League Bilong Laif: rugby,education and sport-for-development partnerships in Papua New Guinea

League Bilong Laif (LBL) is a sport-for-development (SFD) programme that was established in 2013 as a three-way partnership between the Australian Government, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government (Department of Education) and the Australian Rugby League Commission (National Rugby League). As a contribution to addressing low rates of school attendance and significant problems with anti-social behaviour within PNG communities, LBL was designed to contribute to (1) improvements in student engagement with education in and out of the classroom; and (2) communication of positive social messages, with a focus on respect generally, and gender equity in particular. This paper discusses the qualitative review of the pilot phase of the LBL project, and the implications for programme design and delivery for education outcomes through a SFD programme. Data were collected through a combination of 23 interviews and focus groups with 33 individual representatives from relevant organisations and government departments in the areas of sport, education and community development. Preliminary findings indicate that despite a challenging beginning, the LBL programme has made some progress in terms of the initial development of programme aims and stakeholder engagement, largely because of the rigorous design process that kept desired programme outcomes at the forefront.     

The role of sport in community capacity building: An examination of sport for development research and practice

Population health promotion and preventing disease remain important global policy goals. Because of the complex nature of health, and the recognition of the limits of individual-oriented health promotion strategies, recent decades have seen increased interest by public health researchers and practitioners in community-level approaches to health promotion. Increasingly, community-level approaches have been based upon the theoretical concept of community capacity. Community capacity is seen as a critical mechanism for supporting and promoting community-level health and through the sport for development (SFD) model, there is evidence of sport being an important practice for community development. However, little is known about the potential role of sport as a mechanism for building community capacity. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the efficacy of sport to contribute to the process of community capacity building. Using seven established dimensions of community capacity, there is evidence that many SFD practices can effectively facilitate dimensions of community capacity when conducted in intentional, culturally relevant ways. Specifically, sport has demonstrated efficacy in building local skills, knowledge, and resources, increasing social cohesion, facilitating structures and mechanisms for community dialog, leadership development, and encouraging civic participation. More research is needed to understand sport's ability to promote capacity building through collective action, developing value systems that support democracy and inclusion, and encouraging critical reflection. To increase the usefulness of sport to support community health development, SFD principles should be included as part of sport management university curricula. Additionally, practitioners need grounding in community and human development research to support non-sport components of programs. Finally, participatory action research techniques should be used by researchers and practitioners. Sport-based development often generates high interest from residents, funders, and policy makers. By applying principles of community capacity building, sport may be uniquely positioned to enhance sustainable community health development initiatives.     

Community-oriented practice: Examining corporate social responsibility and development activities in professional sport

Professional sport teams are increasingly engaging in activities that target community development agendas. Previous researchers have examined why teams engage in such activities and the value they derive from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective; however, an understanding of the nature and focus of such activities is only beginning to emerge and further research attention is necessary. To address this gap, the authors draw on both CSR and sport-for-development (SFD) literature to examine community activities undertaken by professional sport teams. An exploratory case study methodology was employed, using a multi-case design to examine the activities of 70 professional sport teams across the commercially dominant league in each of three regions (Australia, the UK, and the US). A total of 1243 initiatives were recorded and analysed to build a profile of the nature and focus of the community activities undertaken. These were classified into 14 specific categories and analysis identified three core groups of activities: giving, activating and capacity building. Teams primarily targeted health and education agendas; however, differences were observed across regions. Teams in the US engaged more heavily in giving activities, whereas teams in the UK more commonly engaged in capacity-building activities. Variations were also observed with respect to target agenda, demonstrating differences within practices across regions. The authors propose community-oriented practices as a concept to describe the community-focused activities undertaken by professional sport teams at the intersection of CSR and SFD, and a working definition of this concept is offered.     

