6–10 Jun 2022
Tübingen
Europe/Berlin timezone

Taking Stock: A Sport-Focused Review of Theoretical and Conceptual Advancements in Sport-for-Development

7 Jun 2022, 15:40
20m

Speakers

Nico Schulenkorf Jon Welty Peachey Patrick Hill

Description

Over the past 15 years, the field of sport-for-development (SFD) has experienced significant growth and diversification across research and practice. In this presentation, we focus on two distinct yet interrelated objectives: First, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical and conceptual developments within SFD. And second, we identify how this original work has been extended or expanded by recent scholarship. In doing so, we address the call from scholars who have illuminated the need for theory building and critical dialogue within SFD to help further legitimize and develop the field (Lyras & Welty Peachey, 2011; Schulenkorf & Spaaij, 2015).

Taking a sport-focused perspective (see Chalip, 2006), we reviewed the SFD literature and identified a total of 38 articles that included SFD-focused theory or conceptualizations. Out of these, five distinct theoretical and conceptual frameworks emerged: the Ripple-Effect Model (Sugden, 2010), Sport-for-Development Theory (Lyras & Welty Peachey, 2011), the Sport-for-Development Framework (Schulenkorf, 2012), Programme Theory (Coalter, 2013), and the Sport-for-Health Model (Schulenkorf & Seifken, 2019). In analyzing the utilization of these contributions across all scholarly work, we focused on the studies’ levels of engagement: from merely mentioning SFD theories/concepts, to engaging with them, to applying them as guiding frameworks.

Overall, our analysis highlights that to date, the majority of SFD scholarship is borrowing theories from other disciplines rather than engaging with, applying, and extending the five SFD-derived theories. We conclude our presentation with a critical discussion of the status quo, and by suggesting conceptual advancements that may contribute to further theoretical development in and around SFD.

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