Mission statements are widely employed as a tool for strategic organizational planning. In sport, various types of organizations utilize their mission statements to communicate objectives that range from the development of responsible citizens to the importance of establishing professional standards of ethical practice for members. Research has shown that a mission statement's usefulness is related to organizational members' knowledge of it. In sport, it is not known if mission statements and the ethical messages they convey are effectively disseminated from those who develop them to the practitioners who implement them (e.g., coaches, athletes, sport psychologists, mental trainers). Therefore, using a case study approach, the purpose of this study was to trace the process of how one academic institution's mission statement was communicated to and understood by sport stakeholders. Results indicated that administrators were knowledgeable of the school's mission statement and that many coaches were at least familiar with the mission statement whereas parents and athletes reported very little or no knowledge. The findings of this study suggest possible issues in the communication of mission statements and implications for sport psychology organizations are discussed.

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