The Institute for International Sport is urging NCAA member conferences and institutions to join with youth organizations, high schools and other institutions in becoming a National Sportsmanship Day partner during 2009.

The 19th annual National Sportsmanship Day is scheduled for March 3, but partners can observe the event any time during the year, said Chuck Mitrano, commissioner of the Empire 8 Conference and 2009 NSD partnerships chair.

Last year, more than 14,000 institutions in all 50 states and around the world observed NSD.

A principal goal this year is to develop a group of National Sportsmanship Day Partners to help encourage participation in the event. Partners will be asked to use communication outlets to share NSD’s history and promote active participation in the 2009 program – including using their Web sites to indicate their involvement in the partnership and to provide a link to the NSD Web site.

“My hope is the NCAA membership will have a strong showing in the program, as a statement of the value of sportsmanship,” Mitrano said.

The Institute of International Sport publicly will acknowledge participants in the partnership in February.

National Sportsmanship Day was founded by IIS Executive Director Dan Doyle in 1991 with these objectives:

• To designate a special day each year during which thousands of student-athletes, coaches, administrators and parents would engage in thoughtful and reasoned discussion about the role of sportsmanship.
• To provide participating schools, clubs and other athletics organizations with a number of tips on how to successfully celebrate the day. At the core of this objective is a belief that “good discussion is fatal to bad sportsmanship.”
• To make participation in National Sportsmanship Day an anchor event to foster good sportsmanship on a year-round basis.

Institutions wishing to participate as a 2009 partner can submit this form via mail, email or fax to Erica Wheeler at the Institute of International Sport.