FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 25th, 2014
COMCAST SPORTSNET BAY AREA PREMIERES “PERUBALL: JIM HARBAUGH IN SOUTH AMERICA” ON TUESDAY, SEPT. 2 AT 9 P.M. PT
“You can pretty much help someone from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed.” – Jim Harbaugh on his recent Peruvian mission trip
“It’s beyond rewarding; it’s a chance to do something.” – Harbaugh on the personal reward he gets from his missionary work
One-Hour Documentary Chronicles Harbaugh’s Eight-Day Mission Trip in Piura, Peru
Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America Video Excerpts and Photos Available at www.CSNBayArea.com/peruball
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 25, 2014) – Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (@CSNAuthentic) will provide viewers with a poignant, landmark one-hour documentary entitled Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America, chronicling the San Francisco 49ers head coach’s inspiring and revealing journey as he led a group of fellow humanitarians on an annual mission trip to Piura, Peru. The missionaries helped at the parish of Santisimo Sacramento with its daily community outreach programs and ministries for the people of Piura. Along the way, impromptu games of “Peruball” – a combination of football, rugby and soccer – seem to break out everywhere Harbaugh goes, a game where the rules seem to evolve each day and with each person who plays it. Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America, a story of faith, hope and love, premieres on Tuesday, September 2 at 9 p.m. PT, exclusively on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.
Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America video excerpts and photos are available at www.CSNBayArea.com/peruball.
The 49ers coach recently embarked on his sixth consecutive Peruvian mission trip, and for the first time a camera crew accompanied Harbaugh to document his travels and humanitarian work and revealed a man’s eternal dedication to his faith, football and helping others. Harbaugh, his children Jay, James and Grace, and Comcast SportsNet’s Dave Feldman (@FeldyCSN), along with several other volunteers, traveled in June to Piura – a small town almost 600 miles north of Lima, where 60 percent of the population lives in poverty and 20 percent is in extreme poverty. The group built houses, visited the sick and elderly, delivered food packages to an orphanage, worked the rice fields, and attended daily Mass with the locals. Additionally, Harbaugh, a former All-Pro quarterback, taught groups of Peruvian boys about American football, put them through running and catching drills, and then kicked off games of “Peruball.”
Harbaugh first learned about the mission trip through friends at St. Raymond Catholic Church, his parish in Menlo Park, Calif., and has made the annual trip since 2009. An American priest, Father Joseph William Uhen, has been the pastor of Santisimo Sacramento since 1993 and coordinates the charitable efforts for his parish. The parish’s outreach includes a women’s shelter, an orphanage, a drug rehabilitation center, a hospice facility and a tuition-free Catholic school for children in kindergarten through 11th grade.
After its debut (Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 9 p.m.), Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America re-airs later that evening at 11:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 4 at 3:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 14 at 10 p.m., and Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. Visit CSNBayArea.com for additional air dates and times.
Peruball: Jim Harbaugh in South America is produced and edited by Comcast SportsNet’s multiple-Emmy Award winner Sean Maddison.
