Cogitator April 23, 2014

Posted by George Cooper 
on Apr 23, 2014
 

Chuck Wilson, ESPN Sportscaster, and Founder of ‘Even Field’

 

 

VISITING ROTARIANS

President-Elect Ron Winde welcomed Assistant District Governor Rona Mann from North Kingstown, and he thanked Rona for all of her help throughout this Rotary year. 

GUESTS

Dave McMillen, who hails from East Greenwich and is moving back to the area after being away for awhile, was a guest of Gill Thorpe.  And, Harry Bonham was a guest one more time before his induction.

ROTARY ANNIVERSARY

Happy Rotary anniversary to New Generations Chair Bill TenEyck who joined Rotary nine years ago on April 27th (2005) and has certainly does a fair job staying busy in club activities since then! 

WINE AND WONDERFUL

Jane Boynton said that Wine and Wonderful is sure to live up to its name this year.  Seven local restaurants will join this year’s party, and many fine wines from Chile and Argentina will be highlighted.  Great food, great wines, great music, raffles, wine grab bags…great fun!  So make sure to be there with friends and family, and enjoy a great night for the Rotary Club of East Greenwich at Swift Community Center on Friday, May 2nd.  Tickets are only $35 per person, and the evening begins at 6pm.    

SCOTT CARLSON MEMORIAL ALS 5K

Judy Pratt called Saturday, April 19th a ‘fabulous day’ for the club.  There were over 600 registrants, runners and walkers, and scores more on hand as volunteers participating in this year’s Scott Carlson Memorial ALS 5K at Goddard Park.  Scott’s father helped start the race, the New England Tech Rotaractors were tremendous in their help and enthusiasm (as always), and Vin Meola kept his crown as the world’s fastest East Greenwich Rotarian ALS 5K runner.  (Long live the king…nice work, Vin!) 

Final figures will be in shortly after all expenses are paid and last minute donations (there were many!) are counted.  Conservatively, it looks like we’ll be able to donate at least $50,000 to the Rhode Island ALS Association.  How ‘bout that?! 

DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Assistant District Governor Rona Mann reminded everyone about (and invited everyone to) the upcoming District Conference on May 2nd and May 3rd.  This year’s conference will be held at the Sea Crest Hotel in Falmouth (MA).  Rona made the pitch for Rotarians to consider attending an event or two over the weekend.   

DISTRICT GOVERNOR’S INSTALLATION

Bill Vangel looks back on his successful year as District Governor, while incoming District Governor Valerie Perry is officially sworn in on Friday, June 20th, at the Crown Plaza in Warwick.  Ron Winde would love to put together a table of East Greenwich Rotarians for this event.  This installation event is in our back yard this year!  Please see Ron if you’d like to attend...

PAST-PRESIDENT PICTURES

Andy Erickson is generously taking the time to put together an electronic version of our Past-Presidents plaque.  Please let Andy know if you have any archival pictures, especially photos of club presidents from the ‘60’s and 70’s such as Leigh Stein, Dick Quirk, George Blackburn, and Sumner Halsband. 

ROTARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

John Wolcott is asking everyone to make sure and cast a ballot for this year’s Bipin Pancholi Rotarian of the Year Award.  The award recipient will be announced at our Installation Banquet on June 10th.  (Janet Essex reminded everyone to ‘save the date!’)

NEW ENGLAND TECH GRADUATION

The New England Institute of Technology Rotaract Club invited East Greenwich Rotarians to join them at the school’s graduation exercises on Sunday, May 4th, 11am, at the RI Convention Center in Providence.  Several Rotarians enjoyed last year’s ceremony in a VIP booth thanks to the Rotaract Club.  If you are interested, please contact Melissa Hague at mhague@neit.edu. 

FEINSTEIN HUNGER CHALLENGE

You still have one last week to bring in your blue Wal Mart bag!  Sue Dorne has done a fantastic job this year with the Feinstein Hunger Challenge in nearly doubling last year’s record.  All food and donations benefit the East Greenwich Food Pantry at St. Luke’s Church. 

BOARD MEETING

Ron Winde reminded board members and invited all Rotarians to the May board meeting on Friday, May 9th.  The board meeting will be at T’s Restaurant at 7:30am.

 

SPEAKER/PROGRAM

 

Chuck Wilson, ESPN Sportscaster, and Founder of ‘Even Field’

Chuck Wilson is an award-winning host, interviewer and commentator with 20-years experience on network radio. He is best-known as one of the original hosts on the ESPN Radio Network, where he spent close to 17-years.  In 2007, Wilson was named one of the “100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America” by the Institute for International Sport. The only other broadcaster honored was Bob Costas.  In 2011, Wilson was voted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame.  (www.EvenField.org)

Chuck Wilson laments the ‘win at all cost’ mentality which exists in the world of modern-day sports.  Chuck also noted the same mentality exists, to a great extent, in the sports media world. 

Unethical behavior is considered ‘normal’ these days.  Chuck even gave an example of a local championship tennis match in which one girl squarely won, yet was stymied by an ‘out’ call from her opponent, and the winner ultimately became the loser of the match. 

‘Are parents putting too much pressure on kids in sports?’ Chuck wondered.  Perhaps yes, in many cases.  The drive to achieve and excel takes over the quest for fun and self-improvement.  The result is that by age 13 a huge number of young kids simply leave the world of organized sports. 

A poll in 2012 showed that 57% of kids think that ‘successful people do what they have to, even if it’s cheating, to succeed.’  Also, some 90% of kids believe they themselves are ethical, yet an equal percentage (90%) of kids admits to having cheated in school or sports. 

‘There’s so much relativity, which leads to more cheating and unethical behavior,’ Chuck stated.  Even Field was formed to combat this.  Its mission is to ‘produce multimedia programs and services that cultivate youth integrity and ethical behavior in sports and life.’

The target group of Even Field is kids aged 11 to 14.  ‘When parents are ethical, it’s much more likely their kids will be, too.’  Storytelling is the key, since it will be a way to describe dilemmas and how to deal with them.  Stories, videos, and case-studies will help teach kids, parents, and coaches.   

‘Good values will get us back…to an even playing field,’ concluded Chuck Wilson.