Managing sport for social change: The state of play

Sport-for-development (SFD) provides a platform for sport to be used as a tool or “hook” to contribute to positive outcomes in areas including economic development, social inclusion, cultural cohesion, healthy lifestyles, education, gender equity, as well as reconciliation and peacebuilding. The area of sport for social change (SFSC) represents a sub-field of SFD that uses sport as a catalyst to build social capacity and develop socially and physically healthy communities. The Managing Sport for Social Change special issue of Sport Management Review brings together a collection of conceptual advances, empirical research papers and teaching case studies from a range of social and cultural perspectives, with a focus on managing sport for social change; aimed at engaging critically with sport management theory and praxis, and discussing associated practical and policy implications. Theoretical gaps and recommendations for future research, including: local engagement, innovative research methodology, and a broadening of the scope of research are also discussed.     

Sport participation: From policy,through facilities,to users’ health,well-being,and social capital

Sport delivery systems, aimed at facilitating sports participation, represent an inter-institutional, cross-sector collaboration. Researchers focusing on the impact of different levels of sport provision from policy, through facilities, to end users remains limited. The authors address this gap in knowledge through a mixed- methods approach to examine sport participation from the perspective of the whole delivery system. Specifically, focusing on a County Sport Partnership region in the UK, the authors examine sport participation from the policy (macro), facility (meso), and end user (micro) levels. Regional heads responsible for sport development and delivery participated in semi-structured interviews, facility-level managers completed a survey, and end-users across public, private, and outsourced facilities participated in focus groups. Results show a clear divergence between the sport policy goals across the private and public sectors, with significant differences observed between facility types on their social and commercial objectives and their prioritized stakeholder groups. The divergence has little impact on user participation or expression of health, wellbeing, and social capital, offering new evidence on the role of neoliberalism in sport delivery systems.     

Using social network analysis to investigate interorganizational relationships and capacity building within a sport for development coalition

Sport for development (SFD) agencies often face issues with resource dependency, where they encounter resource deficiencies and rely upon other organizations to build capacity and attain their organizational goals and objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate what resource networks existed among agencies within a city-wide SFD coalition and the advantages and disadvantages of their participation. The authors examined an SFD coalition involving 27 agencies and their five resource networks: information, finance, human resources, infrastructure, and strategic planning. Results indicate the SFD agencies developed relationships across the five networks. A subgroup of well-connected agencies shared numerous relationships spanning multiple networks, and they assumed central positions with greater access to resources and more capacity in these networks. Coalition advantages, such as better service delivery to clients, outweighed disadvantages, such as limited time. The findings indicated the potential for SFD agencies to cultivate relationships, gain access to resources, and build capacity within these interorganizational networks.     

Managing sport-for-development: Reflections and outlook

The field of sport-for-development (SFD) has experienced significant growth and increased academic rigor over the past 15 years. As sport management scholars have started to critically investigate and evaluate SFD programs, they have in turn contributed to the future design and improvement of SFD initiatives that today are more strategically planned and pedagogically sound than ever before. As part of the 20th anniversary series of Sport Management Review, the author looks back at some of the key achievements of sport management scholarship and proposes new and exciting areas for future enquiry. In particular, while past research can be classified under the four headings of SFD programming and design; sustainable management and capacity building; creating and leveraging impacts and outcomes; and conceptual/theoretical advancements, the author suggests that future studies may attend to the managerial concepts of leadership, entrepreneurship and Design Thinking to maximise the potential of sport (management) to contribute to desired, innovative and sustained community development outcomes.     

‘Let them see a different path’: social attitudes towards sport,education and development in Sāmoa

