Sports after-school programs have shown benefits for reducing children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors and improving their socioemotional skills development, positive peer socialization, and prosocial behaviors. Nevertheless, lack of participation remains a challenge for many programs. We conducted nine (9) interviews with parents, residing in a primarily Hispanic-populated city in South Florida, and who had a child enrolled (or were planning to do so) in a soccer-for-development program called Fútbol con Corazón (FCC). We based the qualitative inquiry on the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand motivations and barriers to parental engagement. We conducted a codebook thematic analysis, in which two researchers analyzed the transcripts independently, then discussed discrepancies to reach consensus. Findings revealed that the most relevant factors for improving parental engagement included soccer’s cultural roots, perceived physical and mental health benefits for their children, and proximity to the park. The findings support a growing body of literature indicating that soccer related programs offer culturally sensitive approaches in addition to mental health promoting opportunities for Latino communities in the United States.

Research has identified barriers to sport participation among girls and women from systemically oppressed groups (e.g., Black, Indigenous, low-socioeconomic status). However, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of programs designed to ameliorate or remove those barriers and influence girls’ attitudes and behaviors toward participation. To address this complexity and context-specific factors, Marra’s theory (2015) suggests exploring participant experiences by focusing on how participants discuss program features related to interdependence, adaptation, and self-direction. Through focus group data collection, 30 participants from under-resourced, urban settings were asked to discuss their experiences within sport-for-development 9-week programs. Several overarching themes framed their experience within this development program. Participants expressed a desire to be consulted on program choices and see their choices come to life within the program (adaptation). Racialized coaching staff were identified as an important element of programming when creating relationships with and between participants, but an element that must be effectively managed (interdependence). Participants identified a need to clearly define role parameters and sufficient training regarding program deliverables related to life skills (self-direction). Findings indicate that program administration should consider investment in preparation, coaching, and incorporating participant feedback into programming to maintain sustainability.

SDP scholars have identified critical shortcomings related to neoliberalist tendencies from the Global North to the Global South. Deporte y Cambio Social was a short-term SDP program established through partnership between American and Mexican constituent groups aiming to empower girls and women through soccer. Through semi-structured, two-year retrospective interviews, the purpose of the present study was to explore cross-cultural understandings of power and intercultural power relations from the voices of Mexican and American stakeholders to offer reflective critique of, and generate participant-informed strategies for improving, the design and implementation SDP programs broadly. Using thematic analysis from a critical constructivist orientation, the meanings generated from the data showed that Mexican and American participants similarly defined power and acknowledged power imbalances informed by a limiting project framework and a sociocultural-informed deference to Americans as experts. Strong, positive intercultural experiences between Mexican and American constituent groups were reported amid often unseen social biases that can be experienced abroad and perpetuated in SDP programs. Critical reflexivity, prolonged cultural preparation, longer-term engagement, and careful construction of SDP leadership teams and program participants were among the strategies informed by the data that were further interpreted to account for the complex realities of SDP programs.

This paper examines the utility of circular cooperation for the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) field. Circular cooperation is a modus operandi used to address the Central Mediterranean refugee crises. This methodology is currently employed between Sicily, The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali. It relies on rehabilitating asylum-seekers crossing the Mediterranean, to then provide training towards a return to their country of origin. Returnees then establish start-ups that are functional in addressing the needs of their community of origin, while keeping a cyclical supportive partnership with their country of departure. In doing so, returning migrants can tap into the resources of the host country while also autonomously leading developmental efforts in their original community, by transferring their acquired skills from the country of relocation.

Circular cooperation is a vehicle for SDP to cooperate with other developmental fields, ensure the autonomy of initiatives and meaningfully address the necessities of user groups. The adoption of circular cooperation in SDP directly safeguards and improves the livelihood of forcibly migrating populations. Moreover, the adoption of a circular cooperation methodology could challenge neocolonial tendencies in SDP.

