Local Sport Organizations Research Articles

Examining the impact of organizational and management variables on sport service delivery in Ethiopia

There is an observed general low performance of Ethiopian Sport Governing Bodies (SGBs) in service delivery. Evidence shows that the trend can be corrected with proper understanding and insight into the process of organizational and management factors of these SGBs. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of organizational and management factors as determinants in effective service delivery in SGBs. For this study, a cross-sectional research design was employed. Purposive sampling was used to choose 350 samples from 154 internal and 196 external stakeholders. The instruments used for the study were the key informant interview and the questionnaire. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple regression were used to analyze the data at the 0.05 significant level while qualitative data were content analyzed. The findings confirmed that organizational and management factor variables had a significant positive relationship with sport service delivery (organizational structure (r=0.515), organizational capabilities (r=0.701), communication (r=0.549), management practice (r=0.571), materials & resources (r=0.527) and stakeholders satisfaction (r=0.742). Management factors jointly predicted effective sport service delivery (F (3, 329)= 165.868, R2= 0.612); organizational factors had a joint significant contribution to effective sport service delivery (F(3, 329) = 148.743, R2= 0.576). Further, organizational and management factor variables had a joint relative significant influence on effective sport service delivery in Ethiopian SGBs (F (6, 326) =130.81, R2= 0.707). Interviews revealed that there are weak relations with stakeholders, an unaligned structure of regional sport bodies with federal bodies, and managers with improper experience and knowledge in sport which influences effective sport service delivery in Ethiopian SGBs. Therefore, working together with stakeholders, structural advancement, designing rules and regulations that can serve a longer time, taking correction based on feedback from stakeholders, networked structures and collaborations with local sports organizations as means of improving service delivery employing shared burden and coordinated effort are recommended. Keywords: Management, Organization, Service delivery, Sport governing bodies

Mapping the Scientific Research on Sport Governance: Insights from Bibliometric Analysis

The current study aims to highlight the current trends in the literature on sport governance by applying a bibliometric review of papers on sport governance topics published in the Web of Science database. This study reviews 230 Web of Science-indexed journal articles on sport governance and analyzed the data using bibliometric analytic tools such as thematic mapping and co-citation analysis. The findings reveal a notable increase in research on sport governance over time. Over the past three decades, diverse topics within sport governance have been explored, with a significant emphasis on national sport organizations, corruption, gender, leadership, volunteer boards, and collaborative governance. The study identifies gender dynamics and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as emerging key research areas. The results not only contribute to our understanding of current sport governance literature but also point towards potential future research directions. These include the development of a comprehensive framework, exploration of outcome-related governance principles, and the application of governance principles to local and non-European sport organizations and systems.

Collaborative alliance between schools and local sports organizations in school athletic club based on a framework of interorganizational relations

Collaborative alliance between schools and local sports organizations in school athletic club based on a framework of interorganizational relations

대한체육회 공공스포츠클럽 정책 사업의 성과 분석

The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of the public sports club policy project promoted by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee as a national task. In order to increase the policy performance and objectivity of research of this project, it was limited to 98 public sports clubs that have been established and operated nationwide for seven years from 2013 to 2019. As for the policy performance analysis method, the first policy performance analysis was conducted by identifying the "input-process-output" index based on various literature data and deriving results. Based on the results of the first analysis, the second policy performance evaluation evaluated policy performance by selecting 22 research participants who were well aware of the public sports club policy project according to the concepts of ''effectiveness'', ''efficiency'', and ''appropriateness''. Through the performance analysis study of the public sports club policy project, the following conclusions were reached. First, the public sports club policy project achieved its original goal from the perspective of effectiveness, efficiency, and adequacy, which are three measures of policy performance evaluation, and received higher scores than average, but the results were not satisfactory. Second, even if government support for public sports clubs is terminated, it is necessary to secure a stable budget and establish a legal basis for consignment use of public sports facilities to attract members, financial independence, stabilize leader employment, and continuous program operation. Third, in the case of areas where public sports clubs were established, there were many cases of conflict due to the lack of a governance system with local sports associations and sports organizations.

