Websites in the Area of Sports Reform
and Sports Parenting

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The Drake Group—National Alliance for College Athletic Reform (NAFCAR)
The Drake Group is working to restore and defend academic integrity in college sports. The members of this national organization believe that it is their ethical obligation to confront the sports corruption that occurs on their respective campuses and clean up college sports by taking back their classrooms.

College Sports Council (CSC)
A national coalition of sports associations that are devoted to the promotion of the student athlete experience, the CSC is serving as the voice of underrepresented college sports programs. The council works with coaches, associations, and alumni groups to preserve, promote and expand opportunities for both male and female college athletes.

National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS)
The alliance believes that youth sports can help to develop character traits and values but only if the adults that are in charge (parents, coaches, administrators) have proper training and information. NAYS has become the nation’s leading youth sports educator and advocate with nine national programs that educate volunteer coaches, parents, youth sport program administrators, and officials about their roles and responsibilities in the context of youth sports.

Institute for International Sport (IIS)
The goals of IIS are to promote and improve relationships among nations, particularly those experiencing internal conflict, encourage individual growth and the development of human potential in young scholars throughout the world, develop global awareness in future world leaders, promote ethical behavior and good sportsmanship on an international basis, and facilitate among institute alumni a humanitarian approach in their actions as they develop as world leaders. The primary vehicle for the IIS to accomplish its mission is through the World Scholar-Athlete games and National Sportsmanship Day.

Sports Ethics Institute (SEI)
The mission of the SEI is to foster good conduct in sports and to elevate sports so as to endure a legacy of goodness for future generations. The objectives of SEI are to raise and explore ethical issues in sport, to provide opportunities for people to discover and examine the ethical dimensions of sport, to develop programs and activities that educate others on ethics in sports, and to create forums for the open expression and discussion of diverse sports ethics.

Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine (IPSM)
The Institute is a research organization dedicated to finding effective and practical ways to reduce sports injuries and speed rehabilitation of injured athletes. The institute has sought to achieve this goal by way of research and development of protective equipment, rules modifications in sports, changes in conditioning practices and injury treatment techniques, and instructional methodology.

Collegiate Athletes Association (CAC)
The goals of CAC are to achieve greater commitment to the education of college athletes so as to improve graduation rates, obtain year-round health coverage for sports related injuries, obtain increased life insurance policies for student athletes, obtain increased monthly stipends for student-athletes, and obtain an elimination of off-season salary caps.

National Student-Athletes Rights Movement
This organization is seeking to improve the welfare of collegiate student-athletes by advocating a bill of rights. The most important goal of this organization is to restore the welfare of student athletes to their rightful place as the first priority of the NCAA.

National Coalition Against Violent Athletes
The mission of the NCAVA is to promote positive character development in athletes, to educate coaches, management, and the public on violence prevention and assessment, to be a voice for victims when they are reluctant to talk to the media, to pressure the governing bodies of sports to take action against violent athletes, to track and release athlete charges and convictions, to educate victims on prevention and the process of forcing accountability, to give support to victims, and to endure the rights of victims.

Rutgers 1000
This organization is focused on seeking changes in the intercollegiate sports environment at Rutgers University. Because members of the organization believe that athletics has eroded the intellectual standards at the University, they believe that Rutgers would be a better fit both academically and athletically in the Patriot League as opposed to the Big East.

Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
The Knight Foundation has funded two separate commissions, one in 1991 and the most recent in 2001, to examine the athletic abuses that threaten the integrity of higher education. The recommendations in both reports are noteworthy since they advocate better institutional and presidential control, reduced commercialism, and greater academic integrity.

The New England Small College Athletic Conference
A model for the way in which collegiate athletics and academics can be blended to form a positive partnership, NESCAC schools play in the NCAA Division III and are some of the most prestigious academic colleges in the country. There are no athletic scholarships and financial aid is need based. Athletics are kept in proper perspective and are subordinate to academic achievement.

The Patriot League
This northeast collegiate athletic league consists of prestigious Division I colleges and universities that place academics before athletics. Schools in this conference regularly compete successfully at the highest levels of competition even though many do not give athletic scholarships. The Patriot League is a good example of how rigorous academic training can successively co-exist with intercollegiate athletics.

The Ivy League
The most prestigious academic institutions in the US belong to the Ivy League and their athletic teams regularly compete at a very high level in the NCAA Division I. The League is another excellent model for how sports can succeed without compromising academic quality.

The Center for the Study of Sport in Society
Housed at Northeastern University, the Center aims to increase awareness of sports and its relation to society and to develop programs that identify problems, offer solutions, and promote the benefits of sport.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport
Established at the University of Central Florida, the Institute focuses upon publishing the racial and gender report card which is an annual assessment of racial and gender hiring practices of major professional sports, Olympic and collegiate sports. The Institute also monitors some of the critical ethical issues in collegiate and professional sports.

The Institute for Study of Youth Sports
Formed at Michigan State University, the mission of the institute is to research the benefits and detriments of participation in youth athletics. The institute produces educational materials and educational programs for parents, coaches, officials and administrators.

The Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess
Established at the University of Michigan, the goals of the center are to provide research and analysis of issues that affect African American student athletes. The center also strives to promote the ideal that an athlete’s lifetime career success can best be achieved by way of educational attainment.

The Woman’s Sports Foundation
The principle goals of the foundation are to be recognized as the foremost worldwide resource and advocate for girls and woman in sports, to educate the public about female participation and gender equality in sports, and to increase leadership and sports and fitness participation among women.

The Citizenship Through Sports Alliance
The alliance was created out of a concern for the decline of sportsmanship and ethical conduct and a rise in a win at all cost attitude in athletics. The organization seeks to promote a sports culture that values learning respect for self, other, and the game itself.

The Mendelson Center for Sports, Character and Community
Established at the University of Notre Dame, the primary goal of the center is to bring social scientists and sports practitioners together in order to build character and promote civic responsibility through sports.

The Positive Coaching Alliance
Housed at Stanford University, the principle mission of the alliance is to create a positive culture in which kids love to play a particular sport. This is done by creating an environment in which players, coaches, and parents respect each other and honor the games they play.

The Student Athlete Survival Guide
The guide and A-Game are designed to help high school and college athletes and parents navigate through scholastic and collegiate athletics. This is done by giving evidence of both good and bad decisions that athletes have made in the past.

P.E. 4 Life
This organization is an advocacy group that serves as a collective voice for promoting the renewal of physical education programs in the US. The mission of the organization is to establish daily physical education classes in all schools and to focus specifically on fitness activities that can be used throughout one’s life.

Sports Leadership Instititute
The mission of this institute is to implement leadership programs in high schools and elementary schools. In particular the institute seeks to stimulate student leadership primarily in the areas of substance abuse prevention, bullying, teasing and sportsmanship.

Bob Bigelow
Youth Sports Speaker. Former NBA standout Bob Bigelow is on a mission to reform youth sports. Speaking to communities, coaches, administrators and parents about putting the youth back into youth sports, Bob advocates reforms for youth sports that are both realistic and critically needed to allow kids to enjoy athletics.