[153] Professionalization of Youth Sports Topic of Free & Open Lecture on Oct. 27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 19, 2009
CONTACT: Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth at MTSU, 615-898-5549.

MTSU CENTER HOSTS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN EXPERT ON YOUTH SPORTS
Professionalization of Youth Sports Topic of Free & Open Lecture on Oct. 27

(MURFREESBORO)—The MTSU-based Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth will sponsor a free and open lecture by an expert in the field of health and human performance on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Dr. Dan Gould, an internationally known coach and athlete educator, will visit MTSU to deliver a talk on "The Professionalization of Youth Sports: Implications for Involvement and Youth Development" at 7 p.m. Oct 27 in the State Farm Lecture Hall (Room S102) in the Business and Aerospace Building.
A professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University, Gould serves as director of MSU’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, a multidisciplinary center that seeks to transform the face of youth sports in ways that maximize the beneficial physical, psychological and social effects of sports participation for children and youth.
Gould is a researcher and consultant in the area of applied-sport psychology and kinesiology. As a sport-psychologist specialist, Gould has served as a consultant with the U.S. Ski Team, NASCAR pit crews and drivers, professional tennis players and numerous Olympic athletes. He also has been extensively involved in national coaching education through his service on the U.S. Olympic Committee Coaching Development Committee for more than 10 years and co-chaired the USOC Sport Science and Technology Committee.
Currently, Gould serves as vice chairman of the United States Tennis Association Sport Science and Coaching Committee.
An active researcher, Gould has studied the stress-athletic performance relationship, sources of athletic stress, athlete motivation, youth sports issues and the use and effectiveness of sport psychological skills training. His current projects include the role of parents in tennis success, benefits of youth sports participation and the development of psychological talent in athletes.
For more information about this free lecture, please contact the Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth at MTSU by calling 615-898-5549.



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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.