A Case of Leveraging a Mega-Sport Event for a Sport Participation and Sport Tourism Legacy: A Prospective Longitudinal Case Study of Whistler Adaptive Sports

Sport participation legacies are often offered as reasons to host mega-sport events, yet there is little evidence to demonstrate the claim’s legitimacy, thus we examine “What did Whistler Sports do to leverage the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to facilitate a sport tourism legacy?”. Through a prospective longitudinal case study of WAS and application of the temporal extension of the socioecological framework, multiple data sources were analyzed from over a decade beginning before the event until 2019. The findings reveal the situated and embedded nature of mega-sport event legacies i.e., context. These depend upon a network of facilitators such as local, provincial, and federal policies; pre-event and post-event vision and strategies from local communities and sport organizations; the development of a pool of willing and flexible volunteers. Together these were strategically leveraged to overcome sport participation and sport tourism barriers for people with disabilities. The sport, tourism, and sport tourism experience reflected Whistler’s natural and infrastructure advantage and the needs and desires of locals and visitors with access needs that could not have occurred without the capital injection of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Leveraging the mega-sport event opportunities required leadership and a strategic vision for repositioning to a year-round program. This strategic change also opened new sport and sport tourism opportunities for current participants but importantly brought new participants and their friendship groups to Whistler over the post-event decade for year-round sustainable adaptive sport opportunities.

The Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Ice Hockey Sport

İlk defa 2019 Aralık ayında Çin’in Wuhan kentinde ortaya çıkan koronavirüs (COVID-19) salgını tüm dünyada etkisini göstermeye başlamıştır. Dünya Sağlık Örgütünün (WHO) talimatları ve direktifleri doğrultusunda sorunun çözümü için ülkeler ile iş birliği içerisine girilmiştir. İş birliği sadece sağlık boyutunda değil eğitim, ekonomi, turizm ve spor gibi birçok alanda etkisini göstermiştir. Salgının önlenmesi ve tedbirlerin daha sıkı gerçekleşmesi amacıyla ulusal ve uluslararası spor organizasyonlarında alınan birtakım önlemler buz hokeyi sporunu da etkilemiştir. Uluslararası Buz Hokeyi Federasyonu, ulusal ve yerel yönetimler COVID-19 pandemisinin etkisini azaltmak amacıyla spor faaliyetlerinin yürütülmesinde çalışmalar yapmıştır. Bu çalışmada, COVID-19 pandemisinin buz hokeyi sporuna etkisi ve spor ile sağlık arasındaki ilişkinin açıklanması amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada, genel tarama ve dokümantasyon metodu ile veriler elde edilmiştir. Pandemi sürecinde Olimpiyatlar, Dünya Şampiyonları, Kupa karşılaşmaları, ulusal ve yerel birçok spor organizasyonu etkilenmiştir. Sonuç olarak, virüs nedeniyle Dünya’da Aralık 2019’dan itibaren birçok spor etkinliğini ertelenmiş veya iptal edilmiştir. Bu durumun temel nedeninin, insan sağlığı ve çözüm odaklı kazanımlar olduğu görülmüştür.

Türkiye Almanya ABD ve Avustralya Spor Sistemlerinin Bazı Değişkenler Açısından Karşılaştırılması

It is accepted today that the structure of contemporary sports organization is influenced by variables such as development levels, cultures and demographic characteristics of the countries. This is among the countries that have identified this effect and at the same time have achieved sport participation and the sport is successful; It is important to examine and compare Sports Systems of Germany, USA and Australia with Turkey. The purpose of this study is; Sport organization and organizational structure in Germany, USA and Australia, sport financing, sport participation and sport policy are examined and the similarities and differences of these applications for sport system with Turkey are determined. In this study, documentary scanning technique was used to collect data. Data on Germany, the United States and Australia have been obtained from official public web sites and books of these countries. Similarities and differences have been analyzed in accordance with the specific analysis methods of comparative studies. Similarity and differences have been revealed as a result of the comparison, and suggestions have been made taking into account the practices in Turkey. As a result of the research; it has been determined that the countries have different applications in sport systems according to some variables. The sporting systems of developed countries such as the USA, Germany and Australia are part or all under the control of the state. But it has been determined that responsibility is transferred to local governments and sports organizations organized in an autonomous structure and in Turkey sporting system is completely controlled by the state.

FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN™ in YOUTH SPORT PARTICIPANTS: EVALUATING the PROFICIENCY BARRIER for INJURY.

