CTSA Milestones

The precursor to the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) was the National Sportsmanship Committee (NSC), which began with national committee meetings in 1988 and concluded in 1993. The committee meetings brought together representatives from amateur and professional organizations to discuss citizenship in sports. Over the five-year period, the committee discussed common problems and sought solutions, but disbanded due to a lack of programmatic focus and waning continued interest.

At the same time, beginning in 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intensified its focus on the need for a return to sportsmanship in athletic competition. It was during that year that the third principle of the Statement of Guiding Principles for the NCAA Presidents Commission was adopted. This principle holds student-athletes responsible for deporting themselves with "honesty and good sportsmanship."

By 1992, the Presidents Commission began considering making the general area of ethical behavior and the values of intercollegiate athletics the topic for the fourth year of its strategic plan. The Commission continued to make the subject of sportsmanship an integral part of its activities.

The NCAA Presidents Advisory Committee issued its Report on Ethical Behavior in College Athletics in March 1994, which cited four facets of the sports culture problem: coaches, fans, student-athletes, and institutional administrators. The report also identified four governing bodies that would be critical in generating solutions: the NCAA, its member institutions, conferences, and coaches associations. Also, representatives of Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) agreed to cooperate with the Commission's Committee in its integrity and sportsmanship efforts.

By March 1994, the NCAA Presidents Commission Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct in Intercollegiate Athletics was appointed and charged to investigate ethical behavior and sportsmanship. Subsequent meetings were held and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the NCAA, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) were included in discussions about sportsmanship and ethical conduct in all sports.

All organizations involved in numerous meetings agreed that action had to be taken at all levels to stem the ebb of sportsmanship and to return ethical conduct to athletics competition. Two months later, spearheaded by the NCAA and NFHS staff, a proposal was developed to establish an organizational structure for the Citizenship Through Sports initiative. Members of the Alliance included the NAIA, NCAA, NFHS, and NJCAA. Representatives of these organizations had the task of developing and implementing a national curriculum, Citizenship Through Sports, which was the genesis for the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance.