Changing The Language Of Sports

There are over 60 million student athletes in the United States in grades 6-12 that play organized sports. For many, sports has always gone hand in hand with education and the passage from childhood into adulthood, whether playing a sport as part of an organized team for a school, local athletic league or just playing for the love of the game. The rewards of playing sports are vast and numerous, including team bonding, group affiliation, competition and fun. Besides the health advantages, student athletes learn discipline, teamwork, strategy, time management, self-esteem, respect for themselves and others, how to win and lose, and most importantly how to achieve a goal with dedication and hard work.

Surprisingly, of these 60 million student athletes, a staggering 90% hope to play professional sports as part of an industry where less than 2% will ever achieve that dream. By age 15, at least 80% of kids that played an organized sport during their youth, will have quit playing altogether. For these kids, the game that they knew as a student athlete has ended. Unbeknownst to many of these students, there is a whole other side to being involved in sports.

What if kids knew about the world of sports besides just the part about being an athlete or a spectator? What if they were able to learn about careers in an industry that generates $1.5 trillion in revenue each year? Welcome to Legacy the School of Sport Sciences, a first of its kind charter school for grades 6-12 in Houston, TX focused on professions within the sports industry. Legacy is the first school of its kind nationally where students will learn about coaching, athletic administration, sports media and journalism, sports medicine and psychology, sports engineering and sport STEM, all while partnering with higher education institutions and industry business partners.

Legacy was founded by Kerrie Patterson-Brown, EdD, a former collegiate athlete and women's basketball coach for Texas A&M. Kerrie is married to retired NFL player Reggie Brown, who was drafted out of Texas A&M in the first round (17th overall) of the 1996 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. While playing for the Detroit Lions, Reggie suffered a spinal cord contusion in the final game of the 1997 season that nearly left him paralyzed and ended his career. Reggie's younger brother, Michael Johnson, was a safety with the NY Giants and a Super Bowl XLII winner during the 2008 season. It was while attending this Super Bowl, that Reggie and Kerrie really understood the magnitude of all the moving pieces that go into making a Super Bowl work and all the people that are needed behind the scenes. While the both of them have always been passionate about education in addition to sports, it was during this time that the concept of Legacy the School of Sport Sciences was born.

Legacy will open its doors to its first students in Fall 2017 and is set for quick expansion in the next five years, including a second campus in Houston as well as schools in Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and NYC. The school inspires students and their families by allowing students to be educated through practical experience both inside and outside of the classroom. Legacy is partnering with Houston sports organizations including the Houston Astros along with well known academic institutions including Rice University, The University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Southern University, University of Houston and Houston Community College. Academic curriculum is also supported by NRG Energy, Houston Sports Authority and St. Luke's Health System. Students graduating from Legacy will earn enough credits to enter a college or university program as a junior.

Athletic coaches at the school include former well known professional and collegiate athletes and coaches, who are passionate not only about youth sports, but educating students as to the future opportunities that exist in an industry that has an exponential rate of growth. So for all of the students that have a dream of being in professional sports, that dream has the opportunity to take on a new language and meaning, but it doesn't have to end. As Kerrie Patterson-Brown is known for saying, "You can't love what you don't know. Welcome to the the new language of sports!"

For more information visit https://legacycmhs.org/ or contact Kerrie Patterson-Brown at [email protected] or Mel Saettone at [email protected]