Phillies, Rhys Hoskins Sponsor Movie Night for Good Sportsmanship to Support Youth Athletics

Did you know:

• Student-Athletes are four times more likely to attend college than non-athletes.
• Physically active kids have up to 40% higher test scores than non-athletes.
• Student-Athletes are absent 50% less than non-athletes.
• Student-Athletes have an 11% higher graduation rate than non-athletes.

   Despite these statistics, funding for student athletic programs has been declining across the country. School sports budgets were cut 3.5 billion dollars from 2009 to 2011, and 50% of children stop playing sports by the time they reach adolescence. If the trend continues it is estimated that 27% of American public schools will drop sports programs by 2020.

  The Phillies in conjunction with Dick's Sporting Goods sponsored their first-ever  "Movie Night" in the Diamond Club to highlight the value of youth sports.

  Phillies Movie Night Speakers highlighting the importance of youth participation in school athletic programs included Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, Phillies Announcer Scott Franzke, Dick's Sporting Goods Vice President Matthew Irvin, (who is leading Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation "Why Sports Matter" campaign) and coaches Ed Dunn and Michelle Grace from Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia, PA.

  The "Why Sports Matter" campaign has pledged more than $50 million for youth sports so far.

The movie shown was the highly acclaimed "We Could Be King," Filmmaker Judd Erlich's film about Martin Luther King High and Germantown High Schools first football season after their merger.
 

Phillies First Baseman Rhys Hoskins

Rhys Hoskins 

Phillies Broadcaster Scott Franzke

Why youth sports matter panel including Martin Luther King High Football Coach Ed Dunn, Filmmaker Judd Erlich, Dick Sporting Goods VP Matthew Irvin, Rhys Hoskins, and Assistant Coach Michelle Grace (also below).

Coach Dunn, Erlich and Irvine answer questions on the importance of supporting youth sports.

 
For more information on the Dicks Sporting Goods "Why Sports Matter" Program:
https://www.sportsmatter.org/learnmore.html

We Could Be King film information: https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2014/08/30/we-could-be-king-film

Pictures of the event by the kind courtesy of Jim and Diana Briggs.