Jim Thompson and Positive Coaching Alliance Receive Inaugural ETHOS Award for Ethics in Sports from Santa Clara University’s Institute of Sports Law and Ethics

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Santa Clara University's Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE) will award its inaugural ETHOS Award for Ethics in Sports to Jim Thompson and the organization he founded, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).

“Jim Thompson and his Positive Coaching Alliance clearly and fully exemplify the ethics in action that we are striving to promote at the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics”

PCA is a national nonprofit based in Mountain View, Calif., with the mission to transform the culture of youth and high school sports to develop “Better Athletes, Better People.” Since its founding in 1998, PCA has impacted more than 4.5 million youth athletes, primarily through live group workshops that incorporate Thompson’s books on youth-sports coaching and parenting, as well as through online courses and publications.

PCA training develops a Double-Goal Coach®, who pursues the goal of winning, while also pursuing the more-important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. Those lessons include “Honoring the Game,” PCA’s ethical framework of sportsmanship. PCA also emphasizes ethics in its Becoming a Triple-Impact Competitor® workshop for high school-aged student-athletes. PCA also provides workshops and materials for sports parents and school and youth sports organization leaders.

“I am honored that PCA and I are the first recipients of this award,” said Thompson, who started PCA after 10 years as director of the public and global management programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “It will help us and those who support our work—such as Phil Jackson, Steve Young, Doc Rivers, and Summer Sanders—to reinforce our message that ‘winning’ is not defined just by scoreboard results, and that it is critically important to train young athletes to honor the game by respecting rules, opponents, officials, teammates, and self.”

The $5,000 award will be presented at a dinner at Santa Clara University’s Adobe Lodge on May 1, 2013. Representatives of major Bay Area sports organizations are expected to attend the event.

The Institute of Sports Law and Ethics chose Thompson and PCA over 30 other candidates for the award. “Jim Thompson and his Positive Coaching Alliance clearly and fully exemplify the ethics in action that we are striving to promote at the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics,” said Kirk Hanson, executive director of SCU’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, who co-chaired the selection committee.

The ETHOS prize will be an annual award honoring a decision, action, initiative, or program that has contributed to the ethics of sport in the United States. “Ethics of sport” refers to the adherence to rules and practices or structures that promote fair opportunity for all competitors, a concern for safety of all participants, and a focus on the positive impact of sport on American life and on the moral formation of all participants.

Nominations for future recipients of the ETHOS Award may be made to the executive director of ISLE by emailing [e-mail].

About the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics

The Institute of Sports Law and Ethics was founded by the Santa Clara University School of Law, SCU Athletic Department, and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Its 25-member board includes distinguished athletes and sports executives. The institute’s signature event is an annual Symposium on Sports Law and Ethics in September, covering subjects such as concussions, steroids, amateurism, and the commercial use of athletes’ images. In 2012 ISLE added a community outreach component, established the ETHOS Award, and created a task force to study amateurism. For more information see law.scu.edu/sportslaw.

About Positive Coaching Alliance

Positive Coaching Alliance is a national nonprofit achieving its mission to transform youth sports in partnership with roughly 2,000 schools and youth sports organizations throughout the U.S., many prominent national youth sports organizations and a national advisory board comprising scores of top coaches, athletes, academicians, and business leaders. For more information see www.positivecoach.org.