and unconditional support from the FightLife community. Replacing alcoholism with boxing, Evoyan reinvented his lifestyle, and focusing on perseverance, earned the 2024 and 2025 Suzuki Boxing Championship in Poland.

“No matter how dark your past, there is always a way forward through hard work, discipline, and faith,” said the twenty-four-year-old Evoyan, now one of FightLife’s inspiring coaches who shares his story of resilience, motivating other young athletes.

(This article originally ran in euronewsweek.co.uk in November. Jackie Abramian is committed to amplifying the work of women peace-builders, change makers and social entrepreneurs. She is a social enterprise advisor and the founder of Global Cadence consultancy.)

Looking Back, Looking Forward: De facto Segregation in South San Pedro

When I returned home to San Pedro from Korea in 1960, San Pedro was still the town of my youth. Not much had changed from when I left. Today, Oliver Street is still cooking. The old housing projects (except Rancho San Pedro) are gone, and old Beacon Street has disappeared. But thankfully, God’s country on North Meyler Street is there except for those I knew who lived there from the 1950s through the 1980s.

The de facto segregation in San Pedro—particularly south of 6th Street toward the ocean—remained unchanged. It had always been that way. With very few exceptions, African Americans were unable to buy or rent homes near San Pedro High School.

This exclusion was baked in from the start when this land was developed after Rudecinda Sepulveda de Dodson sold that 880-acre portion of the old Sepulveda ranch to the Averill-Weymouth company during the first decade of the 1900s. Herbert Averill promised then that “they would enforce restrictions sufficiently rigid to ensure the development of the property along attractive and substantial lines and declare they would make it the sightliest part of the harbor region.”

These legal restrictions remained until the political and legal battles over redlining in the late 1960s struck them down with the passage of the Rumsford/Unruh Act, its reversal by Proposition 14, and the proposition’s reversal by the US Supreme Court decision in Reitman v. Mulkey.

But even with this bit of progress and other steps taken through the 1970s, the facts remain: I am a longtime Pedro resident. My family members had attempted to rent property in South San Pedro, and we were still given the cold shoulder and deemed not “good enough” to live here.

Race is a social construct that prioritizes in access to power, wealth, and resources. In this system that prizes whiteness, black folks are automatically deemed unworthy, unqualified, and ineligible, despite all of us being God’s children.

Will de facto segregation always exist in San Pedro? Nobody knows. It appears that the attitude: persona non grata (thanks but no thanks) will always be part of the rules. Of course, there is also something called NIMBY (not in my backyard). We may be friends, but not in my backyard. The attitude appears to say: we are not a television show like “The Neighborhood,” and there is no ideal or happy ending here.

At best, Black Americans are bearable to those in Southwest San Pedro, and at worst, condescended to. Residents in San Pedro know the problem of de facto segregation exists in Southwest San Pedro, and hide it by suborning or gaslighting. This is identified as head turning and being part of the problem. Can you find the word hypocrisy in your dictionary? If you continue to turn your head from this reality, you are enabling de facto segregation.

John R. Gray, Wilmington

U.S. Army South Korea, Joint Security Area

728 Military Police Honor Guard Platoon

Narbonne High Girls’ Basketball Team Targeted in Van Burglary After Tournament

My daughter’s high school basketball team (Narbonne High School, Harbor City) was participating in a tournament at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra. Shortly after they finished their game, I received a phone call from my daughter that no parent ever wants to receive. She was screaming and sobbing so hard she couldn’t get her words out. For a moment, I thought they had been in a car accident or that someone had been seriously hurt. The last time I heard that kind of terror in her voice was in 2020, when I learned my father had been in a fatal car accident.

After the tournament, the team went to the local Raising Cane’s restaurant to have dinner. When they returned to their van, they found it broken into and completely ransacked. Everything was stolen: their game jerseys, basketball shoes, warm-up sets, personal backpacks, school laptops, Beats headphones, iPads, homework, clothing, and other personal belongings.

My daughter even had an open-book final exam coming up. All her notes and materials were in her backpack, and they are gone.

These girls are distraught. They have worked so hard this season, and now they face another heartbreaking setback. They have a tournament game tomorrow (Wednesday, 12/10) at home, yet they have nothing to wear, no uniforms, no gear, nothing. The assistant coach filed a police report with the local police department, but understandably, the girls are devastated.

This is more than a story about theft. It is about a group of young student-athletes who had their hard work, their sense of safety, and their personal belongings taken from them in minutes. They deserve community support, and attention to what happened may help lead to answers – or at least rally people around them so they can continue their season.

A GoFundMe page has been created to raise $5,000 to support Narbonne’s girls’ basketball team. More information is available at gofund.me/c63c0362f.

Virchus Ferguson

San Pedro

Military Grade

I was 11 years old on May 4,1970 living 12 miles from KSU. Later my siblings and I graduated from there.

The national guard used military grade ammunition. Two students were killed directly. Two others from a ricochet and piercing through a car trunk 300 plus feet away. That ammunition was considered lethal at 5 miles.

This sculpture is about 70 feet away. The sheets are 1/2 inch thick.

The idea of giving military grade arms to civilian police who do not require them, much less have training or the recertification required in the military is an anathema.

May 4,1970 should be a lesson to be heeded and not forgotten.

Michael A Rolenz

Harbor City

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