Over the past two decades, a plethora of studies have investigated gender distribution on the boards of national and international sport organizations. However, none of these have focused on sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations. The purpose of this paper was to examine gender distribution across the leadership and governance teams of SDP organizations, and the degree to which they have achieved a critical mass of women (a minimum of 30%). We used a quantitative survey in which 118 SDP organizations participated that were diverse in structure and geographic location. On average, the boards and senior leadership teams of the SDP organizations were gender balanced, with 47.71% and 48.92% female representation, respectively. Most organizations had a critical mass of women across their boards, leadership teams, and staff, and there were few differences in gender distribution across continental groupings. Drawing on critical mass theory, the findings imply that women influence legislation, policy, and decision-making within SDP organizations. Furthermore, gender balanced leadership and governance teams likely have a positive impact on SDP organizations’ culture and performance. However, we call for qualitative research to further explore whether women with a seat at the table have a voice to make change within SDP.

The present study explored the role of sport in citizen diplomacy efforts using the voices of Mexican participants involved with an international sport for development and peace (SDP) program between the United States and Mexico. Collectively, participants’ experiences and cultural perspectives highlighted the promising potential of sport to foster citizen diplomacy, while also emphasizing the importance of constructively critiquing such programs. In semi-structured focus group interviews, Mexican participants reflected on connecting with Americans through a sense of shared humanity, expressed optimism for continued and future partnerships with Americans in sport, and described the United States and Americans in idealistic terms. Reflection of these findings yield additional insight on how SDP researchers and practitioners can design and implement future programs to increasingly foster, and prioritize, equitable contributions across groups while also promoting and celebrating the strengths of each culture.

Menstruation impacts people around the world, yet this topic is shrouded in taboo, undermining our ability to understand experiences of menstrual health and well-being. Research and activism on menstruation experiences in the Global South has grown dramatically in recent years. However, menstrual health research in the field of sport for development (SFD) is largely absent.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the lived experience of menstrual health amongst adolescent girls in SFD, the impact of menstrual health education through SFD and in what ways SFD might serve as a platform for menstrual health education. The participants took part in four lessons on menstrual health through the National Organisation for Women in Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation (NOWSPAR) of Zambia. These sessions included sport-based activities, menstrual health lessons, and journaling with adolescent participants (n=79). The adult facilitators (n=3) also completed journal exercises. The data yielded three key themes: (1) understanding and learning about the menstrual cycle; (2) pain, discomfort and coping with menstrual symptoms; and (3) stigma, fear and embarrassment surrounding menstruation. We conclude that menstrual stigma is a root cause to many of the challenges girls face and that SFD can be an impactful environment for menstrual health education.

Recent literature has highlighted the need for trauma-informed programming and research in sport. Specifically, studies have noted the importance of developing trauma-informed approaches to sport for development (SFD) initiatives that work with victims and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The purpose of this scoping review was to: (1) examine the synergies between trauma-and violence informed physical activity (TVIPA) programs and sport for development (SFD) programs globally for survivors/victims of GBV; and 2) assess the implementation of TVIPA in future SFD programming for survivors and victims of GBV. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, we systematically reviewed three electronic databases: ProQuest, EBSCO, and Web of Science. Following thematic analysis of the selected articles revealed that TVIPA should be further explored in SFD programming as a possible approach for victims and survivors of GBV. Taken together, we suggest the need for trauma-and violence-informed SFD, especially: 1) for vulnerable SFD program participants; and 2) to better understand and prevent GBV experiences in SFD and sport more broadly. This is one of the first studies to explore the synergies between TVIPA and SFD, contributing to novel trauma research in the context of sport, development and physical activity.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua – “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past” is a whakataukī (proverb) that illuminates Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) conceptualisation of time, “where the past, the present and the future are viewed as intertwined, and life as a continuous cosmic process. Within this continuous cosmic movement, time has no restrictions – it is both past and present” (Rameka, 2017, p. 387). Thus, as we write this closing piece for the Special Issue: Indigenous Voices Matter to Sport for Development (SFD), it makes sense to return full circle to reflect on where the seeds were first planted for this work. In doing so, we are better able to consider the challenges faced, take note of the opportunities that have presented themselves, and be better guided for the future by those who have come before us.

