Philippines group signing

United States Sports Academy President and CEO Dr. T.J. Rosandich, seated at left, signed an agreement with Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chair William “Butch” Ramirez, seated second from left, to help enhance that country’s national sport programs at all levels. Also shown are, standing from left: Academy Trustees Darrelyn Dunmore and Susan McCollough, Academy Chair of Recreation Management Dr. Rodney Blackman and Interim Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Doctoral Studies Dr. Fred Cromartie. Seated from left are Rosandich, Ramirez, Academy Founding President Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich, Philippine Sports Institute deputy training director Henry Daut and PSC Director of Operations Dr. Sergio Opeña.

DAPHNE, Ala. – The United States Sports Academy has signed an agreement to work with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to enhance the national sport effort in the island nation.

Academy President and CEO Dr. T.J. Rosandich signed the agreement with PSC Chair William “Butch” Ramirez with members of the PSC delegation and Academy faculty and Trustees present during a recent visit by the delegation to the Academy campus in Daphne.

The agreement marks the return of the Academy’s international programs to the Republic of the Philippines, where it taught certification programs in the early 1980s.

“We taught our international certification programs in sports management and sports coaching in the island nation in the early 1980s, so to return is meaningful indeed,” Rosandich said.

“The Academy is looking forward to playing a role in the enhancing of the national sport effort in the Philippines through our programs in education, research and service. Having taught sports education programs to more than 65 countries, this partnership with the Philippines is a continuation of our mission.”

“We have a great respect for the United States Sports Academy because of the work it did with our country in the past,” Ramirez said. “We are grateful for all the Academy has done and we look forward to restarting the relationship we had for so many years.”

The collaboration will begin immediately, as the Academy within the next month will send a faculty member to the Philippines to teach a sports governance and financial administration course to senior officials in the PSC and in the Philippine Olympic Committee. Future courses on a wide range of sport topics will be taught to support the development of sport at the national and interscholastic levels in the Philippines, helping to educate the coaches and managers responsible for the long-term growth of success of sport in the country.

The team of leaders from the PSC visited the Academy following the signing of a “Protocol of Cooperation” in Davao, Philippines, last October.

The Academy will be working with government entities and organizations designated by the PSC in consultation with the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Philippine Olympic Committee, Department of the Interior and Local Government and national sports organizations.

Founded more than 45 years ago, the Academy has delivered quality sport education and service programs in 65 countries around the world. These have varied in scope from the full-charge conduct of a nation’s entire national sport effort to individual coaching clinics, seminars and symposia. As a not-for-profit, independent school of sport, the Academy has been able to provide a combination of expertise expected from a sports university combined with the experience gleaned from applying expertise in this field.

Clients of the Academy have included central sports organizations, (CSOs, such as ministries of youth and sports), national Olympic committees, ministries of education (for physical education and interscholastic sport programs) and sport associations and federations. Many of the details of this work can be found by visiting the Academy’s website at https://ussa.edu/international/.