Drawing on ethnographic data collected over 12 months of field research, this paper contributes to the growing body of literature on sport for development (SFD) by giving voice to alternative constructions of the educative potential of SFD. It does this by exploring the social attitudes of youth, educators, community leaders and government officials in the Pacific island nation of Sāmoa towards sport, education and development. Imagining sport to be like ‘school outside’, my Samoan interlocutors construct sport as an educative platform that prepares young ‘academically unfit’ men to engage an increasingly global political economy in ways classroom education cannot. Viewing international sport as a form of ‘development education’, my interlocutors perceive the educative value of SFD as being rooted in the potential for sport to help move underperforming boys into transnational flows of remittances to the family. In this way, Samoans perceive sport as enabling ‘at risk’ youth to serve their families, to learn English and to become globally minded, ultimately equipping them with the skills needed to achieve transnational futures once beyond their reach. In allowing a grassroots understanding of SFD to emerge, the paper challenges the assumption that the institutions of sport and education are compatible, mutually reinforcing and complementary. Specifically, viewing sport as an alternative to schooling may serve to reintegrate underperforming young men back into an education-to-employment pipeline, but it also carries important implications for the de-skilling of youth and the perpetuation of their positions of marginality. The paper calls into question the role of education and sport in and for development, highlighting important questions that SFD stakeholders should consider.     

Mental toughness profiles and their relations with achievement goals and sport motivation in adolescent Australian footballers

Abstract

The aims of this study were to identify the mental toughness profiles of adolescent Australian footballers and to explore the relations between the mental toughness clusters and achievement goals and sport motivation. A total of 214 non-elite, male Australian footballers aged 16–18 years (mean = 16.8, s = 0.7) provided self-reports of mental toughness, achievement goals, and sport motivation. Cluster analysis supported the presence of two-groups in which players evidenced moderate and high levels of all four mental toughness subscales. Significant multivariate effects were observed for achievement goals and sport motivation with the high mental toughness group favouring both mastery- and performance-approach goals and self-determined as well as extrinsic motivational tendencies. The results suggest that adolescent Australian footballers' self-perceptions of mental toughness fall within two clusters involving high and moderate forms of all four components, and that these profiles show varying relations with achievement goals (particularly mastery-approach) and sport motivation.     

A community capacity building approach to sport-based youth development

Positive youth development (PYD) is the most popular framework guiding sport-for-development (SFD) research. To date, much of this work has focused on how sport programs are purposefully designed to promote PYD outcomes. However, the youth-context interactions that form the theoretical basis of PYD occur across all aspects of youth ecologies, meaning youth SFD organizations are most effective when they enhance the capacity of communities as well. Although the need to expand current youth-centred perspectives has been noted by SFD scholars, implementing this insight into practice has proven difficult. In this paper, the authors provide a conceptual advancement to the literature through three objectives. First, a theoretical basis for linking PYD and community capacity frameworks is provided. Second, specific capacity building strategies are critically explored within the context of youth SFD organizations. Third, a community capacity building approach to sport-based PYD is presented and discussed in light of key considerations.     

Mind games: The inclusion of trivia as a sport in the Pan Pacific Masters Games

This case follows Shane Walters, who was successful in his proposal to have trivia included as a sport in the Pan Pacific Masters Games. Shane is now tasked with planning, programming, and delivering a sport programme, as well as marketing the programme to potential participants. The case is particularly relevant for courses that cover event planning, event marketing, and event tourism. The case is applicable to both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.     

Managing sport for social change: The effects of intentional design and structure in a sport-based service learning initiative

The current study focused on addressing a gap in understanding the design, structure, and management of sport-for-development (SFD) initiatives, in this case an initiative rooted in sport-based service learning. Sport, and specifically SFD, has been shown to facilitate positive outcomes such as social capital development through expanding networks and community building. Some studies have focused on impacts on volunteers in sport and SFD programs. These volunteers have developed networks most often through informal relationship building activities. Building on this knowledge, the current mixed methods study investigated the social capital development of alumni of a college service learning through sport course. Survey data (n = 93) and individual interviews (n = 22) with participants who had completed at least one semester in the course indicated that social capital development was facilitated. In particular, the intentional design, structure, and management aspects of the course and program provided opportunities for social capital development.     

