Nike Donates Soccer Fields Across U.S. Valued at $1 Million

Nike Joga Bonito Field or Soccer Equipment Donated in 15 U.S. Communities 


LOS ANGELES, April 26  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- To celebrate the global spirit of Joga Bonito (Portuguese for "Play Beautiful"), Nike is announcing a commitment valued at $1 million to fuel U.S. soccer in 15 communities throughout the U.S. Nike will donate three Joga Bonito soccer fields in Los Angeles, three fields in New York and four fields in Chicago as well as provide soccer equipment for 12 additional cities.  Each of the 10 fields is made from FieldTurf synthetic grass, and is designed to introduce the Brazilian futsal-style of small-field soccer that emphasizes ball control and foot skills to youth recreation and club teams.

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To kick off Nike's national announcement of the Joga Bonito fields and soccer equipment donation today, U.S. soccer stars Landon Donovan and Brandi Chastain will visit kids at the Los Angeles City Department of Recreation & Parks' Glassell Park for the dedication of the new soccer field. The Joga Bonito field will be used primarily by the local Anahuak League and its 1,500 kids.

The Los Angeles field dedication is the first of 10 fields Nike will donate in the U.S.  Nike partnered with local organizations in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to install the fields in local communities over the next few months. In Los Angeles, specifically, the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles (AAF) partnered with Nike to provide funding for the fields.

Each Joga Bonito field donation is part of the NikeGO Places program which takes worn-out athletic shoes and/or footwear manufacturing materials, grinds them up into a material called Nike Grind, and uses that in creating new sports and play surfaces. The Joga Bonito fields will incorporate approximately 20 to 25 percent Nike Grind Rubber. A total of 16,000 pounds of Nike Grind Rubber in the Los Angeles fields alone represents how the remains from manufacturing over 60,000 pairs of sports shoes can be used to benefit both the environment and the youth in underserved communities.

Nike will also make soccer equipment donations to 12 additional cities including:  Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Newark, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington D.C. Each equipment donation includes soccer balls, soccer t-shirts and a Joga Bonito tool kit that teaches Nike's 3-on-3 version of futsal, called Joga3.

"The Joga Bonito fields project is an expression of our belief in the power of sport to create change in the lives of young people," said Joaquin Hidalgo, Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Nike. "By bringing world-class pitches to areas otherwise underserved, our goal is to create greater access and opportunity for youth in these communities to play soccer beautifully and enjoy the physical, social and emotional benefits of a physically active lifestyle."

At the Glassell Park field dedication, Donovan and Chastain will speak to the importance of providing kids with opportunities to participate in sport. Donovan will kick the field's inaugural goal before opening the field for its first Nike Joga3 soccer tournament. Donovan and Chastain each read lines from a commemorative plaque that will accompany each of the 10 fields being dedicated.

"With the games in Germany right around the corner, this is an exiting time for U.S. Soccer. I'm happy that Nike is continuing to make such a major commitment to fueling the game in America with the donation of these 10 Joga Bonito soccer fields," said Landon Donovan, starting forward for the U.S. National Soccer team. "I'm glad I could be a part of today's field dedication and know the kids will pass on the Joga Bonito or 'Play Beautiful' spirit that Nike intended."

Chastain, a member of the 1999 Women's World Cup team, a gold medalist for the U.S. Women's National Team and pregnant with her first child, echoed Donovan's sentiments, "I am constantly impressed with Nike's continual effort to promote and grow the world's greatest sport, from the bottom to the top. Not only have they continued to support national teams around the world, they have begun the Joga Bonita campaign to refocus everyone on the most fundamental aspects of sport: fun, heart, joy, passion and sportsmanship. About to become a mother for the first time, it is Nike's effort to drive home these points that makes me realize how important soccer, and sports in general, are to the development of young people."

Nike Joga Bonito field dedications in Chicago and New York, as well as the remaining fields in Los Angeles, are forthcoming and will be announced this summer as each field nears completion.

About NIKE, Inc.

NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities.  Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; NIKE Bauer Hockey, Inc., a leading designer and distributor of hockey equipment; Cole Haan, a leading designer and marketer of luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories and Exeter Brands Group LLC, which designs and markets athletic footwear and apparel for the value retail channel.

NikeGO Places

Active kids need places to play. NikeGO Places is Nike's inspirational program to provide more places for kids to play. Nike created NikeGO Places to take old, worn-out athletic shoes and other footwear materials, grind them up into Nike Grind, and turn that into high quality sports and play surfaces. Many of these fields, courts, tracks and playgrounds are already installed in top sports clubs around the world. NikeGO Places is a donations program that brings these surfaces to communities where better facilities are needed and kids can really get active. Since 1993, Nike has contributed to more than 200 NikeGO Places around the world. So when your shoes are worn-out, let them play on. For more information on NikeGO Places and where to recycle your old athletic shoes, visit http://www.nikego.com/ or http://www.nikegrind.com/.

FieldTurf

For many years, Nike has had a strategic alliance with FieldTurf, a leading innovator of synthetic turf, to make some of the best athletic surfaces in the world. FieldTurf's high-performance synthetic turf incorporates Nike Grind material recycled from footwear manufacturing to help elite athletes and active kids to play their best game. FieldTurf emulates real grass using a smooth, coated fiber, an open-weave system that contains a combination of Nike Grind and other rubber material and sand infill. The infill surrounds and supports each grass fiber in the same way that natural earth holds each blade of grass. Compatible with many types of base surfaces, including asphalt, concrete or crushed rock, FieldTurf makes for an exceptional playing surface, indoors and out. The highly porous nature of the infill provides excellent drainage for consistent play in all types of weather, all year long. It provides a cushioned play surface that is more pleasant to play on than concrete or hard soil surfaces and also provides other environmental and cost benefits associated with reduced maintenance over it's lifetime such as no watering, pesticide use, cutting and fertilizer use. For more information visit.  http://www.fieldturf.com/ 

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