So, I never would have imagined the transformation [at Sportable] that has taken place over the past several months!
Back in June/July, a little birdie posed a question…what does Sportable mean? Hmmm… I just assumed everyone know the answer to that and then quickly realized that not everyone is privy to the “madness”in my head. But, isn’t it obvious- I thought… SPORT and ABLE. We actually began our early days as SportAble– highlighting the sport and one’s inherent ability however, no one ever pronounced it correctly so–Sportable it was!!
The name has served us well over the past 6 years but this question brought to light a much bigger issue– when you speak about Sportable, is there a visual that folks automatically think of [like Special Olympics]–the answer is NO, the general public does not think of a wheelchair basketball player or amputee triathlete when they here Sportable. As we try to engage the community in our mission and attract new athletes, it seemed as though this was a great place to start.
We brought this issue to our friends at Pure Culture and Medipond who had been instrumental in our growth in 2010 as a result of the video that they pulled together introducing folks to our programs.
Bob Kelley [I am certain] is considered a genius in his field, as Founder and President of Pure Culture. His approach allows for a natural progression in the re-branding process. We began our work one summer day in a large conference room at their office throwing words onto a white, blank powerpoint slide that was shining on the wall–very intimidating. With my historical and therapeutic perspective, Deb Lockhart’s [our Development Director] curiousity, and Bob’s thoughtful guidance we arrived at our new brand.
On Thursday, this was all brought to life– including a new logo design ( and secret new website) in front of Sportable’s Board of Directors. This brand is something that I am extremely proud to be part of–it makes me excited to go to work every day and work to “Create opportunities and Transform lives” [through sport]–it will serve as a framework for our Strategic Plan and present a unique opportunity to build on our Team approach in working with our athletes, volunteers, and community partners. The logo itself allows us to broaden our outreach and not be misunderstood as being an organization working only with wheelchair athletes. It takes into account the need to emphasize the ABILITIES of our athletes. For those of you that read the blogs…you get a sneak peak…all others will have to wait for the official release at our Inaugural Registration Expo Jan 13th and 14th ( where all athletes will pickup their packet of gear, as well as complete annual paperwork)–details coming soon!
A special thanks to my Emerging Nonprofit Leader Classmate, Deborah Lockhart, who has served as Sportable Development Director since June 2011. Her eagerness, dedication, curiousity, and most importantly her out of the box thinking opened up the door to so many great things for Sportable– I am personally grateful to her and very sad to see her go [though I hope she won't be to far away-- as I think she caught a bit of the "adaptive sports" bug]–love you Deb!
