The American Sport Education Program (ASEP)
ASEP works in conjunction with the National Federation of State High School Associations to provide what is widely recognized as the nation's best coaching education program. ASEP also provides training to sports parents, sports administrators, and sports officials.
The American Sports Institute
The American Sports Institute recognizes that there are lessons that we learn through sports, physical education, and recreation. Those lessons transcend the mere playing of contests or engagement in athletic activity. The American Sports Institute attempts to identify those lessons, distill them, refine them, and apply them to the educational system. We often speak of teaching life skills to people involved in sports. The American Sports Institute teaches sports skills that people can use in life.
Joyce Bassett's Albany Times Union Blog
Ms. Bassett's blog tracks bad acts in youth sports - and does a pretty thorough job of it.
The Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program
The Aspen Institute's Sports and Society Program created Project Play in 2013 "to find ways to help all children in America become active through sports." "Sport for All, Play for Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game," is the product of their work. Click here for the Pdf version of the Playbook. The Playbook It offers an ambitious plan to reimagine organized youth sports, prioritizing health and inclusion, while recognizing the benefits of unstructured play. A unifying document, it collects in one place the most promising opportunities for stakeholders — from sport leaders to mayors, parents to policymakers — to work together to create universal access to early, positive experiences. It’s a playbook to help get and keep all children in the game by age 12 — whatever the game, whatever the form."
Athletes For A Better World
Fred Northup, a former tennis pro and author of Winning More Than The Game, founded this fine organization. ABW works with athletes from all levels, but its greatest strength is its ability to work with young athletes and schools on the development of moral principles and the development of character through sports. ABW is particularly strong at showing how ethical lessons learned through sports apply in other settings.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics In Sport
The Centre tackles a broad array of the issues that confront us in sports today, provides comprehensive information, thorough analysis, and attempts to provide some measure of guidance that can help all parties involved in sports.
Character Combine
We have player combines and Character Combine introduced the, well, character combine. These intense one day trainings focus on performing and performing with character.
Character Counts Sports
Character Counts Sports is a broad based coalition devoted to the teaching and study of ethics in every aspect of life, including athletics. Character Counts Sports is part of the Josephson Institute Of Ethics. Character Counts Sports, and the Josephson Institute of Ethics are probably the leading ethical and character education institutes in the country. Their Pursuing Victory With Honor program and the Arizona Sports Summit Accord have been adopted by hundreds of organizations, including the NCAA and the National Federation, and hundreds of high schools and colleges.
Citizenship Through Sports Alliance
This coalition of twelve of the nation's largest amateur and professional sports governing bodies has a comprehensive program that focuses on sportsmanship and citizenship through participation in sports. If you want sportsmanship information from the major sports organizations in the country, this is the place to go.
Coaching Boys Into Men: A Project of The Family Violence Prevention Fund
The Coaching Boys Into Men Project uses sports coaches as a tool for teaching boys the socialization skills that will lead to a reduction of violence against women. Click here for the 2007 Coaches' Playbook - an excellent example of what this program can do for boys in sports.
Get Psyched Sports
Mitch Lyon's organization attempts to ensure sportsmanship by emphasizing the need to teach everybody involved in youth and amateur sports how to govern their emotions in the crucible of athletic competition. Get Psyched Sports has a heavy focus on teaching psychological and emotional skills that correlate to good sportsmanship. Get Psyched Sports also has a legislative agenda to enact multistate legislation requiring sports organizations to teach these skills as part of an ongoing athletic curriculum.
Heart of A Champion
Heart of A Champion is a character education program that uses research based tools geared to reach today's "sight and sound" generation. Click here for a sample educator's guide.
The Inside Out Initiative
Former NFL player Joe Ehrmann has spent most of his life working on character and citizenship issues and initiatives. He's backed by the NFL and the Minnesota State High School League. The Inside Out Initiative's website puts it best, stating, "This national initiative is co-founded by Joe Ehrmann, author of InSideOut Coaching and Jody Redman, Associate Director of the Minnesota State High School League. It is funded by the NFL Foundation, and utilizes The InSideOut™ Philosophy & The InSideOut™ System to reclaim sports as an educational experience."
-----------------------------------
Institute for International Sport
The Institute for International Sport sponsors the annual national sportsmanship day, and provides comprehensive information on sportsmanship and ethical matters in sports. The Institute sponsors annual World and U.S. Scholar Athlete Games and provides well respected programs for parents through its Center For Sports Parenting.
Institute for the Study Of Youth Sports
This Michigan State University program studies and provides academic information on youth sports, and the issues confronting youth sports today. The Institute has a vast array of information on sportsmanship and other matters, and provides teaching resources and publications on youth sports issues.
