Richardson’s Green Team takes its message to 2015 All-Star Game

TwinsDr. Tiffany Richardson, lecturer in Sport Management at the School of Kinesiology, and her Green Team are hitting the road again July 10 to boost Major League Baseball’s sustainability message at the 2015 All-Star Game at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on July 14.

Dr. Richardson’s Green Team (at right, several members shown working a Twins game earlier this season) is composed of 32 Sport Management undergraduates who enrolled last spring in her course, KIN 4520 Current Topics in Kinesiology. They will join another group of students from the University of Cincinnati and Gannon College to educate and promote awareness around environmental issues and sustainability—the MLB Greening Program—for five event-filled days.

It’s the second year Dr. Richardson has taken a Green Team to an All-Star Game. “My students were rock stars last year, so MLB said, ‘come to Cincinnati and run your Green Team again’” she says.

Last year Dr. Richardson had the idea for a pilot course that would connect her students with MLB’s efforts to reduce ­­­waste, increase energy efficiency, and drive home the practice of recycle/reuse to all teams in the leagues. At the 2014 All-Star Game, her students were involved in events such as the Color Run 5K, the Home Run Derby and, of course, the All-Star Game, wearing their Green Team hats, t-shirts, and gloves and working the aisles to show fans how to manage their recyclable and compostable waste.

“The students have been preparing by working Twins games and promoting the message of composting and recycling and they are ready to take it on the road,” says Dr. Richardson. “They have studied, they have bonded and want to do this not only for themselves but for the University of Minnesota and their future careers! So let’s go get it!”