This foreword brings together the theoretical analyses of Kaupapa Māori (Smith, 1997) and Decolonising Methodologies (Smith, 2021) alongside an extensive practice-based knowledge of Indigenous sport and Indigenous development in Māori contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). We critically examine changing contexts and understandings of both sport and development and how those concepts have been applied to and for Māori in Aotearoa NZ. We argue that many of the taken for granted ideas about sport and development need decolonising, disrupting, and reframing within an Indigenous frame we refer to as Kaupapa Māori. This is necessary if we are to fully appreciate and understand how sport and development might work relationally for the well-being of any Indigenous communities and collectives. We explore the role and relationship between sport and development through four political contexts: (a) a historic context and the role of sport as an organized physical activity in an Indigenous society that held its own sovereignty, (b) an Imperial and colonial context in which sport as conceived and introduced by British colonisation was wielded as an instrument of colonisation, (c) a neo-liberal context in which sport as an activity of market forces, competition and privatisation reshaped the organisation of sport and development as a form of economic neoliberalism, and (d) a decolonising and Kaupapa Māori context in which sport has been reimagined and reframed in terms of Indigenous Māori development. The first two political contexts will be covered less extensively because more is known of these two periods, however, there are threads of important ideas that we wish to draw upon that inform Māori concepts of sports and development in the current context.

Over 30 years ago, Graham Hingangaroa Smith (1992) presented a paper titled “Tane-nui-a-Rangi’s Legacy: Propping up the Sky” at the joint New Zealand Association for Research in Education and Australian Association for Research in Education conference in Geelong, Australia. In this paper Smith argued that “resistance strategies developed by Māori people, ought to be carefully studied in order to identify the potential intervention factors” (1992, p. 4) inherent within a (Indigenous) Kaupapa Māori approach. In particular, Smith reinforced the need to learn from innovations with a view to the wider application of success indicators embedded within Indigenous responses. Such “radical action,” he argued, was necessary to intervene in the “educational crisis” that Māori then faced, trapped within a narrow range of existing mainstream schooling options. Three decades on, similar criticisms could be attributed to sport for development (SFD) initiatives with/for Indigenous communities. Indeed, our plea is for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers operating in the SFD space to take notice of the results and recommendations from the articles in this Special Issue.

This paper describes findings from an Indigenous student’s postgraduate research alongside an Indigenous rugby organisation, Otago Māori Rugby. The aim of this research was to explore how Otago Māori Rugby incorporated Māori values to enhance Māori identity and welRlbeing. This research utilised Kaupapa Māori Theory and methodology (Smith, 2015). Five semi-structured interviews were completed with members of Otago Māori rugby on topics related to Māori identity and wellbeing. Deductive and inductive analysis was used. The main findings are presented in “Te Papa Tākaro o te Tuakiri: The Field of Identity”. The two primary deductive themes were the application of: taonga tuku iho (cultural aspirations principle) with the subthemes of whakapapa (genealogy), identity, Te Reo Māori (Māori language) and tikanga (custom); and whānau (extended family structure) with the subthemes of whanaungatanga (relationship building) and community involvement. The four primary inductive themes that emerged were: (a) whakaurunga (engagement); (b) tangata whenuatanga (people of the land); (c) influence of cultural values for mainstream; and (d) safe avenue for rangatahi (youth). The findings will contribute towards understanding the importance of Māori cultural values, identity, and wellbeing within Indigenous sport.

Waka (ancestral canoes) and water are central to Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand, yet Māori have disproportionately high rates of drowning. New research has begun to examine Māori and Indigenous understandings of water safety; however, Indigenous approaches to water safety continue to be an underdeveloped area, particularly in a sport for development (SFD) context. In this study, we demonstrate how waka as an “Indigenous-plus” approach to SFD can provide important insights for a field in which Indigenous views are often absent or marginalized. Underpinned by a kaupapa Māori approach (generally, but not exclusively, research by Māori, for Māori, with Māori), we surveyed 74 future aquatic educators of primarily Pākehā descent (New Zealand European) who participated in a Māori water safety wānanga (cultural space of learning) led by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki Waka Club, an Indigenous canoe club based in New Zealand’s South Island. Through our thematic analysis, we found that the participants identified the role of waka as fundamental to learning Indigenous Māori water safety in an Aotearoa, New Zealand context. In this paper, we argue that waka provides a vehicle for educating our future aquatic educators about Māori water safety, which will support more meaningful drowning prevention for all New Zealanders.

