Rec Sports
NJ American Water Opens Applications for Hydration Station Grants
New Jersey American Water, along with the nonprofit American Water Charitable Foundation, this week announced the utility it is accepting applications until July 11 for its second annual Hydration Station Grant Program. Formally known as the Reusable Water Bottle Filling Station Grant Program, this initiative is designed to encourage sustainable hydration and environmental responsibility. The […]

New Jersey American Water, along with the nonprofit American Water Charitable Foundation, this week announced the utility it is accepting applications until July 11 for its second annual Hydration Station Grant Program.
Formally known as the Reusable Water Bottle Filling Station Grant Program, this initiative is designed to encourage sustainable hydration and environmental responsibility. The grant program seeks to reduce single-use plastic bottle waste by funding touch-free water bottle filling stations in public spaces while building trust in tap water.
Eligible organizations must be a 501(c)(3) public charity, K–12 public school, college, or university located within New Jersey American Water’s service territory and must be open to the public. Recipients will be responsible for the installation and any associated costs.
“We’re thrilled to launch the second year of this impactful grant program in partnership with the American Water Charitable Foundation,” stated Mark McDonough, president of New Jersey American Water and board member of the American Water Charitable Foundation. “Last year’s response made it clear that there is a strong demand for sustainable, accessible hydration stations in our communities.”
Hydration stations make quality public tap water convenient and accessible. Sara Moran, trustee of Orca Youth Sports, which received an NJ American Water grant in 2024, said the installation of a hydration station at Oak Glen Park has made a meaningful difference for the Orcas Baseball Club and wider Howell community.
“The station offers players, families and park visitors reliable access to clean drinking water, encourages healthier hydration habits and helps reduce single-use plastic waste,” Moran said. “We’re grateful to the American Water Charitable Foundation for the funding in 2024 to make this a reality and for our continued partnership with New Jersey American Water.”
For more information and to apply, visit the Hydration Station Grant Program page on the New Jersey American Water website. Applications must be submitted by July 11. Recipients will be notified in August.
New Jersey American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, is the largest regulated water utility in the state, providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable water and wastewater services to approximately 2.9 million people in 190 communities. Go here to see NJ American Water’s Service Territory to determine Hydration Station Grant eligibility.
Photo Caption: The Orca Youth Sports Club in Howell was a recipient of a 2024 Hydration Station grant from NJ American Water. The utility has opened applications or 2025 grants, which are designed to encourage sustainable hydration and environmental responsibility by reducing single-use plastic bottle waste.
Rec Sports
WATCH: Gamecocks QB LaNorris Sellers hosts youth football camp in Columbia
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers took time over the weekend to give back to the community, hosting a summer youth football camp filled with energy, excitement, and inspiration. Sellers signed autographs, led drills, and passed along valuable football knowledge to campers, making a lasting impact on the next generation of […]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers took time over the weekend to give back to the community, hosting a summer youth football camp filled with energy, excitement, and inspiration.
Sellers signed autographs, led drills, and passed along valuable football knowledge to campers, making a lasting impact on the next generation of players.
Following a breakout season last fall, Sellers and the Gamecocks are drawing attention heading into the 2025 campaign. SEC Media has picked South Carolina to finish fifth in the conference, with the Gamecocks also receiving five votes to win the SEC Championship.
South Carolina opens the season in Atlanta on Sunday, August 31, with a high-profile matchup against Virginia Tech.
Rec Sports
3 Ways Technology is Protecting Youth Sports Leagues and School Districts
Technological advancements have touched every aspect of our lives. From how we shop for groceries, how we consume media, how we travel, how we play—technology has profoundly reshaped our world. But are we using that same power to protect kids in school districts, sports leagues, and youth-serving organizations? We believe that advancing technology in background […]

Technological advancements have touched every aspect of our lives. From how we shop for groceries, how we consume media, how we travel, how we play—technology has profoundly reshaped our world.
But are we using that same power to protect kids in school districts, sports leagues, and youth-serving organizations?
We believe that advancing technology in background screening is key to creating safer environments for children.
JDP’s background screening solutions are powered by technologies designed to improve accuracy, reduce turnaround times, and offer a seamless experience for both employees and volunteers.
- Biometric Verification: Integrates advanced biometric tools like liveness detection and facial recognition to verify identities in real-time, ensuring every volunteer and coach is thoroughly vetted.
- Digital Credential Wallet: Portable, verifiable records that move with individuals across roles and organizations to provide on-the-spot proof that everyone on the field or in the facility is vetted, trusted, and safe.
- Deep Learning Image Analysis: Uses sophisticated deep learning models to identify inconsistencies and potential signs of fraud in identity documentation, protecting against tampering and attempts to circumvent protection protocols.
