CLEVELAND -- LeBron James already pledged to help put kids in college. Now he has committed to help those students get through the day-to-day once they arrive on campus.The LeBron James Family Foundation announced the creation of the I PROMISE Institute on the University of Akron campus Thursday. The institute is intended to be a resource for students who earn four-year scholarships to Akron through James program.When we first started this program, I wanted my kids to graduate from high school. But the more we grow as a Foundation, the more we find can be done to give our kids the best chance to be successful, James said in a statement. We dont just want our kids to get to college, we want them to graduate from college. And we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to help them do that.?According to a release, the institute will employ a team of educators dedicated to researching best practices, implementing academic interventions, and providing around-the-clock support for its students as they navigate college.?Foundation spokesperson Stephanie Rosa said that the University of Akron is funding the scholarships themselves and LJFF is funding the Institute.The institute will be housed in a currently undeveloped space inside InfoCision Stadium, where the Zips play their football games.The institute will spend the next five years readying itself for the inaugural class of students in James program, currently in eighth grade, to arrive at Akron in the fall of 2021. During that time, a governing board of academics from across the country -- including Brandi Hephner LaBanc, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Mississippi; Paul A. Herold from the University of Akron; and Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., the president of Radford University -- researching and developing how the institute will focus its efforts moving forward. A stated goal of the institutes curriculum is to get to the root of urban youth retention.If we want to be ready for our students when they get to campus in a few short years, the work needs to start now, Michele Campbell, executive director of the foundation, said in a statement. For many of our kids, they are the first in their families to attend college, so we want to create a familiar, encouraging environment where they feel safe and supported. We believe we have the academics and the experts in place to ensure the I PROMISE Institute will be a valuable and impactful resource for our students.Speaking during shootaround before the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Toronto Raptors in a preseason game Thursday night, James said it was important to start students toward success as early as possible.If we didnt grab these kids by the third grade, their success rate of graduating high school would be limited and shortened, and third grade was the number, that was the age group, James said. We also started thinking about, yeah, were putting these kids in college and getting them education, but also the success rate of graduating college is very low as well even once you get to college. So we wanted to figure out a way where we could help these kids graduate college, and thats where the institute came from. And were building the criteria right now where kids that get their credentials get a college education from our foundation, from our program that we will have people and things in place to help them graduate college too. Just trying to make a difference.James also posted about the institute on Instagram Wednesday night.The institute is being funded in part by Sprite, which James has endorsed since his rookie season in 2003.My foundation is probably, besides my family, the No. 1 thing in my life, James said Wednesday. Being able to change kids and families, giving them an opportunity to see better days, we strive to do that every single day. And I get emails and I talked to my kids weekly about their progression for my kids that are in elementary [school] all the way to the kids in middle school, high school and the kids that are going to be going to college soon. So thats a huge thing for me.I have a vision on what I do entails. I cant get involved in what everybody else does. It has to be in you to want to help, to want to give back to your community. I dont think you should have to be forced to do it, because if youre forced to do it, then it wont be genuine to the people that are receiving it. For me, its a genuine thing for me -- for me and my foundation and for my family to give back to our community, so I know what my vision is. I know what Im going to be able to do in this next 10 to 20 to 30, 40 years. Nike Air Zoom Ofertas . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Nike Air Zoom Baratas . 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Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. On the eve of their first match during their previous visit to India, New Zealand coach Mike Hesson asked the curator in Nagpur what the pitch was expected to do. Hesson says he was told it was a hard and bouncy pitch. New Zealand went ahead and left out Tim Southee and Trent Boult, played three spinners, attacked the new ball because they knew the old ball would be impossible to go after, scored just 126, but their spinners delivered them a 47-run win. New Zealands reading of the conditions, and then adapting to them, were big reasons behind their unbeaten run in the league stages of the World T20.That was Twenty20. This is Test cricket. New Zealand will draw confidence from that showing, but they wont be deluding themselves based on the World T20. This three-Test series has all the makings of this groups biggest test. New Zealand have only ever won two Tests in