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
The Knight Commission studies issues designed to promote academic values and citizenship in college sports.
Let Them Play
Tony Fiorino's weekly radio broadcast focuses on coaching and parenting. Tony frequently covers sportsmanship issues. He also heads the Center For Sports Parenting.
Mom's Team
This organization does exactly what its name implies: they provide the information that a responsible parent would need about how to create a safe and sportsmanlike environment for children participating in youth sports.
National Alliance For Youth Sports
NAYS provides complete programmatic advice, support, and advocacy for youth engaged in sports. This includes programs and training for coaches, administrators, and parents engaged in youth sports. NAYS has worked through a national panel of leaders to develop the widely followed National Standards For Youth Sports. NAYS's founder, Fred Engh's, excellent book, Why Johnny Hates Sports examines a vast array of problems that lead a surprisingly large number of youth to abandon sports. These problems include the sportsmanship problems and win at all cost climate that besets our youth sports culture. Most important, Fred provides solutions that work, and are leading to a better sports climate.
National Association of Sports Officials
NASO is the world's largest organization for sports officials. They provide information, education, insurance, legal information, and a multitude of other professional services for sports officials. They are the authority on sports officiating issues. NASO covers sportsmanship extensively through Referee Magazine, its monthly publication on all things regarding officiating. NASO also focuses on sportsmanship through its numerous other publications. NASO has also been a leader in protecting officials by supporting the enactment of legislation criminalizing batteries committed upon sports officials.
National Federation of State High School Associations
The NFHS is the national governing body for high school sports. The NFHS promulgates sports rules and regulations, and places a heavy emphasis on sportsmanship and citizenship both through sports and fine arts. The NFHS also devotes a substantial amount of time and energy to officials' issues through its NFHS - Officials Association.
National Institute For Sports Reform
NISR seeks no more than a total reform of our amateur sports culture. NISR seeks to reform the culture that leads to the win at all costs attitude, and other negative factors that permeate the amateur sports culture, ultimately leading to a better climate - and a better sports climate.
Positive Coaching Alliance
The Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is run out of Stanford University. PCA conducts workshops for coaches, parents, students, youth organizations, and virtually anybody involved in youth sports. PCA has an incredibly prestigious national advisory board, operates in multiple cities throughout the country, and has trained approximately 70,000 coaches. PCA focuses on the important life lessons that can be learned through sports, and has programs that show people at every level of sports how to achieve it. These programs are backed up by extensive research, and are among the best in the country. Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson leads a large staff of trainers and workshop coordinators. PCA also has a number of resources, including Thompson's two books, The Double Goal Coach and Positive Coaching: Building Character and Self-Esteem Through Sports, and Phil Jackson's video, Phil Jackson on Positive Coaching. Also, see the PCA's Sure ID program - an important step in keeping your kid safe: The Positive Coaching Alliance Fights Predators, enlisting Sure ID to help make sure that youth coach is who he says he is.
Raising Winners
Dr. Shari Young Kuchenbecker is the author of Raising Winners: A Parent's Guide To Helping Kids Succeed On and Off The Playing Field. Dr. Kuchenbecker is a sports parent and a sports psychologist. Her site and book provide significant guidance on coaching, parenting, childhood development, psychological issues, and our youth sports environment.
Responsiblesports.com
Can Good Sportsmanship Be Coached? The good people at Responsiblesports.com think so. They may be right. Their scenario questions are a valuable tool in teaching sportsmanship and generating a dialog.
Safe Kids Worldwide.
Safe Kids focuses more on sports safety than sportsmanship. They raise important questions about making sports safer, and have a significant amount of safety data. The Safe Kids Worldwide Organization says we can create a safer sports culture. Click here for information on Safe Kids.
Safe Sport Zone
Jay Hammes's Safe Sport Zone provides school safety training program and event management services. If you want to know how to mitigate your liability at events, develop or refine your emergency plans, or access the latest tools to handle the difficult to manage spectator, the Safe Sport Zone is for you. The Safe Sport Zone is recognized by numerous national groups, including the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Sports Ethics Institute
This organization provides information on ethical developments in sports, and seeks to encourage the development of a sports culture that will emphasize sportsmanship and ethical principles.
Sports-Law Blog
Harvard educated attorneys Michael McCann and Greg Skidmore's site focuses on legal issues in sports, but touches extensively on sportsmanship issues.
The STAR Sportsmanship program is a part of Learning Through Sports, Inc.'s behavioral skills educational programs. The STAR program uses innovative video game technology. STAR also includes an excellent sportsmanship blog that rivals the bad acts section of this site.