This paper addresses the modern rubber ballgames of Middle America and traces their genealogy to before the Spanish Conquest. It follows a theoretical framework to register contemporary players’ point of view. On the field, the focus is on recent initiatives materialized in the Maya region of Mexico and Guatemala around the play of three games: chaaj, pok-ta-pok, and chajchaay. Studied from the social sciences and historical anthropology, to confront academic sources arguing the disappearance of the ancient rubber ballgames, it offers a transdisciplinary intercultural assessment of initiatives surrounding their play, emerging from indigenous Mayan communities in the recovery of a worldview that offers a balance between human beings and the natural world.

Indigenous games are rarely discussed within the sport for development (SFD) realm. Instead, even when SFD interventions are aimed at Indigenous youth, the focus is typically on the use of “modern” (European-derived) sport. We sought to analyze how mainstream and Indigenous media in Canada produce understandings of traditional Indigenous games and how, and if, media discourses reflect the idea of traditional games as a form of SFD. Using databases, we searched both mainstream and Indigenous media sources over a ten-year period from 2011 to 2021, identifying 23 articles pertaining to traditional games. Using critical discourse analysis, we noted the (re)production of two discourses in both mainstream and Indigenous media sources: Traditional games keep culture alive; and Indigenous youth can be “reclaimed” through traditional games. In concluding that similar discourses were produced about traditional games in both mainstream and Indigenous media sources, the manner in which the discourses were produced became a focal point for examination. The Western-centric sports journalism approach to traditional games coverage illuminated a strong SFD ideology within the discourses, despite traditional Indigenous games largely rejecting Western sport logic. Our findings suggest the need to appreciate the differences of traditional games from SFD practices for the purposes of cultural and youth development.

Through engagement with sport and physical activity, sport-based youth development (SBYD) programs aim to support the development of youth toward a positive sense of self, enrich their human and social capital, and enhance their personal skills, development assets, and competencies. The purpose of this study is to explore the role, programmatic strategy, and impact of sport sampling opportunities offered in a SBYD program. To this end, we interviewed 19 racially and economically marginalized youth, ages 10-17 years old, participating in an after-school SBYD program on the campus of a large university in the Southeast United States. Data revealed four themes (sampling sport, emotional management, development outcomes, and sports mentoring) comprised of 12 sub-themes. We discuss each against the backdrop of the racially and economically marginalized community in which participants live. Implications of our study can be used to help advance sport-sampling as a development intervention in campus-community partnerships, as well as expand our conceptual understanding of sport sampling.

Sport for Development (SfD) literature tends to focus on and value bottom-up, grassroots projects and realities, and criticize top-down (i.e., from high- to low-authority) approaches. This is also true when considering the intersection of sport and refugees. With millions of people displaced every year, a new perspective is needed to reconcile bottom-up and top-down approaches. In this conceptual paper, we provide literature that frames traditional and contemporary issues embedded in the refugee and sport domains with a specific focus on the top-down, bottom-up approaches SfD stakeholders adopt. From these stakeholder configurations, associated challenges, and complexities, we present a contemporary effort to challenge the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ dichotomy; namely, by drawing parallels to the concept of clean minds (top) and dirty hands (bottom). We interrogate this discrepancy in two ways: first, through our experiences and interpretations as members of the Olympic Refuge Foundation’s Think Tank; second, by merging the “clean minds, dirty hands” concept with Lefebvre’s (1991) theory of social space. Ultimately, the clean minds, dirty hands dichotomy is better represented as a spectrum that interacts with Lefebvre’s theory in unique ways. Implications for influencing the sport and refugee movement, as well as the broader field of SfD, are discussed.

The notion of sport as a cultural offset has gained great popularity over the past few decades as a symbol of self-determination and empowerment for Indigenous peoples in Australia. This article involves an examination of Indigenous ways of using sport to culturally offset the effects of colonization from Indigenous perspectives. As such, this account offers insights into the elements that encompass Indigenous resistance: racial injustice; the enactment of a sometimes-negative oppositional culture; cultural maintenance; the reformulation of a positive Indigenous identity; the development of Indigenous political movements; and resistance to sport as a weapon in the arsenal of colonization. This consideration of sport as a site of resistance against the hegemony of the State is informed by Indigenous voices, including that of the first Author, so as to offer a more nuanced understanding of the intersections between sport, development, and Indigenous peoples in Australia.