The number of youth participating in sport increases yearly; however, the evaluation of youths' movement ability and preparedness for sport remains inadequate or neglected. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) is an assessment of an individual's movement quality that has been utilized to evaluate risk of injury in collegiate and professional sport; however, there is minimal support regarding the predictive value of the screen in youth sport. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mean and distribution of FMS™ performance in sport participants age 11-18, and to evaluate the existence of a composite FMS™ score proficiency barrier to predict injury risk. Prospective cohort study. One hundred, thirty-six participants (63 male, 73 female) age 11 to 18 years (16.01 + 1.35) were recruited from local schools and sport organizations. The FMS™ was administered prior to each participant's competitive season and scored by researchers who demonstrated reliability in assessments derived from the screen (κw = 0.70 to 1). Injury data were collected by the participants' Athletic Trainer over one season. An injury was defined as any physical insult or harm resulting from sports participation that required an evaluation from a health professional with time modified or time lost from sport participation. Females scored significantly higher than males for mean FMS™ composite score (t = 14.40; m = 12.62; p < 0.001), and on individual measures including: the hurdle step (t = 1.91; m = 1.65; p < 0.001), shoulder mobility (t = 2.68; m = 2.02; p < 0.001), active straight leg raise (t = 2.32; m = 1.87; p < 0.001), and the rotary stability components (t = 1.91; m = 1.65; p < 0.05). Two FMS™ composite scores (score < 14 and <15) significantly increased the odds of injury (OR = 2.955). When adjusting for sport, there was no score relating to increased odds of injury. Dysfunctional movement as identified by the FMS™ may be related to increased odds of injury during the competitive season in youth athletes. Consideration of an individual's movement within the context of their sport is necessary, as each sport and individual have unique characteristics. Addressing movement dysfunction may aid in injury reduction and potentially improve sport performance. 1b.

USING AN INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION APPROACH TO INFORM THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ACTIVE &amp; SAFE CENTRAL: AN ON-LINE PLATFORM OF EVIDENCE-BASED SPORT AND RECREATIONAL INJURY INFORMATION

Background: Sport and recreational injuries place a significant burden on the health care system and represent a large proportion of all injuries that report to emergency departments in Canada. An initiative to address this significant burden was to develop of an on-line platform providing information on the incidence of injury, risk factors, and effective interventions to reduce the risk of injury in over 51 sport and recreational activities. The information was collected by systematic review of the evidence which was critically appraised, synthesized and translated into an on-line platform, called Active and Safe Central. The objective of this project was to use an integrated knowledge translation approach to develop and evaluate the Active and Safe Central on-line tool. Methods: A mixed-methods design was used to develop and evaluate the Active and Safe Central Tool. Data was collected using a two-phased focus group format as well as an on-line survey, embedded in the on-line tool. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling and included a variety of stakeholders including parents, athletes, coaches, athletic therapists, injury prevention researchers and practitioners from local sport organizations. Focus groups were designed to be 60-minutes in duration and used a semi-structured format, led by a trained facilitator, to collect specific information on the design, use and information contained in the tool. The focus groups were both audio and visually recorded, with one project team member taking notes to supplement data collection. The on-line feedback form was created in consultation with experts in evaluation from the digital team as well as injury prevention researchers. The first focus group, at the build and mock-up phase collected information on: A) participants’ previous experiences with injury prevention resources and B) feedback on the proposed design, perceived usefulness and suggestions for the tool on use and content. The second focus group collected information on the interactivity of the tool, including live navigation with the beta version of the digital platform. Participants provided feedback on the functionality, visual appeal and usefulness of the site. Information from the focus groups and on-line feedback forms was synthesized and used to inform the design and reimaging of the Active and Safe Central tool during build, mock-up, beta and live versions. Results: Information collected from focus group participants was used to inform necessary changes in the on-line platform including critical navigation issues, visualizations, and interactivity. Initial post-launch results from the focus group (n=14) and from the on-line survey (n=87) suggest that the tool is a helpful resource for sport and recreational injury information (88.5% agreement). The majority of users agreed that the tool was easy to use (89.6%), that they learned something new after using the site (89.6%) and that they would use the recommendations presented in the prevention section of the site. Finally, 86.2% responded affirmatively to share the information gathered on the site, with others in their community. Conclusions: The Active and Safe Central resource was developed using an integrated knowledge translation approach with evaluation indices embedded throughout the process. Information collected through focus groups was critical in the initial development and subsequent iterations of the on-line tool. Initial evaluation results suggest the tool is an effective resource for sport and recreational injury information that has significant potential to impact prevention practice.

