40 Facts for 40 Years of the Youth Sport Institute

In celebration of the ISYS 40th Conference, we’ve created a list of 40 facts about the history of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports.

1. The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports was created at Michigan State University on April 5^th, 1978.
2. The ISYS was created from a Joint Legislative Committee that consisted of members from the Michigan State House of Representatives, Michigan State Senate, and Michigan State University faculty.
3. The rapid increase of organized, highly competitive sport caused parents, educators, physicians, and legislatures to question if some of the practices occurring in youth sport programs were in the best interest of the children involved. This concern led to the creation of the ISYS to study best practices in youth sports.
4. Vern Seefeldt served as the coordinator for a three-phase joint legislative study on youth sports, which provided the foundation that lead to the decision to create ISYS.
5. The first director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports was Dr. Vern Seefeldt.
6. The budget for the first year of the ISYS funded four faculty members, one full-time editorial assistant, and four graduate students.
7. Seefeldt was director of the ISYS for 17 years when he retired in 1998. Dr. Robert Malina replaced him as director.
8. Thelma Horn, Gail Bremer, Maureen Weiss, and Richard Howell were the first four graduate students at the ISYS.
9. Dan Gould, current ISYS director, was one the first tenure line faculty member hired at the ISYS in 1977.
10. Deborah Feltz was also a faculty member in the ISYS in 1980 along with Dr. Marty Ewing who started in 1993.
11. Many youth sport researchers know in the field have been graduate students who worked in the ISYS such as Maureen Weiss, Thelma Horn, Linda Petlichkoff, Crystal Branta, Lori Gano-Overway, and Sarah Carson.
12. In 1999, the ISYS hosted an international conference in celebration of its 20^th Over 30 countries were represented from attendees at the conference.
13. Dan Gould became director of the ISYS in 2004.
14. The first wave of research conducted by the ISYS focused on identifying who youth sport coaches were and their educational needs.
15. The second wave of research examined coaching efficacy and the role coaches play in influencing youth outcomes.
16. Currently, the ISYS is studying coach-athlete interactions, life skill development through sport, sport specialization, concussions in young athletes and coach learning characteristics.
17. The mission of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports is to provide leadership, scholarship and outreach that transforms the face of youth sports in ways that maximize the beneficial physical, psychological, and social effects of participation for children and youth while minimizing detrimental effects.
18. To achieve the overall mission determined by the joint legislative committee, the ISYS has four specific objectives,
19. First objective: Facilitate a paradigmatic shift in the way America judge’s success in youth sports — place child development before winning,
20. Second objective: Eliminate myths and enhance positive health behaviors in youth sports.
21. Third objective: Lead the nation in ways to develop and advance coaches and youth sports leaders.
22. Fourth objective: Be America’s source of unbiased scientific and best practice evidence on critical youth sports issues.
23. The ISYS has a rich history of outreach and engagement with coaches and youth sport programs in Michigan.
24. The ISYS created the Program for Athletic Coaches Education that was used to educate school and non-school coaches.
25. In the early years of the ISYS, faculty and graduate students would travel around the state of Michigan to train youth sport coaches. They conducted literally thousands of coaching clinics.
26. Today, the ISYS focuses more on a train-the-trainer format with the creation of curriculum and training materials for organizations around Michigan and the United States.
27. Currently, the ISYS partners with such organizations such as the Detroit Police Athletic League, the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the United States Tennis Association, and many more.
28. In 2013, the ISYS Director Dr. Dan Gould launched the Kristen Marie Gould Endowed Lecture on Sport for Children and Youth. This lecture brings a speaker to campus who is making a substantial contribution to the field.
29. In 2015, the ISYS launched the first annual Summer Coaches School, a two-day educational event for coaches in Michigan.
30. The Summer Coaches School aims to establish a community of practice devoted to quality coaching for coaches at the developmental to elite levels of sport.
31. The Summer Coaches School has run for four consecutive years, with the fifth happening this year June 27-28^th, 2019.
32. In 2016, the ISYS created the Sport Coaching and Leadership (SCL) Online Master’s Degree and Graduate Certificate.
33. ISYS Alum and current faculty member, Dr. Andy Driska, created the SCL program with Dr. Dan Gould.
34. In 2018, the program expanded requiring a second ISYS faculty member resulting in Dr. Jennifer Nalepa’s hire, also an alum of the ISYS.
35. Today the Institute consists of three tenure-line faculty, two fixed-term professors, twelve doctoral students, and five master’s students.
36. Karl Erickson and Dr. Leapetswe Malete serve as the two tenure-line faculty members in the ISYS.
37. Dr. Erickson is focusing his research on athlete development and coaching and their interactions performance, health, and psychosocial outcomes.
38. Dr. Malete is expanding the global reach of the ISYS with his research in Africa examining how sport can be used to teach African children life lessons.
39. Graduates of the ISYS are in a variety of positions ranging from professors at universities, directors of youth sport programs, and consultants with the US Military.
40. The ISYS has become a leader in the study of youth sports in the US and around the world and will continue to contribute to knowledge on best practices in youth sport.