News from the San Jose Sports Authority
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The San Jose Sports Authority is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase the City of San Jose’s economic development, visibility and civic pride through sports.
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Stay connected by following us on social media. Learn about upcoming Bay Area events, ticket promotions and links, volunteer opportunities, and content focused on Bay Area athletes from past and present!
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A Letter from Executive Director, John Poch
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Recognizing Excellence Adversity Courage & Hard work by Celebrating the Special Class of 2020
How do you remember your high school senior year? Did you experience “senioritis” counting down the days until graduation? We never knew we had it so well. Gen Xers graduated as 9/11 changed the world forever. Millennials graduated into a job market decimated by the Great Recession. Now, in 2020, Gen Z could very well be renamed Generation Pandemic. The graduating Class of 2020 will be defined by their Zoom educations and viral TikToks, but also by never leaving the house without a mask, shelter-in-place costing them their part-time jobs, as well as an unpredictable future like we have never experienced before. We at the San Jose Sports Authority want to make sure that despite this unprecedented period the world is experiencing – there is still time to stop the madness and celebrate achievements – like those of our very special Santa Clara County High School Class of 2020.
The San Jose Sports Authority proudly presented our 24th annual REACH Youth Scholarship Program on Tuesday, June 23
rd
on the NBC Sports Bay Area network. REACH is an acronym for
Recognizing Excellence Adversity Courage & Hardwork
. The program honors students in Santa Clara County who have overcome adversity through sports to achieve their goals. This is quite a year for “overcoming adversity,” as we experience a world none of us has never seen before. Imagine having to do this during
your
high school senior year.
Since 1997, the REACH Youth Scholarship Program has provided college funds to Santa Clara County high school seniors who have overcome adversity to excel in academics and sports. For the past 20+ years, the program has been co-chaired by 49ers legend Ronnie Lott and soccer icon Brandi Chastain. In addition to their phenomenal work in our community through their own non-profits (
All Stars Helping Kids
and the
Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative
). Lott and Chastain have hosted our annual breakfast banquet with the San Jose Marriott to present scholarship awards to the winning REACH finalists. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 breakfast event had to be cancelled – BUT - thanks to the “can-do-spirit” of NBC Sports Bay Area, we will now have a special televised event featuring pre-recorded messages from professional athletes and celebrities congratulating our Class of 2020 on overcoming the odds to achieve greatness on and off the field.
We hope you were able to tune-in to watch our REACH broadcast on Tuesday, June 23
rd
.
Our Emmy Award winning host Robert Braunstein and Aubrey Tolliver of 49ers Cal-Hi Sports did a fabulous job of hosting the REACH Class of 2020 on
NBC Sports Bay Area
. If you missed the broadcast, please visit our website at sjsa.org to meet scholarship finalists as well as our special guests celebrating these remarkable students. Our all-star line-up included San Jose Mayor
Sam Liccardo
, and Bay Area sports stars
Stephen Curry, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brent Burns, JT Marcinkowski, James Jones
and of course our co-chairs
Ronnie Lott,
and
Brandi Chastain
, honoring our 47 graduating high school student-athletes from Santa Clara County who have overcome life-changing hardships; including disease, disability, and death of family members, to excel in academics, athletics and life. Truly inspiring.
To all the scholarship finalists, I am so impressed by each of you. You have surmounted obstacles and conquered barriers. You have not only persevered, you have
excelled
. I hope
YOU
can join us to help make a difference. Help future REACH recipients achieve their goals
Visit our website at
sjsa.org
to learn more about our REACH Youth Scholarship program.
Be Well, Live Safe and Stay Positive!
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Meet This Year's Top REACH Recipient - Tristin Pellatiare
Tristin grew up fast. His older brother has special needs and is non-verbal, and for as long as he could remember, his mom was battling breast cancer.
After she passed away, Tristin stepped up to assist with many of the responsibilities at home, but also found time for both school and sports.
His mom’s fighting spirit is part of everything he does.
Tristin was awarded a $10,000 scholarship for his courageous attitude and great success as a student-athlete. Tristin's family and friends hosted a virtual watch party for him as they enjoyed the REACH telecast together. During the show, Tristin said, "Everybody was sitting on the edge of their seats all the way until the end." Once it was announced he was the top recipient, Tristin said it felt "absolutely surreal" as he and his family celebrated together.
As a standout two-sport athlete in football and wrestling, the Leigh High School graduate will be attending junior college in the fall and with his goals set on playing Division 1 football and majoring in business or marketing.
The Sports Authority wishes Tristin the best and we thank him for sharing his story and outstanding contributions to our community!
Visit
SJSA.org
for a full re-cap of the program or
click here
for the complete list of recipients.
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San Jose Earthquakes Return in "MLS is Back Tournament"
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Major League Soccer announced the return of soccer with the schedule and broadcast details for all 54 matches of the
MLS is Back Tournament
. The San Jose Earthquakes will take on the defending MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders FC on
Friday, July 10 (7:30 p.m. PT; ESPN)
,
before facing Vancouver Whitecaps FC on
Wednesday, July 15 (7:30 p.m. PT; TUDN)
and FC Dallas on
Monday, July 20 (5 p.m. PT; TUDN)
.
In addition to matches airing on national television, all Earthquakes matches will also be broadcast on KNBR 1050 and 1370 KZSF in English and Spanish, respectively. The matches will also be streamed via the TuneIn Radio app or by visiting
TuneIn.com
.