ASEP works in conjunction with the National Federation of State High School Associations to provide what is widely recognized as the nation's best coaching education program. ASEP also provides training to sports parents, sports administrators, and sports officials.
The American Sports Institute
The American Sports Institute recognizes that there are lessons that we learn through sports, physical education, and recreation. Those lessons transcend the mere playing of contests or engagement in athletic activity. The American Sports Institute attempts to identify those lessons, distill them, refine them, and apply them to the educational system. We often speak of teaching life skills to people involved in sports. The American Sports Institute teaches sports skills that people can use in life.
Joyce Bassett's Albany Times Union Blog
Ms. Bassett's blog tracks bad acts in youth sports - and does a pretty thorough job of it.
The Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program
The Aspen Institute's Sports and Society Program created Project Play in 2013 "to find ways to help all children in America become active through sports." "Sport for All, Play for Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game," is the product of their work. Click here for the Pdf version of the Playbook. The Playbook It offers an ambitious plan to reimagine organized youth sports, prioritizing health and inclusion, while recognizing the benefits of unstructured play. A unifying document, it collects in one place the most promising opportunities for stakeholders — from sport leaders to mayors, parents to policymakers — to work together to create universal access to early, positive experiences. It’s a playbook to help get and keep all children in the game by age 12 — whatever the game, whatever the form."
Athletes For A Better World
Fred Northup, a former tennis pro and author of Winning More Than The Game, founded this fine organization. ABW works with athletes from all levels, but its greatest strength is its ability to work with young athletes and schools on the development of moral principles and the development of character through sports. ABW is particularly strong at showing how ethical lessons learned through sports apply in other settings.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics In Sport
The Centre tackles a broad array of the issues that confront us in sports today, provides comprehensive information, thorough analysis, and attempts to provide some measure of guidance that can help all parties involved in sports.
Character Combine
We have player combines and Character Combine introduced the, well, character combine. These intense one day trainings focus on performing and performing with character.
Character Counts Sports
Character Counts Sports is a broad based coalition devoted to the teaching and study of ethics in every aspect of life, including athletics. Character Counts Sports is part of the Josephson Institute Of Ethics. Character Counts Sports, and the Josephson Institute of Ethics are probably the leading ethical and character education institutes in the country. Their Pursuing Victory With Honor program and the Arizona Sports Summit Accord have been adopted by hundreds of organizations, including the NCAA and the National Federation, and hundreds of high schools and colleges.
Citizenship Through Sports Alliance
This coalition of twelve of the nation's largest amateur and professional sports governing bodies has a comprehensive program that focuses on sportsmanship and citizenship through participation in sports. If you want sportsmanship information from the major sports organizations in the country, this is the place to go.
Coaching Boys Into Men: A Project of The Family Violence Prevention Fund
The Coaching Boys Into Men Project uses sports coaches as a tool for teaching boys the socialization skills that will lead to a reduction of violence against women. Click here for the 2007 Coaches' Playbook - an excellent example of what this program can do for boys in sports.
Get Psyched Sports
Mitch Lyon's organization attempts to ensure sportsmanship by emphasizing the need to teach everybody involved in youth and amateur sports how to govern their emotions in the crucible of athletic competition. Get Psyched Sports has a heavy focus on teaching psychological and emotional skills that correlate to good sportsmanship. Get Psyched Sports also has a legislative agenda to enact multistate legislation requiring sports organizations to teach these skills as part of an ongoing athletic curriculum.
Heart of A Champion
Heart of A Champion is a character education program that uses research based tools geared to reach today's "sight and sound" generation. Click here for a sample educator's guide.
The Inside Out Initiative
Former NFL player Joe Ehrmann has spent most of his life working on character and citizenship issues and initiatives. He's backed by the NFL and the Minnesota State High School League. The Inside Out Initiative's website puts it best, stating, "This national initiative is co-founded by Joe Ehrmann, author of InSideOut Coaching and Jody Redman, Associate Director of the Minnesota State High School League. It is funded by the NFL Foundation, and utilizes The InSideOut™ Philosophy & The InSideOut™ System to reclaim sports as an educational experience."
-----------------------------------
Institute for International Sport
The Institute for International Sport sponsors the annual national sportsmanship day, and provides comprehensive information on sportsmanship and ethical matters in sports. The Institute sponsors annual World and U.S. Scholar Athlete Games and provides well respected programs for parents through its Center For Sports Parenting.
Institute for the Study Of Youth Sports
This Michigan State University program studies and provides academic information on youth sports, and the issues confronting youth sports today. The Institute has a vast array of information on sportsmanship and other matters, and provides teaching resources and publications on youth sports issues.
