TROY – The first-ever Southern Sport Management Conference will make Troy University its home April 7-8.

Presented by the University and the Alabama Institute for Sports and Fitness Management, the conference will focus on “Career Opportunities in Sport Management” with speakers beginning at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Friday, according to Jason Lee, the Institute’s director and an assistant professor in kinesiology and health promotion at Troy University .

Conference speakers include: Paul Blythin, of Velocity Sports Performance in Montgomery; Matt DeWitt, of Newberry College in Newberry, S.C.; Joel Erdmann, of the University of North Alabama; Jennifer Jones, of the Max-A-Life Fitness Center at the McCullough Institute for Appearance and Health in Gulf Shores; Greg Letter, of Mississippi State University; Dan Drane, of the University of Southern Mississippi; Paul Pederson, of the Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla.; Marc Riker, of the Alabama Sports Festival; John Vincent and Ken Wright, both from the University of Alabama.

Lee said the Institute was founded to support existing sports programs and opportunities for both participants and sport and fitness management professionals. Although the institute is based at Troy University , its advisory board includes administrators from four other universities, prominent physicians and representatives of youth sports such as Dixie Boys Baseball.

The registration fee for the conference is $15.

The Institute, in conjunction with the Department of Athletics, Student Services and the Department of Kinesiology, is also hosting a lecture on April 12 by Michael Franzese, a former mafia crime boss, on athletics and gambling. That lecture is free and open to the public, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Claudia Crosby Theatre.