These advanced technologies have helped us protect over 10 million kids annually with our background checks across youth sports leagues, schools, and youth-serving nonprofits. But we know it takes more than background screening, it takes a commitment to building a safe culture.
Build more safety and trust in your youth-serving organization’s culture.
The Abuse Prevention Toolkit was developed to help support our Every child. Every day. initiative to help bring more cultural change to organizations caring for children.
Get the FREE Abuse Prevention Toolkit here.
Rec Sports
Jerry Arrington: Shaping Fort Belvoir Lives Through Youth Sports | Article
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Jerry Arrington, director Fort Belvoir Child and Youth Sports, guides the youngest Little League players into place for the season’s Opening Day, April 26. (Photo Credit: Paul Lara) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL Jerry […]

Jerry Arrington, Fort Belvoir’s Youth Sports Director, has quietly built a nearly 30-year legacy rooted in mentorship, inclusion, and giving military children a place to grow. With a warm smile and unwavering conviction, he has shaped lives far beyond wins and losses.
Arrington’s journey began with a football scholarship to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He later served seven years in the Army and gained sports management experience in Frankfurt, Germany. He joined Fort Belvoir’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) team in 1995, leading Adult Sports. But in 2003, he found his true calling—Youth Sports—starting a remarkable chapter that reshaped the community.
Shifting his Focus
In those early days, Fort Belvoir’s sport offerings catered mainly to adults. Fields were prepped by hand, and volunteers filled gaps. But as the installation transformed into a family-centered post, Arrington met the moment.
“If the Soldier’s kids are taken care of, the Soldier can take care of the mission,” Arrington said. “That’s always been my guiding principle.”
Starting with two staffers and three sports—basketball, baseball, and soccer, Arrington cultivated a thriving youth program. It now includes seven employees and a robust lineup of clinics, leagues, and physical education initiatives. Field support, fitness instructors, and creative offerings like competitive cheer and preschool targeted Start Smart were added, helping children at every stage.
Meeting Kids Where They Are
More than a director, Arrington is a mentor to his largely young, developing staff. His assistant director, Rishad, has worked alongside him for nearly 19 years.
“I teach by example. I’ve done every role on this team,” Arrington said. “I want my staff to be well-rounded, understand the job, and be good people—in the office and out in the world.”
Leo Duran, Fort Belvoir’s Child and Youth Services Program Operations Specialist, said Arrington’s influence expands far beyond policy or playbooks:
“For over two decades, Mr. Arrington has built more than sports programs, he has built character, teamwork, and resilience in every child enrolled in Fort Belvoir CYS,” Duran said. “His legacy goes beyond sports programs that he manages, as he continues to impact countless lives. He leads with heart, honor, and commitment to our families.”
Growing a Program for Success
That philosophy drove one of his most inclusive offerings: Homeschool PE. Recognizing not every child wants to compete on a team, Arrington introduced age-specific sessions blending movement and play.
“We disguised physical activity as play,” he says. “They’re doing fitness, they just don’t know it.”
His advice to parents is simple and heartfelt: “Don’t force your child into a sport they don’t want. Just give them a chance to belong.”
Arrington’s legacy is woven into Fort Belvoir’s evolving identity—from a soldier-focused base to a vibrant family community. His compassion remains in the friendships nurtured, the families supported, and the leaders he has mentored.
George Dickson, MWR director, said Arrington stands out for his enduring contributions.
“Jerry Arrington has been a dedicated sports and fitness professional for over four decades working both in adult sports and Child and Youth Sports over the last two decades. He works tirelessly ensuring that every child has access to a high-quality sports experience that promotes growth, teamwork, and resilience,” Dickson said.
“Jerry has ensured Fort Belvoir’s Youth Sports have become a model of excellence for military-connected children. Jerry’s favorite line is, ‘it’s all about the kids.'”
Rec Sports
New Shoe Day helps Indianapolis teens get active
Lakarie Swanigan set goals for herself this spring. She wanted to improve her time at the 4×400 meter and 4×800 meter relay events. But one thing she didn’t have to think about? Her shoes. That’s not always been the case for the track athletes at Purdue Polytechnic High School, coach Nicole Schadek said. Not long […]

Lakarie Swanigan set goals for herself this spring. She wanted to improve her time at the 4×400 meter and 4×800 meter relay events.
But one thing she didn’t have to think about? Her shoes.
That’s not always been the case for the track athletes at Purdue Polytechnic High School, coach Nicole Schadek said. Not long before Swanigan joined the team, Schadek kept a container of spare, used shoes for some of her athletes. Some on the team would trade pairs with one another before events so they had the specialty spikes they needed to be competitive.