An unacceptable status quo: A sport development case study of swimming and drownings

This case study illustrates the complexity of sport development decision-making and specifically highlights the public health concern of drowning disparities in the United States. Using sport development research to demonstrate the linkage between empirical study and practice, students must consider various factors for the most effective approach to attract and retain participants involved in a local swimming program. The parks and recreation department director, Bob Shell, is tasked with determining the best program structure based on the sets of sport development proposals he received from a member of the management staff. To further ensure students are presented with a realistic scenario, this case offers a combination of fictional and real life events from an innovative swimming program in Memphis, Tennessee. Students must critically evaluate not only sport development practices and the merits of the swimming program, but other organizational partnerships that may be formed in the community. Therefore, students are placed in a decision-making role that is common to managers in many sport contexts beyond swimming. This case study is appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate sport management courses, with specific application to sport development, policy and governance, strategic management, and recreation or leisure topics.     

The sport cluster concept as middle-range theory for the sport value framework

The Sport Value Framework provides a new logic for value creation in sport based on the Service-dominant logic. The Sport Value Framework is a general theory with high level of abstraction, and there is no middle-range theory yet to link it to empirical data. The purpose of this research is to provide one middle-range theory connecting empirical findings to the Sport Value Framework. The authors used a case study approach of a geographical localised sport industry. Primary data collection in the Auckland sailing industry included 27 interviews and observations at events. Secondary data include 13 documents of organisational information and archival data. Data were analysed with NVivo. The results suggest that the Sport Value Framework explains value creation within a localised sport industry. The middle-range theory between the authors’ data and the Sport Value Framework is the Sport Cluster Concept. Eight of the ten foundational premises of the Sport Value Framework are relevant to the case. The results confirm the Sport Cluster Concept as a middle-range theory to explain value creation in localised sport industries through the lenses of the Service-dominant logic. This research helps sport management practitioners to better understand value creation in localised sport industries. It suggests that sport management and marketing scholars should focus more on networks of actors and related inclusive empirical research designs rather than focusing on isolated elements and single actors of sport industries.     

Managing sport for health: An introduction to the special issue

Sport is often viewed as vehicle to achieve positive health outcomes. While sport's potential to contribute to health is rarely disputed, sport is not always managed in ways that specifically prioritise health objectives, and evidence regarding sport's contribution to health has been inconsistent to date. This special issue was designed to advance a research agenda in relation to the management of sport for health. Articles published in the special issue examine sport management practices that impact health, both positively and negatively. The authors identified three overarching themes, with respect to how sport can be managed towards the achievement of health outcomes: sport should be aligned with community needs and should be empowering; sport should be adaptable and evolving to ensure sport culture values health; and, sport organisations should leverage partnership for health to promote organisational sustainability. In future research, scholars are encouraged to further examine the three identified themes and expand on other findings presented in the special issue, towards a stronger evidence base in relation to the management of sport for health. Opportunities exist to continue to advance knowledge regarding the potential for management strategies, models, and practices to lead to positive-and importantly, negatives-health outcomes through sport. If sport management scholars and practitioners are to meaningfully contribute to health agendas, health objectives must play a central role in reshaping sport systems and strategies toward the achievement of such outcomes.     

Developmental processes and motivations for linkages in cross-sectoral sport clusters

Interorganisational linkages are a widely studied topic in sport management. However, most researchers focus on public or non-profit organisations and analyse one focal organisation rather than a network of interrelated organisations. The purpose of this study was to address both of these shortcomings by investigating interorganisational linkages in sport clusters, a type of cross-sectoral network. The authors address three main questions: (a) what is the nature of interorganisational linkages in sport clusters; (b) how do linkages in sport clusters develop; and (c) what are the organisational motivations for creating or joining linkages in sport clusters? A multiple case study approach explores two sailing clusters in France and New Zealand. Results show that interorganisational relationships tend to be formalised, while interorganisational networks tend to be informal. A circular development process from formal relationships to formal networks via informal relationships and networks was detected. Reciprocity is the most prevalent motive for the development of all types of interorganisational linkages. This research contributes to sport management practice by showcasing the potential multitude and variety of interorganisational linkages in a cross-sectoral sport context which are foundations for cooperation and collaboration. The theoretical contribution lies in the conceptualising of the IOR development process and different motivational patterns as antecedents.     

