{"id":138590,"date":"2024-12-19T16:22:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=138590"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:22:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:22:02","slug":"saquon-barkley-and-st-lukes-deliver-off-the-field-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=138590","title":{"rendered":"Saquon Barkley and St. Luke\u2019s Deliver \u2018Off the Field\u2019 Punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Eagles Running Back and SLUHN team up with the AthLife Foundation\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>to bring a unique impact to the interscholastic sports landscape.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Easton, PA (Dec. 19, 2024)<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0The AthLife Foundation<\/a>, a non-profit organization grounded in positive youth development through sport and fueled by an unwavering belief in human potential, is thrilled to announce the expansion of their platform\u2019s reach to 11 high schools and 10 middle schools across the Greater Lehigh Valley and beyond. Key support from St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN), the Michael Ann and Saquon Barkley (MASB) Hope Foundation and Representatives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will positively impact more than 3,000 of the region\u2019s student-athletes throughout the 2024-25 academic year.<\/p>\n

The AthLife Foundation provides grant funding, training and industry leading program resources to schools, helping to establish critical professional Academic Athletic Coach staff positions. These individuals work year round, tapping into a student\u2019s passion for their sport and athletics, driving academic achievement, providing holistic development and better preparing student-athletes for post high school success.<\/p>\n

Leading the way in the region is the Whitehall-Coplay School District, who made the move this school year to establish these critical staff positions. Saquon Barkley, a 2015 Zephyr graduate, has made meaningful financial donations to his alma mater over the last two years. Coupled with funding from St. Luke\u2019s and the additional support from the Commonwealth of PA, the District was in solid positioning to scale their efforts in 2024-25.<\/p>\n

Athletic Director Bob Hartman, who has been the principal architect of the high school and middle school program, is seeing the benefits first hand.\u00a0\u201cThanks to the generosity of Saquon and St. Luke’s we have been able to do so much more with assisting our student-athletes in grades 8-12,\u201d commented Hartman. \u201cThe academic support and mentoring that has been established, with increased funding and time on task, has been a game changer for us. We have been able to make a difference in the lives of so many students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the opportunity to use proceeds from our foundation to support student-athletes become true students so they can continue to perform is part of our mission,\u201d commented George Makhoul, MASB Hope Foundation Board Member. \u201cThe way Whitehall runs their program, they invest resources into making sure the student-athlete has a true team around them in order to succeed academically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania State Representatives Jeanne McNeil, Michael Schlossberg and Peter Schweyer played integral roles in securing the additional funds to grow the project\u2019s influence that now reaches Berks, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton County schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to have worked with Representatives Schweyer and Schlossberg in partnership with the AthLife Foundation, St. Luke\u2019s University Health System and the Michael Ann and Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation to move this project forward and help student-athletes across the Lehigh Valley,\u201d commented Representative Jeanne McNeill. \u201cWhile Saquon continues to do amazing things on the football field, he has again stepped up to give back to his community and help develop coaches who will mentor and inspire athletes for years to come. I\u2019d also like to thank WCSD Athletic Director Bob Hartman and the coaching staff of the middle and high schools for bringing this program to the District, providing these important staff positions for current and future athletes.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The AthLife Foundation is currently in its fourth year as the official student-athlete development partner with SLUHN. Senior Network Administrator for Sports Medicine Relationships, Dr. John Hauth, has led the drive to provide their partner schools and districts with comprehensive student-athlete support and resources for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance of partnership, especially with an organization like the Michael Ann and Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation, is fundamental to St. Luke\u2019s,\u201d said John Hauth, St. Luke\u2019s Senior Network Administrator for Sports Medicine Relationships. \u201cSaquon is a superior athlete, but one of the goals that clearly comes through while talking with Saquon, his mother Tonya and other members of the Foundation is that they want this to be about the whole person. They want to lift up kids and give them the tools they need and the opportunities they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a complete list of schools receiving support from this partnership, please click\u00a0<\/strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

About The AthLife Foundation:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Founded in 2010, The AthLife Foundation is a 501(c)3 national nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that deserving kids from our nation\u2019s most challenged, yet promising communities, can achieve in their future careers beyond sport. Driving our mission is the belief that every kid who plays, deserves the right kind of sports experience. Since 2010 our grant funding, training, professional development and industry leading resource network has reached more than 25,000 kids from 133 Schools, across 69 Cities, 17 States and the District of Columbia. Our work is being supported by the AJ Terrell Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, City of Danbury (CT), Heisman Trophy Trust, Joe Moore Award & Foundation for Teamwork, New York Community Trust, NFL Foundation, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network, Tulane Center for Sport and the Under Armour Foundation. Please visit\u00a0<\/em>athlifefoundation.org<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to learn more about our platform and\u00a0<\/em>3ace.connectedcommunity.org<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to join the national movement.<\/em><\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nJennifer LoConte<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Eagles Running Back and SLUHN team up with the AthLife Foundation\u00a0 to bring a unique impact to the interscholastic sports landscape. \u00a0 Easton, PA (Dec. 19, 2024)\u00a0–\u00a0The AthLife … Continue reading Saquon Barkley and St. Luke\u2019s Deliver \u2018Off the Field\u2019 Punch<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/AthLife-Foundation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/138591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}