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San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's Gear Up for MLB's 60-Game Season
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Major League Baseball is set to return with a 60-game season. Players are set report for another version of "spring" training on July 1, and the regular season will start either July 23 or 24, the league announced.
Giants Fan Cutout Program
The Giants will offer season ticket holders an opportunity participate in a program that allows the fans' images to be displayed at Oracle Park during the shortened 2020 season. Since no fans will be able to attend the games due to COVID19, Giants fans still have
a way to be at Oracle Park even when their at home watching the game.
Fans without season tickets can pay $99 to have their images produced as cutouts.
Stay tuned to the
Giants website
for official announcements and details about how to purchase your own cutout to be displayed.
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Registration is Still Open for the Great American 5000!
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The Sports Authority has teamed up with the
Sports Backers
(Richmond, VA) to bring the
Great American 5000
to San Jose! The Great American 5000 is a virtual team run from San Francisco to New York – and everywhere in between! Assemble your crew of up to 12 or up to 24 people, run a cumulative 24 hours a day, and start to chip away at the 5,000k (3,107-mile) journey. An online map will track each group’s virtual progress across the country and a leader board will display the standings each day, with groups in open, female, and co-ed categories.
Registration closes on July 31 at 11:59 p.m.
Your team has until September 14 to complete the 5,000k trek – that’s as few as 33.4 miles per day for your team (1.4 for each individual)! Run, walk, hike – it can all count towards your team’s mileage.
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Join the Great American 5000 Today!
*Registration closes on
July 31 at 11:59 p.m.
Entries are non-refundable, non-transferable and cannot be deferred to another year.
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San Jose Sharks GM, Doug Wilson to be Inducted to Hockey Hall of Fame
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Doug Wilson will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020. Wilson, one of the most prolific offensive defensemen of his generation and the Sharks’ general manager for the last 17 years, is part of a 2020 class that includes players Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa, Kevin Lowe and Kim St-Pierre and Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland. Wilson was also inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
The class was elected by a 18-person committee, which could select a maximum of four male players, two female players, and either two builders or one builder and one referee or linesman. All nominated candidates needed to receive at least 14 votes (75%) to get in.
The 2020 induction ceremony is, for now, scheduled for Nov. 16 in Toronto.
Wilson won the Norris Trophy in 1982 after an 85-point season, and his 39 goals that year remain the fourth-most ever scored by an NHL defenseman. He finished amongst the top-five in Norris Trophy voting three other times.
Wilson, an Ottawa native, played the last two years of his career with the Sharks. In 16 years, Wilson played 1,024 games and had 237 goals and 590 assists, which ranks 15th among defensemen on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Now, only one defenseman in the top 15 in scoring, former Shark Gary Suter, has not been elected to the Hall of Fame.
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The 1982 Norris Trophy winner, Wilson was honored as the NHL's top defenceman.
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Wilson played 2 seasons for the Sharks, he retired with San Jose in 1994.
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Board Member Spotlight - REACH Youth Scholarship Program
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Rahul Patel - Qualcomm
Rahul Patel serves as senior vice president and general manager of the Connectivity & Networking Business Unit for Qualcomm Technologies Inc. In this role, Patel leads the Wireless Infrastructure and Networking (WIN), Mobile, Computing and Connectivity (MCC), Small Cells, Internet of Things (IoT), Wearables and Voice & Music (V&M) businesses.
Prior to joining Qualcomm Technologies, Rahul was the senior vice president and general manager for Wireless Connectivity in the Broadband and Connectivity Group at Broadcom where he managed the product roadmap, R&D engineering, marketing, business development, and applications engineering organizations to expand Broadcom’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS leadership across all market segments. During his 13-year career with Broadcom, Rahul had a strong track record of developing successful product lines, driving P&L growth, and developing strong teams.
Prior to Broadcom, Rahul worked at HIFN, Inc., Samsung Semiconductor, Tritech Microelectronics, and EPSON/S-MOS Systems.
Rahul is a veteran of the semiconductor and telecommunications industry with more than 25 years of experience in engineering, product, and business development for networking and wireless connectivity solutions.
Rahul holds an MBA from Santa Clara University in California, a master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Arizona State University in Tempe, and a B.Tech in Electronics and Communications Engineering from NIT in Warangal, India.
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Dawn Sweatt - Berliner Cohen, LLP
Ms. Sweatt is in the business litigation group at Berliner Cohen. As a litigation attorney, she has had several jury and bench trial successes involving complex business transactions, trade secrets, real estate, and related matters. Prior to joining Berliner Cohen, she worked as a litigation associate for law firms in the Silicon Valley and Sacramento. During law school Ms. Sweatt was a law clerk in the Sacramento and Placer Counties District Attorney’s Offices, the California Attorney General’s Office and a legal intern in the California Governor’s Office of Legal Affairs.
Outside the legal arena, Ms. Sweatt was a software and management consultant for Entergi and business development manager for Regus in Sacramento, California, and a software consultant for Bi-Tech Software, Inc. in Chico, California.
From 2011 through 2015, Ms. Sweatt was recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Business Litigation. She was spotlighted by Super Lawyers in their “Top Women Attorneys in Northern California in the December 2014 issue of San Francisco magazine. As well, Ms. Sweatt was listed in Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence in 2015.
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San Jose Sports Authority | info@sjsa.org | www.sjsa.org
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