Daniel Gould
Department of Kinesiology
College of Education
Daniel Varner and Tim Richey
Think Detroit Police Athletic League
The Outreach Scholarship Community Partnership Award honors Daniel Gould and the staff of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and Daniel Varner, Tim Richey and the staff of Think Detroit Police Athletic League. TDP is a youth development, nonprofit organization in Detroit whose mission is to build character in young people through athletic, academic and leadership development programs. Sports programs are TDP’s largest activity, with 11,000 youth between the ages of four and nineteen participating annually in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, flag football, golf, volleyball, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and tackle football, among other seasonal sports.
The program seeks to serve young people who are not involved in any after-school activities. Built around such key values as helping youth understand and develop integrity and a sense of purpose, the partnership provides a unique training curriculum, specifically for volunteer coaches working with youth in underserved urban environments, to facilitate the development of life skills through sports participation. ISYS developed TDP’s coaching education program and then evaluated the program to learn what strategies and practices best fostered positive youth development and character among the young people that TDP serves. Currently, ISYS and TDP are codeveloping a mentoring component for their program.
The ISYS–TDP partnership has reaped numerous benefits for both the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and Think Detroit Police Athletic League. ISYS has provided research-based expertise and knowledge on sports and positive youth development to TDP—both at the onset of programs and as part of post-program, research-based assessments, helping TDP ensure that they are meeting their goals of helping often-marginalized youth develop to their full potential.
Concurrently, TDP has provided ISYS with material and data to expand its research on the relationship between sports involvement and positive youth development, adding tremendously to this growing body of research knowledge. The partnership of ISYS and TDP resulted in a number of studies that have identified best practices for facilitating positive youth development through sport in underserved communities.
Gould is widely recognized for his research-to-practice approach on critical issues in youth sports and is on the cutting edge in bringing youth sports research to underserved areas. His scholarly efforts have resulted in more than 150 publications and more than 100 dissemination-service publications.
Varner is CEO of Excellent Schools Detroit and was CEO of TDP at the initiation of the partnership; Mr. Richey currently serves as the CEO of TDP. Both men are passionate about improving the lives of vulnerable children in Detroit and have devoted their lives to achieving this service goal.