Managerial perceptions of factors affecting the design and delivery of sport for health programs for refugee populations

Millions of refugees from the Middle East and Africa have moved to mainland Europe in recent years, where they face boredom, physical and mental health issues, and lack of social relationships. Policy makers consider sport an effective way to address these issues, but researchers have not fully considered managerial considerations in designing and delivering sport to refugees. The purpose of this study is to understand how sport managers can design and deliver sport to refugee populations in order to maximize beneficial health outcomes. The authors theoretically grounded the study in a social-ecological model, recognizing that the design, delivery, and outcomes of sport are set within constraints at multiple levels. Data were collected using a Delphi approach with a group of experts from Germany and the Netherlands. The findings indicated that the experts attributed a number of health benefits to sport programs including physical activity, diversion, stress reduction, coping, and building friendships. Benefits were more likely to occur when the sport delivery approach moved from merely increasing participation to also affecting the sport for health settings. The experts also identified a number of intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, and societal level factors impacting the design, delivery, and outcomes of sport for health programs which are rich in implications for sport managers and policy makers.     

Political activity in escalation of commitment: Sport facility funding and government decision making in the United States

In the United States, the decision to commit extensive public resources to sport facilities is a contentious topic of debate. Elected officials often commit substantial public resources to sport facility projects amidst contrary empirical evidence and mixed residential approval. This behavior not only implicates the presence of political activity to advance a course of action, but also suggests an escalation of commitment (EoC), the subject of this study. The authors implemented a collective case study approach to examine three municipalities with long-standing histories of subsidizing professional sport facilities. Data collected from influential elected officials and public leaders (N = 13) as well as documents and records revealed (a) political action to be essential in EoC with decisions involving multiple stakeholder groups; (b) the influence and interaction of political action within each EoC determinant; (c) the substantial role of support, resources, power, and influence in efforts to increase and prevent commitment to a failing course of action; and (d) noticeable spillover effects from use of political activity in EoC.     

体育人才培养目标与社会需求的对接与适应

培养目标是一个国家培养人才的总体规范,具有权威性和导向性.培养目标与一个国家社会发展与进步密切联系.人才培养目标的定位不但决定着学校的办学方向,而且对培养方案的制定、教学内容的选择、教学的实施和安排,学校的学科专业建设、师资队伍建设、校园文化建设都起着决定性的作用.需求导向是我国实施高等学校创新能力提升计划的基本原则,带来的是对人才的知识、能力和素质不断提出新的更高要求,需要学校对人才培养目标不断做出调整.体育人才培养一般性目标应为：德智体美全面发展,具有民族精神和社会责任感、国际视野和合作竞争意识、科学精神和人文素养、创新精神和实践能力的高素质创新型人才.学校应面向所在区域体育、文化、社会发展的需求,建立自己学校特色的多元化体育人才目标.     

少年田径运动员成就目标对心理健康、运动成绩的影响

综合运用问卷调查法、文献资料法、数理统计法及以访谈法等方法，分析讨论了成就目标、心理健康与运动成绩的关系。结果表明：掌握目标与躯体化因子的相关达到显著水平；成绩目标与人际关系敏感因子、焦虑因子、敌对因子的相关达到显著水平；掌握目标与运动成绩存在显著的正相关；高成就目标定向组和高掌握目标定向组运动成绩的得分分别与低成就目标定向组存在非常显著差异，高成就目标定向组和高掌握目标定向组运动成绩的均分较高；心理健康总分，高掌握目标定向组与高成就目标定向组、高成绩目标定向组、低成就目标定向组均存在显著差异，高掌握目标定向组得分最低。因此认为，高掌握目标定向最有利于运动员的全面发展。建议在培养少年田径运动员的成就目标定向时，应帮助运动员树立能力增长观，在运动训练过程中多设置掌握定向氛．围。