Travel+Leisure partners with Katie Grimes
Good morning.
May is off to a rapid start for our team. And that’s putting it politely.
We announced a new partnership between Travel and Leisure Co and 2-time Team USA Olympian Katie Grimes. Travel and Leisure will be her official travel and hospitality partner with exclusivity to that category through 2025.
Grimes is building one of the more impressive partnership portfolios in the NIL and Olympics space that we’ve seen in a while.
In other NIL news, our friends at Splash Forward (a non profit dedicated to growing aquatics and pool space in the PNW) announced the first NIL deal with high school standout Piper Enge! Piper is a world championship finalist and swims for the Bellevue Club. It’s exciting to see great brands and great athletes align their values. These are always the best partnerships.
Congrats to Susan Pappalardo, Co-Founder of Splash Forward on all her amazing work. Susan’s positive attitude, persistence and leadership has introduced new revenue sources into the sport of swimming. Something that is not easy to do and quite frankly just takes serious guts! I always seem to do my best sponsorship selling after I get off the phone with Susan P.
We have more announcements coming soon!
May is going to be a good month people. Just gotta believe it 👊
Cejih
Other News This Week:
Haylie McCleney has named her ‘Halo Awards’ for 2024 SEC Softball season.
P.S. Nervous about missing upcoming news from CG Sports? Follow us on Instagram (@cgsportsco), Facebook (CG Sports Management), and, of course, our weekly newsletter.
Katie Grimes
Nevada State Bank has released Episode 2 of the “Meet Katie” series, titled “Water Safety Tips,” where Katie offers water safety tips and describes how she learned to swim at 6 months old.
This past week, Katie also won the 10K at Open Water Nationals for the 3rd year in a row!
Asante Cleveland
Asante Cleveland, NFL tight end and motivational speaker, recently captivated the audience at Coastal Carolina University (CCU) with his compelling insights on “What It Takes” to succeed in the NFL.
CCU student-athlete Anthony DelliCompagni shared, “We were honored to have Asante share his wisdom with our fraternity brothers. His message of perseverance and commitment truly resonated with everyone present, motivating us to strive for excellence in all aspects of our lives.”
Dare Rose
Looking for some new tips for mastering butterfly? Look no further!
Dare joined Kyle Millis to share his favorite drills to work on improving his butterfly.
“Hit refresh.”
One of the greatest things a company can do is recognize when they can refresh elements of their company. This could mean addressing a design element that isn’t working, but it can also mean enhancing an element to avoid stagnation.
We have done this at CG Sports in a few different ways and found great success. Here are a few recent examples:
We recently updated our website. Our homepage got a fresh redesign with a focus on our Brand Camp services. This puts our Brand Camp service front and center for everyone. Now, visitors to our website have easy access to the Brand Camp process, case studies, testimonials, and more.
Results: Traffic to our case studies page and inquiries about Brand Camp services have both increased. Our homepage is the most visited page on our website and visits are up 22% for the last month.
Our newsletter has had two major shifts over the past several months. First, we refreshed the design. In this case, it wasn’t a giant change, just some user-friendly design decisions. Second, Cejih and I swapped our writing duties - he took over the intro and I took over the “Cejih Explains” column aka “Taylor Explains.”
Results: The open rate of our newsletter rebounded from a Q4 dip and has been increasing steadily over the last five months.
Big or small, it’s okay to “hit refresh.” Take a look at what is working, what can be improved upon, and more.
Stuart Friedman’s book, Leaders Don’t Solve Problems, is now available for purchase!
Leaders Don’t Solve Problems is NOT a do-it-yourself, how-to book on leadership development. It's a book for successful owners who instinctively know that they and their companies could achieve more if only their employees thought and acted like they do.
Sponsor Spotlight: SPLASHForward X Piper Enge - First NIL with Local HS Olympic Trials Qualifier
SPLASHForward is proud to announce that local high school swimming standout and international competitor Piper Enge will be an ambassador to the organization in the first NIL partnership for both involved. NIL stands for name, image, and likeness and refers to the rights of student athletes to control and profit from their name, image, and likeness. Piper swims on the Bellevue Club Swim Team (BCST) and finished her third varsity season with Mercer Island High School. She has competed in national and international swim meets and will compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials this June. Piper has committed to attending University of Texas – Austin this fall.
“This is such an exciting moment for SPLASHForward to be able to amplify the voice of a local swimmer and role model whose life has been positively impacted through aquatics. We are thrilled that Piper will use her platform to support SPLASHForward’s mission to expand access to aquatics and bring a game-changing new public aquatic and health facility to Bellevue. Piper will help us spread the message that our community needs places where everyone can learn to swim, find community connection, and build their dreams.” Susan Pappalardo, President and Co-Founder, SPLASHForward
"Pools aren’t just about having a place to swim; they’re about building a community, learning dedication to personal goals, and having lots of fun. I'm thankful that I've always had access to aquatics, and swimming has given me so much. I'm excited to partner with SPLASHForward to help create a world class aquatic facility where our entire community can learn to swim, discover joy in the water, and have the same opportunities I've enjoyed." Piper Enge
This NIL partnership supports Piper in achieving her goals, brings attention to SPLASHForward’s initiatives, and speaks to the importance of creating greater access to aquatics.
SPLASHForward is a 501-(c)(3) organization that is dedicated to building the first new
comprehensive public aquatic facility in Bellevue in over 50 years. Designs include a 50-meter training and competition pool, health and fitness facilities and gathering spaces for the community that will bring together people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. SPLASHForward also supports local initiatives such as high school student lifeguard training, water safety outreach, in particular to underserved communities, and private partnership and advocacy with local government.
Catch up on all episodes of Champions Mojo
If you're a fan of podcasts and haven't checked out Champion's Mojo, consider this your perfect opportunity to begin! The Champion's Mojo podcast features hosts Maria Parker and Kelly Palace, two world-record setting Masters athletes, interviewing champions, coaches, and experts in what helps them excel in sports and in life.
Catch up on EVERY episode at ChampionsMojo.com.
Craving more from the Champion's Mojo team? Grab your copy of Kelly Palace's Take Your Mark, LEAD! and Maria Parker's Do Tough on Amazon!
