By Post Staff<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Bay Area Chapter of\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Men<\/a>\u00a0is sending nine youth athletes from its\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Wings\u2019<\/a>\u00a0Team Oakland Delegation to Taiwan on Thursday, July 30, to represent the City of Oakland at the\u00a058th International Children\u2019s Games (IGC)\u00a0in Hualien County, Taiwan.<\/a><\/p>\n The Games will bring together young athletes ages 12 to 15 from 76 city delegations around the world. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 2, and athletic competitions take place Aug. 3-5.<\/p>\n While many international competitions center around national teams, the ICG brings young people together as representatives of their respective cities. This year\u2019s theme \u2013 \u201cShining Hualien, Shining Together!\u201d \u2013 reflects the host city\u2019s vision of using sports, education, culture, and tourism to promote friendship, peace, inclusion, and sustainable development.<\/p>\n \u201cTeam Oakland\u2019s participation demonstrates what can happen when young people are given opportunity, preparation, and a community that believes in them,\u201d said\u00a0Danny L. Williams, chairman of\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Men\u00a0of the Bay Area, Inc.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cThese athletes will carry Oakland\u2019s talent, strength, and spirit onto an international stage while building relationships that can extend far beyond the competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Team Oakland will compete in track and field events including the\u00a0100-meter and 400-meter races, hurdles, long jump, shot put, javelin, and traditional and mixed 4\u00d7100-meter relays.<\/p>\n The athletes representing Oakland are: DeWayne Littlepage, Gia Goodlow, Abisewolu Redmond, Mahari Moore, Marvin Thomas, Najae Ellison, Royal Moore, Sir Kamryn Lloyd, and Jasani Highsmith. <\/p>\n The delegation\u2019s coaching leadership includes Head Coach Dr. Tommie Smith, the<\/p>\n 1968 Olympic gold medalist in the 200-meter sprint; Senior Coach Margaret Dixon;<\/p>\n Girls Coach Evangela Dixon; Strength and Conditioning Coach Nola Turnage;<\/p>\n and Boys Coach Michael Flood, Jr.<\/p>\n Delegation leadership also includes Williams, Head of Delegation Juanita Metters-Upshur, and city representative Dr. Mark Alexander.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur athletes have trained with tremendous discipline, but this journey represents much more than competition,\u201d said\u00a0Metters-Upshur, head of delegation.\u00a0 \u201cThey will have the opportunity to travel internationally, proudly represent Oakland, experience another culture, and form friendships with young people from communities across the world.\u00a0 We are incredibly proud of them and grateful to the families, coaches, partners, and supporters who have helped make this experience possible.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to track and field, the games will feature swimming, tennis, table tennis, Taekwondo, archery, football, and 3\u00d73 basketball. Hualien County is located between Taiwan\u2019s Central Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean and hosts the International Children\u2019s Games for the first time this year.<\/p>\n The International Children\u2019s Games were founded in 1968 by Slovenian coach Metod Klemenc, based on the belief that sports can bridge differences in culture, religion, and race.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ICG is approved by the International Olympic Committee and emphasizes friendship, fair play, teamwork, perseverance, and cultural understanding among young people.<\/p>\n The Oakland delegation\u2019s participation reflects the\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Wings\u2019 programmatic commitment to developing young people through athletic achievement, discipline, leadership, cultural exposure, and global citizenship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Team Oakland is supported by a network of families, coaches, community partners, and advocates who believe that international experiences can expand how young people view themselves and their possibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Post Staff The\u00a0Bay Area Chapter of\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Men\u00a0is sending nine youth athletes from its\u00a0100 Black\u00a0Wings\u2019\u00a0Team Oakland Delegation to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[119457,170472,170473,170474,170475,93,170476,170477,80832,170478,170479,170480,143,145,144,170481,78902,43437,170482,81425,15288,63748],"class_list":["post-428228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-100-black-men-of-the-bay-area","tag-100-black-wings","tag-cultural-exchange","tag-danny-l-williams","tag-dr-tommie-smith","tag-featured","tag-global-citizenship","tag-hualien-county","tag-international-competition","tag-international-childrens-games","tag-juanita-metters-upshur","tag-metod-klemenc","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-athletes","tag-olympic-committee","tag-taiwan","tag-team-oakland","tag-track-and-field","tag-youth-development","tag-youth-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}