Sport development in challenging times: leverage of sport events for legacy in disadvantaged communities

Abstract

This research project focused on legacy around the 2016 BMX World SuperCross event held in Manchester at the National Cycling Centre. In the current social, political and economic climate, the consideration of wider impacts of major events have come under increasing scrutiny. There has been an increasingly critical debate about social benefits, sporting and community impacts, methods to achieve increases in sport participation and event legacy. This paper considers the impacts on people, processes and practice, or 'soft legacy' of the event, through the realistic evaluation of two BMX projects which were based on hosting of the BMX World Cup event. The impact of attempts to leverage social and sport development impacts, in particularly challenging circumstances and communities are highlighted, applying a Realistic Evaluation framework (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) on two programmes. Results showed that though the programme of Street BMX was successful in reaching over 500 participant as planned, there was no evidence of transition into BMX community track sessions. In the targeted event-based programme there were positive benefits to the participants, but limited impact on their educational outcomes. This paper highlights the implications for those planning event-based sport development interventions attempting to engage hard-pressed communities. Sport development in challenging times: leverage of sport events for legacy in disadvantaged communities Perspectives of Youth workers -Street BMX impacts and transitionsKey themes identified from the interviews with Youth workers related to:

Pro-Environmental Behaviour of Attendees at a Major Sport Event in Cameroon

“…The hosting of major sport events has been intertwined with leveraging the inherent socio-economic, urban regeneration and tourism benefits (Bohlmann & Van Heerden, 2005;Davies, 2016;Xue & Mason, 2017;Hemmonsbey et al, 2018;Hemmonsbey & Tichaawa, 2018a,b;Tichaawa et al, 2018;Hemmonsbey & Tichaawa, 2019). As a result, an increasing number of countries are seeking to host large-scale sport events, with the impacts of major sport events having come under scrutiny, specifically regarding the realisation of the promised benefits (see Davies, 2010;Taks, 2013;Adams & Piekarz, 2015;Taks et al, 2015;Bell & Daniels, 2018). Increasingly, sport event sustainability has gained much prominence in the scholarly literature (Sotiriandou & Hill, 2015).…”

Sport Events for Sport Participation: A Scoping Review

“…Finally, three studies employ a realist evaluation framework (i.e., Chen and Henry, 2016 ; Girginov, 2016 ; Bell and Daniels, 2018 ). These investigations place an emphasis on the context of the event and its ability to stimulate sport participation, particularly with regard to the resources provided for the purpose of increasing sport participation.…”

An autoethnographic study of realist knowledge translation within sport development

“…Over the last six years I have introduced programme theory development and evaluation to well over two hundred students. As stated previously, my main intention has always been to encourage my students as practitioners to occupy a realist lens which is what I believe (along with others: Bell & Daniels, 2018;Chen, 2018) to be the appropriate approach for addressing the multiple complexities within SD. Throughout these experiences I have been more than aware that the extent to which they would continue to mobilise realist programme development and evaluation further down the line would be variable.…”

“…At the heart of realist approaches to programme development and evaluation is the intention to question: 'what is it about our programme that may bring about change?' These are all relevant issues and questions at the centre of SD given that the causality we see in these programmes is often hidden requiring deeper exploration (Bell & Daniels, 2018). Realist approaches are new to the SD field but they hold potential with their capacity to make sense of how and why programmes are working appreciating the role that context plays in influencing any capacity for change in a programme (Pawson & Tilley, 1997;Westhorp, 2014).…”