India, and may need to double that tally to win this series. But there is anticipation around them, mostly because of what they did in the World T20, in particular their two spinners whose performances suggested they could translate their promise into longer forms. Now, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi are joined by Mark Craig.Never in recent memory has more been expected of a New Zealand tour of India. Never in recent memory have India looked this dominant at home. India have three spinners with much more pedigree and experience of these conditions. Ever since India decided to play on pitches where the ball starts turning early and turns big, beating them in a home Test series has become arguably the biggest challenge in world cricket.With cricket being a game of conditions, it couldnt be more loaded against New Zealand. The only preparation they have had in the move from their tracks to this intense, relentless trial by spin is two training sessions in Delhi, a three-day game on a flat track against unthreatening spinners, and two more training sessions in Kanpur. The heat is stifling. There is high humidity and no breeze in Kanpur right now.The curator at Green Park has said the turn wont be as alarming as it was in Nagpur, but the pitch looks really dry and has cracks. In unusual scenes two days before the Test, the groundstaff asked some net bowlers to bowl on the match pitch. It is technically allowed - the pitch is handed over to the match referee on the morning of the Test - but this is hardly ever done. The poor rating for the Nagpur pitch after the Test against South Africa last year plays on the minds of groundsmen now. There were no puffs of dust, which relieved them. However, there was turn. Dont be surprised either if the spinners business area is drier and rougher than the rest of the pitch, negating Neil Wagners bounce, and accentuating the turn.He hasnt told us it is hard and bouncy as the Nagpur groundsman did, Hesson joked when asked about any conversations he might have had with the groundstaff here.Hesson is not surprised by what he has seen. Unless some grass grows over the next two days, there will be plenty of assistance for the spinners, he said. I think the pitch will deteriorate, as it should. Spin will play a massive part, as will reverse swing. So there are no surprises here.Hesson knows knowing what to expect is different from reacting to it. If one jumps at them, Ravindra Jadeja will keep firing in that general areaa all day with slight variation of angle, and let the pitch do the rest.dddddddddddd R Ashwin will add dip to it. He will swerve it with the new ball. Amit Mishra will add the legspinners X-factor. There will be catchers around, there will be deep fielders to choke easy runs, and there will be no relenting from the heat and humidity. Not in Kanpur and Kolkata at least.The ability to respond with a clear mind and quick feet when the ball starts jumping and staying low comes with solid defence and lots of practice playing on such tracks. Knowing the international schedules today, Hesson said this is possibly the best preparation his side could have had. He has now put it down to the ability to adapt.The conditions here are slightly different than they were in Delhi, Hesson said. Its up to today and tomorrow to make sure we adapt the best we can. And we know even during the game the pitch is going to change, so we have to keep adjusting.Hesson summed up the dual challenge of playing India in these conditions by saying that you have to prepare for the worst, but, at the same time, guard against jumping at shadows, by building it up too much and failing to recognise easier conditions when they come their way.We have watched the Test matches against South Africa, absolutely, Hesson said. We saw the conditions in that series, and they were challenging. There is no doubt about that. If you prepare, over-train in terms of preparing for those conditions and then you get something slightly better, then thats great. You have got to prepare for the harshest conditions and see how it goes from there.I think you can jump at shadows at times [if you prepare for the worst]. I think you need to adapt to what you are confronted with. We have got an idea how we think how the surface might play, but it might be quite different. We are capable of adapting.Adapting quickly won them games in the World T20, but there wont be any quick wins here. We have won two Test matches in our history here, Hesson said. So we know it is a tough place to come and win, as it is for any touring side. And India are playing good cricket at the moment, but we have got a group of cricketers who will be highly competitive. Thats our challenge - to be highly competitive and stay in the game for long periods of time. Then, anything can happen.There is no set formula to beat India in India in this mood, but England showed it can be done if you have four attributes: a solid defensive batsman in Alastair Cook, who showed to the rest that it was possible to bat, a maverick in Kevin Pietersen, who could drive the nail in, two spinners in Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, who were accurate and quick, and reverse swing in James Anderson. Lower-order runs can be a big factor as South Africa learned in their defeat despite having reduced India to 120-odd for 6 on more than one occasion.New Zealand have a defensive batsman in Williamson, they have a potential maverick if Ross Taylor can have a big series, they have spinners and the variety of spinners, although unproven at this level, and they have the possibility of reverse swing. They bat deep. If all, or most these factors click, they can take games deep. Then, anything can happen. ' ' '