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
The Knight Commission studies issues designed to promote academic values and citizenship in college sports.
Let Them Play
Tony Fiorino's weekly radio broadcast focuses on coaching and parenting. Tony frequently covers sportsmanship issues. He also heads the Center For Sports Parenting.
Mom's Team
This organization does exactly what its name implies: they provide the information that a responsible parent would need about how to create a safe and sportsmanlike environment for children participating in youth sports.
National Alliance For Youth Sports
NAYS provides complete programmatic advice, support, and advocacy for youth engaged in sports. This includes programs and training for coaches, administrators, and parents engaged in youth sports. NAYS has worked through a national panel of leaders to develop the widely followed National Standards For Youth Sports. NAYS's founder, Fred Engh's, excellent book, Why Johnny Hates Sports examines a vast array of problems that lead a surprisingly large number of youth to abandon sports. These problems include the sportsmanship problems and win at all cost climate that besets our youth sports culture. Most important, Fred provides solutions that work, and are leading to a better sports climate.
National Association of Sports Officials
NASO is the world's largest organization for sports officials. They provide information, education, insurance, legal information, and a multitude of other professional services for sports officials. They are the authority on sports officiating issues. NASO covers sportsmanship extensively through Referee Magazine, its monthly publication on all things regarding officiating. NASO also focuses on sportsmanship through its numerous other publications. NASO has also been a leader in protecting officials by supporting the enactment of legislation criminalizing batteries committed upon sports officials.
National Federation of State High School Associations
The NFHS is the national governing body for high school sports. The NFHS promulgates sports rules and regulations, and places a heavy emphasis on sportsmanship and citizenship both through sports and fine arts. The NFHS also devotes a substantial amount of time and energy to officials' issues through its NFHS - Officials Association.
National Institute For Sports Reform
NISR seeks no more than a total reform of our amateur sports culture. NISR seeks to reform the culture that leads to the win at all costs attitude, and other negative factors that permeate the amateur sports culture, ultimately leading to a better climate - and a better sports climate.
Positive Coaching Alliance
The Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is run out of Stanford University. PCA conducts workshops for coaches, parents, students, youth organizations, and virtually anybody involved in youth sports. PCA has an incredibly prestigious national advisory board, operates in multiple cities throughout the country, and has trained approximately 70,000 coaches. PCA focuses on the important life lessons that can be learned through sports, and has programs that show people at every level of sports how to achieve it. These programs are backed up by extensive research, and are among the best in the country. Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson leads a large staff of trainers and workshop coordinators. PCA also has a number of resources, including Thompson's two books, The Double Goal Coach and Positive Coaching: Building Character and Self-Esteem Through Sports, and Phil Jackson's video, Phil Jackson on Positive Coaching. Also, see the PCA's Sure ID program - an important step in keeping your kid safe: The Positive Coaching Alliance Fights Predators, enlisting Sure ID to help make sure that youth coach is who he says he is.
Raising Winners
Dr. Shari Young Kuchenbecker is the author of Raising Winners: A Parent's Guide To Helping Kids Succeed On and Off The Playing Field. Dr. Kuchenbecker is a sports parent and a sports psychologist. Her site and book provide significant guidance on coaching, parenting, childhood development, psychological issues, and our youth sports environment.
Responsiblesports.com
Can Good Sportsmanship Be Coached? The good people at Responsiblesports.com think so. They may be right. Their scenario questions are a valuable tool in teaching sportsmanship and generating a dialog.
Safe Kids Worldwide.
Safe Kids focuses more on sports safety than sportsmanship. They raise important questions about making sports safer, and have a significant amount of safety data. The Safe Kids Worldwide Organization says we can create a safer sports culture. Click here for information on Safe Kids.
Safe Sport Zone
Jay Hammes's Safe Sport Zone provides school safety training program and event management services. If you want to know how to mitigate your liability at events, develop or refine your emergency plans, or access the latest tools to handle the difficult to manage spectator, the Safe Sport Zone is for you. The Safe Sport Zone is recognized by numerous national groups, including the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Sports Ethics Institute
This organization provides information on ethical developments in sports, and seeks to encourage the development of a sports culture that will emphasize sportsmanship and ethical principles.
Sports-Law Blog
Harvard educated attorneys Michael McCann and Greg Skidmore's site focuses on legal issues in sports, but touches extensively on sportsmanship issues.
The STAR Sportsmanship program is a part of Learning Through Sports, Inc.'s behavioral skills educational programs. The STAR program uses innovative video game technology. STAR also includes an excellent sportsmanship blog that rivals the bad acts section of this site.