Youth sport volunteering: developing social capital?
By T. Kay, S. Bradbury. 2009
164 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This paper analyses the capacity of youth sport volunteering to contribute to the development of social capital. Following a review of the emergence of social capital as a key theme in UK sport policy, the paper focuses on the ability of a structured sports volunteering programme to equip young people with skills for effective volunteering, and provide opportunities for ‘social connectedness’ through sports volunteer placements. The study uses survey data (n=160) and qualitative interviews (n=10) with young people to examine how the national Step into Sport programme impacts on participants’ personal and skill development, and on their commitment to community involvement. Interviews with education and sport professionals (n=33) provide additional expert perspectives on the programme's impact on participants. Both sets of respondents report strong individual benefits to participants from their involvement, and increased social connectedness in a range of contexts. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the study for claims about the potential contribution of sport to social capital.
Subfields: Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ee3c0e183704a81064eb9230f97c10cd8bd6e95c
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In Safety Research
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- Sport and Development (2011, background): “…typically frame their objectives and outcomes as mutually beneficial for marginalized individuals and the society at large (see, for example, Kay & Bradbury, 2009; Spaaij, 2009b), the reality is that many sport-based “development” programs have been stifled by persistent inequalities and…”
- Youth Sports (2011, background): “Over the past century, the claims of sport evangelists have informed and justified sport-related program and funding decisions at local and national levels, despite a general lack of research support (Kay & Bradbury, 2009).”