Starting from Nothing: Building an Applied Sport Science Program From the Ground Up—A 5-Step Process

ABSTRACT Sport science has enjoyed an emergence at the higher levels of sport in the last 15–20 years particularly at larger organizations such as professional sports teams and some Division 1 universities. These applied programs can be established in a top-down fashion with leadership providing institutional will, organization, and possibly funding. However, most universities, applied sport science program startups usually necessitate a grassroots, bottom-up approach initiated by academic and/or athletics personnel. To this end, we advocate a 5-step approach: (a) build relationships within and between academics and athletics; (b) identify needs and opportunities, including which sports would like to be involved; (c) identify resources of equipment, personnel, and funding; (d) set realistic, attainable goals based on the needs, opportunities, and resources identified and acquired in steps 2–3; (e) finally, approach the administration to gain institutional support; use data to demonstrate how the sport science program can support student-athletes, provide a positive return on investment, and contribute to the fulfillment of the university's mission. Applied sport science programs can be started using a bottom-up approach comprised of developing intra- and interathletics and academics relationships, identifying needs, opportunities, and available resources, setting attainable goals, and approaching the administration for full institutional support.