That’s why the contribution of a growing central Indiana nonprofit has been so valuable, Schadek said. When New Shoe Day learned of her team’s needs, the nonprofit stepped up with dozens of new pairs of shoes — including Swanigan’s spikes.
“They feel different. It’s lighter than other shoes and it makes you go faster,” said Swanigan, who just finished her second year on the track team. “I’m grateful that we have New Shoe Day, because I probably would not have gotten that pair of spikes.”
New Shoe Day, which grew from an idea in 2020, has donated more than 7,000 shoes to kids and teens across central Indiana.
The goal is to make it easier for youth to get active, especially if they wouldn’t be able to participate otherwise. They also center mental health in their conversations with school groups and sports teams.
But, for its leaders, New Shoe Day is more than a social service provider. It’s a movement.
“It’s a gateway to so much for a kid,” co-founder Casey Crouse said. “It empowers them to participate in gym class or physical education-type activities or sign up for that team or, we say, ‘just be a kid.’”
New Shoe Day started with random acts of kindness
New Shoe Day launched out of a challenge made by a group of Indy-area runners in the summer of 2020: Run 10 miles for 100 days, each in a different Indianapolis neighborhood.
Their purpose was to show community strength in response to social distancing during the pandemic and to the civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.
They documented their runs on social media and added in random acts of kindness along the way — small gifts, like a water bottle with a note and a little money, for people who they encountered on their path. They called those days with gifts a “new shoe day,” after the confidence and joy a runner feels when they break in a new pair of shoes.
As the group took to Indy’s streets, neighbors began to notice — and some asked how they could help. Though not an initial goal of the group, the runners began accepting donations through a GoFundMe account, and those donations started to add up.
At the end of their 100 days, the group wrote a $4,500 check to Beyond Monumental — the nonprofit arm affiliated with some of the city’s largest distance running events, such as the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. But, the running community that came together through the new shoe days remained.
So, with time, Crouse and some leaders of the group established a nonprofit to continue the runs and to keep giving back.
Each partner comes with a different need
New Shoe Day doesn’t just partner with schools and athletic teams; the nonprofit also partners with community groups.
The Latinas Welding Guild, for example, needed work boots for its youth summer camp last year. Girls Inc. needed footwear to help stock a new community closet.
New Shoe Day started out using what’s called a dropshipping model, meaning the nonprofit doesn’t warehouse the shoes. Instead, New Shoe Day takes requests from community partners and works with a third-party retailer for shoe orders and direct delivery.
Most of the work is led by New Shoe Day’s volunteer board — a passion project that the team coordinates outside of its regular work hours. And, many of the group’s partnerships have grown organically through referrals or relationships in the running community.
There’s also been happenstance meetings. That’s how Broad Ripple Middle School physical education teacher Trenton Vickrey and Crouse connected.
Shifting to shoe banks
The two had met once before when Vickrey worked at another school. But, when Crouse stopped in last winter to the Athletic Annex store where Vickrey worked part time, the two reconnected.
Vickrey told Crouse about his classes. Some of his students, he told Mirror Indy, had to sit out of P.E. at the start of the year because they didn’t own the right shoes. He recalled one week last fall when five kids showed up wearing Crocs or boots.
“Initially I thought, ‘You knew you were coming to P.E., why didn’t you come prepared?’” Vickrey said. “Through talking to them, I realized these are the only shoes they had.”
Vickrey told Crouse about the small shoe bank he’d tried to start on his own. He collected just four or five used pairs from other runners he knew and let his students wear them for gym class. By the spring, New Shoe Day provided him brand new shoes in all the needed sizes.
The sets were so nice that even kids with the proper footwear were asking to use the new shoes. He said the experience has normalized changing shoes before class so no one student feels like they stand out.
“No matter what, they can exercise now,” Vickrey said.
Visions for the future
And, with each new partnership, the word is spreading.
Vickrey said he wants to help coordinate other shoe banks in Indianapolis Public Schools.
New Shoe Day, which is based in Carmel, has already launched 11 shoe banks across central Indiana and another in the Evansville area. The nonprofit also hired its first full-time employee last month, and is working to further organize its volunteer efforts.
It’s part of a long-term vision Crouse sees as taking the New Shoe Day model statewide.
“We are trying very hard to scale this to do well beyond what you see it as today,” Crouse said. “I’m just super motivated because I can see the potential of what we can do.”
In Indianapolis, the nonprofit’s work is already making a difference. Schadek, the coach at Purdue Polytechnic, said she’s been able to grow her team since New Shoe Day stepped in. She went from having about 11 athletes on her team to fielding a full roster.
