Return to community sport: leaning on evidence in turbulent times

Abstract

This commentary considers return to organized sport amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of nonprofit community (grassroots) sport clubs that are the backbone of sport in many countries around the world. Local clubs can be vulnerable to challenging conditions at the best of times, and are at risk of significant negative impact if they cannot weather the storm of the current pandemic and resume their sport delivery. The opportunity and importance of drawing on evidence-based insights during these unprecedented times is highlighted here, by connecting examples of existing knowledge in several key areas (assessing and building capacity, embracing innovation, and adapting top-down policy directives to the local context) with the challenges facing community sport clubs. Potential directions for new research during and post-pandemic that builds on such foundational knowledge are also presented, charting a course for new inquiry that will support a more resilient community sport sector for the future.

Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth Sport and Physical Activity Participation Trends

“…To help stop the spread of the virus in Canada and many other nations, traditional structures and opportunities for youth sport participation of which consumers were accustomed were simply not available during the pandemic [16,17]. Youth sport participation and physical activity had to quickly adapt in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing youth to different forms of sport and physical activity [14,15,18].…”

“…These works have covered several aspects of the community sport sector, including sport development systems [17], community sport organization structures [16], and community sport for persons with disabilities [18]. These investigations and commentaries have provided important insights into the immediate, short term [16,18], and long term [17] implications for community sport systems and structures. An important aspect of community sport that has yet to be considered in the COVID-19 response literature is shifting patterns and preferences of youth sport consumers.…”

“…For sport organizations to not only recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also become stronger sport providers, proactive actions must be taken to understand how the pandemic might have affected youth sport and physical activity consumer behaviour. Drawing from the predicted trends presented above, sport organizations can take on innovative practices [16] to respond to these trends in three ways: innovative programming; innovative marketing; and innovative resource management.…”

“…Finally, as consumers start to reconceptualize value expected from youth sport and physical activity experiences, sport organizations will have to be innovative with the mobilization [16] of their resources (e.g., operand and operant) [37][38][39]. Indeed, the ways in which sport club resources were mobilized prior to the pandemic might not be perceived as important to families post-pandemic.…”

Can community football clubs in Scotland develop the local partnership support they need?

“…This was the case before the COVID-19 pandemic and as sport and leisure scholars have recently noted, there are some even more challenging times ahead for community sport (Doherty et al, 2020).…”