Greetings to all of the World Sport Chicago volunteers. The Cubs and White Sox have started their seasons, the Fire are underway, the Blackhawks are continuing their march to the Stanley Cup, the Sky are about to kick off their season and the Bulls have just ended theirs. In other words, sport in Chicago is in full gear and with it, World Sport Chicago is preparing to kick off a very full season of activities. From track and gymnastics to archery, wrestling and swimming we've got a lot coming up.
First off for the summer we have two events that will be taking place at Navy Pier the weekend of June 5th. On both the 5th and 6th we are working with NBC to support their health festival. We will be running the Sport Fit program at the festival, which typically draws about 40,000 people for the weekend. On the 5th, and in the hall right next door to the NBC event we are hosting the first annual Mayor Daley Wrestling Festival. Both of these events are a great way to start off the summer and keep the excitement going for World Sport Chicago and are currently posted at MyVolunteerPage.com.
Later in June we are hosting an international rhythmic gymnastics competition at the Broadway Armory. This event runs from June 23rd to the 27th. See details below on how you can sign-up to volunteer for this great event.
You'll notice throughout the summer, we've got a lot of events and programs underway or upcoming. Not only are we ramping up our activities but we are also launching a variety of committees that are all designed to help us expand our reach to kids. One of the first committees we've launched is our Marketing and Communications committee. Wally Hayward, senior vice president for Sales and Marketing for the Cubs, is the chairman of the committee. We've also been able to recruit a wide number of executives from around the city to help us with our efforts in spreading the awareness of WSC.
In addition to the Marketing committee, we are launching our Facilities committee, led by Lori Healey; our Paralympic committee, led by King Harris; and the Athlete Engagement committee, led by Bob Berland. All of these, plus others, will help us meet our mission.
Even before its officially gotten started, the Athlete Engagement committee has been helping us by continuing to get elite athletes from around the city to help meet with kids in our various programs. Over the past week Connie Moore visited a variety of youth running programs here in the city. The visits from Connie and others had a real impact in helping kids see that they can overcome the challenges they face in sport and life.
We've mentioned the Becoming A Man (BAM) - Sports Edition in several previous newsletters. We've been running the BAM program over this school year in an effort to try and utilize sport as a means to strengthen the engagement of some of Chicago's most disenfranchised youth. We are very proud of the accomplishments we have seen this year through the BAM program and are looking forward to continuing its efforts next year. In the coming months we will hear from many of the coaches and others involved in the program including one of the University of Chicago professors leading the research, Dr. Harold Pollack.
We look forward to seeing you all out at some of our events and programs this summer. Keep watching our website for new programs and opportunities and feel free to send us your thoughts and ideas.