I can’t wait to arrive. I need some of that sunshine down there. And that feeling you get when mixing with triathletes!

I am writing as the organizer of Team: Right To Play. We are three women athletes with very different backgrounds but with one similar theme. We want to bring sport and play to children living around the world. We want others to feel the absolute empowerment and joys that sport can bring to each of us. Our team consists of: Olympian Jenny Thompson, 12-time medalist (8 gold and 4 silvers), most-decorated Olympian in USA history, doing the swim; Dolores Munoz, competitive cyclist and elite professional fitness instructor, coach and trainer for Chelsea Piers Sports Center, New York City’s premier health and fitness facility, and creator of fitness video, ‘Killer Butt’ (Fitness magazine’s top fitness video in 2005), on the bike; and Mary Dixon, amateur triathlete and Ironman, doing the run. Dolores is also Right To Play USA’s athlete and sport manager; while Mary serves as the organization’s national director in the USA. Jenny serves as a top Athlete Ambassador for the organization which brings sport and play to children around the world. Jenny, Dolores and Mary will be racing to bring awareness to Right To Play. Please call or email me for any more information. Believe me—the swim and bike will be our strongest legs. I will try my best on the run. I just know that I will be grateful and haunted by the lead Jenny and Dolores will build for me.

Here is a synopsis of Right To Play:

We are an athlete-driven, international humanitarian organization that aims to create a healthier and safer world through the power of sport and play. Right To Play has two guiding principles: inclusion and sustainability. We encourage children to ‘Look after yourself, look after one another.’ We are in 24 countries, reaching more than 500,000 children a week.  As of today, Right To Play has more than 40 projects, with up to 80 volunteers in the field at any given time. We currently operate in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We train individuals in Canada - our international offices - to be volunteers overseas for one year. These volunteers go into the field - many times to post-conflict communities or refugee camps - and train local people to be coaches that bring our programs to the local children. Our program improves the lives of children in the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace. We target communities with the specific objective of contributing to development goals, set by the United Nations and governments themselves, surrounding happier, educated children; safer more peaceful communities; improved health and healthier lifestyle behaviors; and empowered individuals and communities. In addition to our program countries, we have national offices focused on raising awareness and funds in the USA, UK, Norway, Holland, Canada, Switzerland, Italy and the UAE. One key emphasis of Right To Play is that everything is athlete-driven. It was founded by Norwegian Olympian and Gold Medalist Johann Koss and hundreds of athletes around the world help raise funds, awareness and bring inspiration to the children in the programs. Jenny Thompson is one of our Ambassadors.

Mary Dixon, National Director, USA;
Right To Play, Chelsea Piers, Pier 59, Room 5925, New York, NY 10011
mdixon@righttoplay.com 
Look after yourself, look after one another.

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