LINKING PHYSICAL EDUCATION WITH LOCAL SPORT ORGANIZATIONS: IMPLEMENTATION OF AN “ACTIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITY”

The main purpose of the active school communities project was to act as a starting point for more active school communities throughout seven countries across Europe by strengthening the links between community sport organizations and local schools and provide a low-cost solution to improve physical education and physical activity in schools. Further, opportunities for cooperation were fostered by creating new partnerships between stakeholders that already separately work at the community level to encourage children to move more. Therefore, toolkits were created by the active school communities ERASMUS+ project to promote collaborations between the field of education together with grassroots sport sectors and sport clubs. The aim of this study was a pilot evaluation of these toolkits. A total of 38 members of local sport organizations, 34 members of local schools and 5 national coordinators participated in three parts of the evaluation study. In sum, there are ambivalent results regarding the three toolkits, but the majority of participants supported the aim of the project to create and improve more active school communities. Finally, future recommendations are discussed. Article visualizations:

Normative Performance on the Balance Error Scoring System by Youth, High School, and Collegiate Athletes.

Annually, more than 1 million youth athletes in the United States receive or are suspected of receiving a concussion. The Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) is the most commonly used clinical balance evaluation designed to provide a better understanding of the motor-control processes of individuals with concussion. Despite the widespread use of the BESS, a fundamental gap exists in applying this tool to young athletes, as normative values are lacking for this population. To determine age- and sex-specific normative values for the BESS in youth, high school, and collegiate athletes. Cross-sectional study. Local youth sport organizations, high schools, and colleges. Student-athletes (N = 6762) completed preseason baseline concussion testing as part of a comprehensive concussion-management program. Groups were youth males aged 5 to 13 years (n = 360), high school males aged 14 to 18 years (n = 3743), collegiate males aged 19 to 23 years (n = 497), youth females aged 5 to 13 years (n = 246), high school females aged 14 to 18 years (n = 1673), and collegiate females aged 19 to 23 years (n = 243). Errors according to the BESS specifications. Performance on the BESS was worse ( P < .01) in youth athletes than in high school and collegiate athletes. In the youth and high school cohorts, females exhibited better scores than males ( P < .05). Sex was not a factor for collegiate athletes. Data from the youth cohort were further subdivided into 4-year bins to evaluate potential motor-development differences. The error count was highest for 5- to 9-year-old males and decreased with age. Performance on the BESS depended on sex and age, particularly in youth athletes. These sex- and age-specific normative values provide a reference to facilitate and unify clinical decision making across multiple providers caring for youth athletes with concussions.

The social responsibility of grassroots leaders at local sports organizations and supporting homeless children's social protection

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the foundations of social responsibility for grassroots leaders in local sports organizations, and the foundations of social protection for homeless children, and propose a role for the community organizer in social work to help these leaders to assume their responsibilities in supporting health, social and economic protection for homeless children. The researcher conducted his study by using a social responsibility scale applied to (114) members, who represent all directors of the boards at sports clubs and youth centers affiliated to the Department of Youth and Sports in Kafr El-Sheikh (Egypt). Their number was estimated at (5) sports clubs and (10) youth centers. The researcher used the comprehensive inventory method to collect data from the field. The study found that there is a positive relationship, with a statistical significance at a significant level (0.01), between the grassroots leaders' social responsibility and their support of health and socio-economic protection programs for homeless children. It also found that these leaders assume their social responsibilities towards homeless children with an average response Yes, to an extent. The study reached a proposed vision for the role of the community organizer in social work to develop social responsibility for grassroots leaders at local sports organizations in order to support social protection programs for homeless children.

