The Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit always brings together top leaders from the sports world to build relationships, identify collaboration partners and provide professional development educational opportunities.
This year’s Summit was held in Baltimore with sessions hosted at the Under Armour House on Day 1 and then at John Hopkins University on Day 2. Sadly, a terrific networking event at Camden Yards was rained out leaving a disappointed crowd to spread out through the Inner Harbor to find a good spot for dinner.
Sessons for this year’s Summit included a wide array of topics with fantastic speakers from across the sports world. You can see more details on the other sessions at the links below.
The Under Armour House is a beautiful venue that features a gymnasium, turf field and learning rooms. The signage delivers impactful messaging designed to motivate and inspire the next generation of athletes.
There were an array of organizations exhibiting in the Under Armour House gymnasium and one that really caught our attention was the Unmatched Athlete. As you can see in the photos below, the organization serves the LGBTQ+ community. The organization has a focus on having LGBTQ+ youth maintain a more visibile profile in sports and encourage them to be active. Unmatched Athlete encourages the following traits:
- Assertive
- Creative
- Team Players
- Innovative
- Visible
- Educated
Former Panthers and Bears Tight End and current Fox Sports broadcaster Greg Olsen lead several sessions including conversations with Governor Wes Moore, Under Armor founder Kevin Plank and introducing some of the other panels. Greg has a natural flow to his conversational style and seemed well prepared for the conversations.
In addition to Olsen, the Summit featured Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Aspen Institute Executive Director Elliott Gerson, ESPN Community’s Kevin Martinez, Christine Brennan, as well as many panelists with terrific insight into the sectors of youth sports and sports philanthropy.
You can read more details about the following conversations and panels:
We definitely encourage you to make plans to attend next year’s Summit!
