Tagged: Sports

  There are 22 Olympic medal winners diving into the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center this weekend – and that's only counting the Americans. 

Some of the fastest swimmers in the world begin competing in Charlotte Thursday. Hundreds of swimmers are coming to town for the Charlotte UltraSwim, including dozens of Olympians from the U.S. and abroad. The competition has taken place here since 1986.

Athletes have long been seen as societal role models, whether they like it or not. But in recent years, there's been a push in the sports community to use sports and athletes as agents for change, acceptance and for athletes to be leaders in matters of moral influence. We'll talk with representatives from both collegiate and professional sports programs who will discuss the ways they are pushing athletes in their organizations to use their position to better society and improve the communities in which they live, and more, when Charlotte Talks.

Coaches can have a big impact on kids on and off the field.  With that in mind, a group working to prevent domestic violence gathered together a couple hundred coaches in Charlotte Thursday. They discussed how to grow players into respectful, young men.  

The group A Call To Men knows how to get coaches to listen up.  Call in Carolina Panthers Coach Ron Rivera.

“When I started here, the very first thing I put up on my first PowerPoint: be a man,” Rivera told the coaches.      

The Charlotte Knights are gearing up for their last season of baseball in Fort Mill, South Carolina---their home since 1990. Construction is underway Uptown on the new BB&T Field. That will leave York County with an empty stadium that could become a liability to taxpayers. So the county is looking at what to do with it, come 2014. Duncan McFadyen spoke to Mark Farris, Director of Economic Development for York county. He says a Charlotte company is interested in buying the stadium property, but the county is considering all of its options.

For the past three decades Ron Green Jr. has chased two elusive goals. One is to get a hole-in-one playing golf and the other is to write the perfect golf story. He has come far closer to the second goal and many times over. Green Jr. followed in his father's footsteps into the offices of the Charlotte Observer and after 22 years at the paper he is moving on. Ron Green Jr. joins us to talk about writing for sports, specifically golf, journalism at the Observer and about the next chapter in his career as a journalist, when Charlotte Talks.