Designing a performance measurement framework for regional networks of national sports organizations: evidence from Russian football

ABSTRACTWith Russia being the biggest country in the world in terms of covered land territory, it is extremely difficult for local national sports organizations (NSO) to guide their development policy and the Football Union of Russia is no exclusion. By proposing a performance measurement system, this paper provides a framework for coordinating regional networks based on various football development patterns. Five performance dimensions relevant to the Russian context were chosen: player development, elite sport, grassroots, infrastructure and development & promotion activities. Building on the theoretical findings of previous studies on deriving performance clusters of NSOs, this paper also introduces a mapping procedure, which helps visualize the potential football development networks as well as provides recommendations on how to better coordinate their activities within a country. The findings of the paper indicate that several regions directly involved in staging FIFA 2018 World Cup matches seem to show insufficient football development performance and risk dealing with “white elephants”.

Sport for Social Change and Development: Sustaining Transnational Partnerships and Adapting International Curriculums to Local Contexts in Rwanda

Local Non-Governmental Organisations and sports organizations have been recognized as important and well positioned strategic implementing bodies by the ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ (SDP) sector. Whilst they may be experienced and knowledgeable of the historical and local sociocultural landscape, many seek to form transnational partnerships, for the purpose of expanding their capacity, sustainability, and expertise. Rwanda’s history of genocide frames much of its development objectives, and sport has been an integral method for implementing programmes that speak to social impact and reconciliation aims. This paper examines a transnational partnership active in Rwanda, that uses football as a tool to achieve its shared development goals. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Rwanda, by volunteering with the organizations as they delivered SDP programmes across the country. In doing so we were able to deconstruct the management and intricacies of this partnership and contextualize the important negotiations, management and style of approach when tackling difficult issues. This paper contributes to both expanding our knowledge of transnational partnerships and provides unique commentary that aligns the complexities of engaging with local populations in post-genocide Rwanda with ‘Sport for Social Development’ programming.

Community sport and the newcomer experience in small cities

Purpose – This research reports on work related to integrating new immigrants into their local communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore community sport and the newcomer experience in communities through an acculturation framework. Design/methodology/approach – The role of community sport organizations in the acculturation process is explored empirically via a three-stage research study of a small Canadian city that includes interviews with local newcomers, interviews with managers of local community sport organizations, and a website content analysis of community sport organizations in the region. Findings – Results outline a number of important constraints, practices and realities facing newcomers and community sport organizations in improving participation rates and integration. In addition, the use of the acculturation frame provides insight on the perceived value of community sport yet low participation rates among newcomers. Practical implications – There is a need for community sport providers to adopt an acculturation perspective to newcomers rather than the current assimilationist perspective. This change will lead to improvements in sport offerings and newcomer supports. Originality/value – There is an increasing desire to have migrants locate in smaller urban centers rather than the large metropolises of their new home country. However, smaller communities may be perceived by newcomers as less desirable places to live and the communities can face significant integration challenges. Further, there is a dearth of research on newcomers and smaller communities particularly in the area of community sport. This study explores the role of sport as a means to overcome these challenges by assessing the capacity of a smaller city and the needs of immigrants and their families using a lens of acculturation.

From professional identity to organizational membership and back

Purpose – Narrative is believed to be a crucial component of sense-making in organizations, and previous research in the field suggests that multiple levels and forms of narrative are inherent to the definition of professional identities (Clarke et al., 2009; Ybema et al., 2009; Brown and Lewis, 2011). For example, narrative can be found in the stories told by organizational actors as they informally interact in the workplace, in the formalized basic assumptions that support organizational strategy-making, in the accounts people give of their work, and in the artifacts they produced and experienced while engaged in accomplishing tasks. The purpose of this paper is to consider narrative as a way of giving sense to organizational membership, of constituting an overall and possibly shared sense of direction, of focussing one’s professional identity, and of enabling and/or constraining the ongoing activities of actors. The context of the research was given by a group of sport federations enrolled within the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), which is the national most authoritative network of professional local sport organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Participants involved in the study were 42 professional referees belonging to this network and active in different sport disciplines and 12 people from the CONI management. In-depth narrative interviews were collected in the aim to investigate the narrative cues revealing the organizational sense-making processes that animate the representation of this professional identity both at a subjective and at an organizational level. Data have been explored adopting the semiotic square and diatextual analysis as to highlight the strict relationship between text, context and interlocutors. Findings – Data have been explored adopting the semiotic square and diatextual analysis as to highlight the strict relationship between text, context and interlocutors. Results showed that there was an evident gap between what the management formally defined as strategic vision, mission and cultural guidelines that actually shape the organizational identity of the CONI and what was concretely experienced by its actors, in this case the referees. Originality/value – Most of the studies conducted in sport organizations focussed either on an intra-organizational level investigating the specific features of given professional categories such as athletes and/or coaches, or at an inter-organizational level, paying attention mostly to the marketing and networking strategies oriented toward stakeholders. On the other hand, most studies conducted on referees have devoted attention strictly to performance assessment, that, in line with a positivist approach, considered the latter as an output of situational and psychological variables (e.g. Marie, 1999; MacMahon et al., 2007). Conversely, the findings coming from the present study contributed to support the promotion of an alternative organizational approach, more specifically based on the strategic relevance of horizontal (within the federations) and vertical (between the federations and the center of the network) communication as to enhance the identification process which give sense to the organizational basic assumptions.