“If I didn’t have shoes to provide to them, they wouldn’t be able to do it or they wouldn’t have a good reason to feel like they’re a part of anything,” she said. “To have shoes for each of them is just a huge blessing.”
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
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Rec Sports
Wildcats Recognized With AVCA Team Academic Award
Story Links ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball was honored for its success in the classroom with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, sponsored by INTENT, the organization announced on Monday. It marks the 15th time the Wildcats have received the accolade, dating back to 2008. The AVCA Team Academic Award […]

ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball was honored for its success in the classroom with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, sponsored by INTENT, the organization announced on Monday. It marks the 15th time the Wildcats have received the accolade, dating back to 2008.
The AVCA Team Academic Award is presented to college and high school volleyball programs across the nation for maintaining a year-long grade point average of at least 3.3. For the 2024-25 school year, 1,450 teams were honored for their players’ academic success.
“Our program verse is Colossians 3:23: ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for man,'” head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. “Our girls were able to exemplify that by the work that they put into the classroom, and I could not be more proud of each team member’s individual efforts to accomplish this award.”
ACU has collected the AVCA Team Academic Award in all but two of the past 17 seasons and has twice been named to the Team Academic Honor Roll for placing in the top 20% of GPAs for its division.
“It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom,” AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon said. “The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes.”
The Wildcats saw 13 student-athletes earn Academic All-Western Athletic Conference recognition this past school year for holding at least a 3.2 GPA and competing in a minimum of 50% of team contests. ACU led the conference in Academic All-WAC recipients, and eight such honorees return for the 2025 campaign.
Four Wildcats went on to garner Academic All-District distinction from College Sports Communicators, including returners Hannah Gonzalez, an accounting major, and Alexis Strong, studying government. They met the criteria of holding at least a 3.50 GPA and competing in 90% of team matches or starting in at least 66% of matches.
ACU kicks off its third season under Moronu Alstrup with the Wildcat Classic at Moody Coliseum on Aug. 29-30, facing the likes of Missouri State, Incarnate Word and Oklahoma. The Wildcats will play 11 regular season matches at home, including six WAC contests, before hosting the conference tournament on Nov. 20-22.
ACU will prepare for the regular season with the Purple and White Scrimmage on Aug. 15 at Moody Coliseum before meeting Angelo State in an exhibition match on Aug. 23 at the Dodge Jones Youth Sports Center (AYSA).
Rec Sports
PathWays Youth Night grants free admission to kids under 14 at Printscape PONY League World Series
The 2025 Printscape PONY League World Series is proud to present PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania Youth Night, taking place Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Historic Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, Pa. This special event is dedicated to celebrating and empowering the next generation of athletes, leaders, and dreamers. All kids age 14 and under will […]

The 2025 Printscape PONY League World Series is proud to present PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania Youth Night, taking place Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Historic Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, Pa.
This special event is dedicated to celebrating and empowering the next generation of athletes, leaders, and dreamers.
All kids age 14 and under will receive free admission to that evening’s games when wearing their youth sports or organization jersey, courtesy of PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to free entry for youth attendees, the first 500 fans through the gates will receive an exclusive giveaway item, also provided by PathWays.
As an organization that champions youth development, inclusion, and empowerment, PathWays is proud to support this impactful evening. “At PathWays, we believe every young person deserves the chance to realize their potential—on and off the field,” said Eddie Yongo, CEO of PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania. “Youth Night is more than a game—it’s about building pathways to the future. We’re proud to team up with the PONY League World Series to help kids dream big.”
World Series Chairman and President of World Series Tournaments, Inc., Nathan Voytek, echoed that sentiment.
“The PONY League World Series is built on youth — on giving kids the stage to shine,” said Voytek. “Thanks to PathWays, Youth Night will be a celebration of what’s possible when kids are given opportunities, encouragement, and a community that believes in them. This is what baseball, and the PONY experience, is all about.”
This Aug. 8-13, the world comes to Washington, Pa., for the Printscape PONY League World Series, a celebration of elite youth baseball and unforgettable community moments. At Historic Lew Hays PONY Field, history is made one pitch, one batter, and one out at a time. Youth Night exemplifies that spirit, shining a spotlight on young fans and giving them a glimpse of where the game, and the right support system, can take them.
For more information, please visit plws.org.
Printscape PONY League World Series
The Printscape PONY League World Series is an international youth baseball tournament played annually at Historic Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, PA. The World Series annually attracts over 30,000 fans and contributes over $6.3 million to the regional economy, with all games livestreamed domestically and internationally. The tournament represents PONY Baseball’s 13- and 14-year-old age division. PONY has over 500,000 players ages 3-23 in more than 50 countries. More information is available at plws.org.
This has been a paid article submitted by our content partner.
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