Urban Sport-for-Development Initiatives and Young People in Socially Vulnerable Situations: Investigating the ‘Deficit Model’

Abstract

Critical scholars have indicated that the assumptions underlying most sport-for-development (SFD) initiatives tend to align with a 'deficit model' of youth: young people from disadvantaged areas are uniformly deficient and in need of development, which can be achieved through sport (Coakley, 2011;Coalter, 2013). In this article, we investigated these assumptions within six urban SFD initiatives that work with young people in socially vulnerable situations in a 'first' world nation, Belgium. We conducted a survey at two moments in time amongst 14-to 25-year-old participants in order to test two assumptions: i) 'participants are deficient and in need of development'; and ii) 'participation in SFD initiatives leads to positive personal development'. We operationalised 'development' as the commonly used outcomes of perceived selfefficacy and self-esteem. These are 'household words' both inside and outside SFD research, practice, and policy and carry the assumption that boosting them will by itself foster positive outcomes. The findings refute the supposition that young people from disadvantaged urban areas are uniformly in need of more perceived self-efficacy and self-esteem and show that there is no simple and predictable change in participants' 'development'. We suggest that, in designing and researching programs, SFD stakeholders start from an open-ended bottom-up approach which is tailored to the actual life situations of young people and their individual differences and consider more interpersonal and critical conceptualisations of 'development'.

Community sport programmes and social inclusion: what role for positive psychological capital?

“…When framed in this manner, the acquisition of resources-or capital-which expedite the (re)engagement process has become a familiar theme, and is often identified as a key ingredient to facilitating social change. For marginalised youth populations, the rhetoric surrounding the acquisition of capital has become more intense, and is often cited as a 'gateway' to enhanced life chances and a means to facilitate their sense of social inclusion (Kelly, 2011, Nols et al, 2017.…”

Sport and Incarceration: Theoretical Considerations for Sport for Development Research

“…SfD, despite its similarities to historical 'sport-for-good' efforts, is a relatively recent phenomenon that focuses on leveraging sport to achieve a wide array of social, educational and health outcomes (Darnell, 2012;Darnell, Field, & Kidd, 2019). SfD interventions are typically implemented in Global South countries with funding and ideological support from governmental, nongovernmental and corporate donors based in the Global North (Darnell, 2012); however, the logic of SfD is increasingly being applied to programs targeting supposedly 'vulnerable' or 'at-risk' groups in Global North countries (e.g., Hayhurst & Giles, 2013;Nols, Haudenhuyse, & Theeboom, 2017;Scherer, Koch, & Holt, 2016). Scholarship on SfD has proliferated in the past two decades (Schulenkorf, Sherry, & Rowe, 2016).…”

“…As Moran et al (2018, p. 670) explain, "techniques and technologies of confinement leach into everyday domestic, street, and institutional spaces with which both former inmates and their loved ones…come into contact." This may be seen in a variety of SfD programs in Global North countries for 'vulnerable' or 'at-risk' (usually young) people (e.g., Bustad & Andrews, 2017;Nols et al, 2017;Scherer et al, 2016;Schulenkorf et al, 2016), a group that may well include participants who have been incarcerated or who have been subjected to diffuse manifestations of carcerality such as police surveillance. Further, sport activities are sometimes used in community programs that exist as alternatives to incarcerating young people (e.g., Joseph, 2015); yet, as Fishwick and Wearing (2017, pp.…”

“…For example, understanding how immersion in carceral spaces or exposure to diffuse forms of carcerality can inscribe the body in ways that are stigmatizing in other contexts (Moran, 2015) could enable more nuanced critiques of various SfD or sport and social inclusion initiatives. Indeed, many sport interventions operate from a 'deficit discourse,' "which positions 'at-risk' youth, refugees, immigrants or the poor as fundamentally lacking in skills, abilities or motivations" (Darnell et al, 2018, p. 6; see also Nols et al, 2017;Spaaij, 2011). In such a context, how might the sport participation of refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom have extensive experience living in carceral spaces such as camps or detention centres (e.g., Spaaij, 2011;Spaaij et al, 2019), be affected by their embodied experience of involuntary confinement?…”

‘Defnyddiwch y Gymraeg’1: community sport as a vehicle for encouraging the use of the Welsh language

“…The potential for sport to be a vehicle for wider community values and change has been acknowledged (Collins 2010). Much of the current research regarding sport's wider role is concerned with development and peace (Burnett 2015;Spaaij, Oxford and Jeanes 2016), the social inclusion of vulnerable youths (Haudenhuyse, Theeboom and Skille 2014;Nols, Haudenhuyse and Theeboom 2017;Schaillée, Theeboom and Van Cauwenberg 2017), and poverty (Collins and Haudenhuyse 2015;Haudenhuyse 2018).…”