Sport-for-All Policy in Taiwan: a case of ongoing change?

This study analyses the extent of Taiwan's sport-for-all policy change during the policy-making and delivery process of the Sports Island Plan. Indicators of policy change including organization, legal framework and budget (Hogwood & Peters, 1983) were used to measure the degree to which the policy had changed. In addition to the analysis of official documents, 16 interviews with stakeholders of the Sports Island Plan were conducted from 2012 to 2014. Interviewees included legislators, officials from both central and local government and scholars involved in the policy-making process. The results revealed that while there had been significant changes in organization and budget, the perceptions of certain interviewees indicated problems in both design and delivery. Further analysis showed that the Sports Island Plan has not successfully addressed the shortcomings of Taiwan's sport-for-all policy. This suggests that future policies should take more account of local sports organizations.

The elusive “trickle-down effect” of sport events: assumptions and missed opportunities

The claimed benefits of sport events on sport participation rely on an asserted “trickle-down effect”. There is a lack of empirical evidence that events can trigger increased physical activity and sport participation, and research has focused on large-scale events. This paper compares two previously hosted medium-sized sport events, and examines the degree to which local (sport) organizations and local organizing committees (LOC) endeavoured to leverage each sport event for sport participation purposes. Document analysis and semi-structured interviews revealed overarching assumptions that the events in and of themselves were sufficient to engender participation outcomes. Strategies for leveraging were absent, and only a few tactics were identified. Leverage could come from augmented exposure via amplified media, celebrations, further demonstrations of the sport, and teaching about the sport. A key constraint is identifying who should be responsible for implementing and executing the leveraging strategy and tactics. The findings inform various stakeholders – event organizers, sport organizations, and local communities, to find ways to use events as a lever for sport participation by making it a part of their overall marketing efforts.

Social participation and the prevention of functional disability in older Japanese: the JAGES cohort study.

BackgroundWe examined the relationship between incident functional disability and social participation from the perspective of number of types of organizations participated in and type of social participation in a prospective cohort study.MethodThe study was based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Cohort Study data. We followed 13,310 individuals aged 65 years or older for 4 years. Analysis was carried out on 12,951 subjects, excluding 359 people whose information on age or sex was missing. Social participation was categorized into 8 types.ResultsCompared to those that did not participate in any organizations, the hazard ratio (HR) was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73–0.95) for participation in one, 0.72 (0.61–0.85) for participation in two, and 0.57 (0.46–0.70) for participation in three or more different types of organizations. In multivariable adjusted models, participation in the following types of organization was protective for incident disability: local community organizations (HR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76–0.96), hobby organizations (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.64–0.87), and sports organizations (HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.54–0.81).ConclusionSocial participation may decrease the risk of incident functional disability in older people in Japan. This effect may be strengthened by participation in a variety of different types of organizations. Participating in a local community, hobby, or sports group or organization may be especially effective for decreasing the risk of disability.

The Use of Sports as a Tool of Public Diplomacy in Regions or "Stateless Nations": The Case of the Basque Country in Contemporary Spain

This paper explores the use of sports as a tool of public diplomacy in the case of regions, "imagined communities" (Anderson, 1983), or so-called 'stateless nations' like the Basque Country in Spain. This paper analyzes the contribution of sport organizations to the international identity and reputation of these populations. Understood as an expression of soft power (Nye, 2004), sport public diplomacy meets a double objective: on the one hand, it projects positive values about any given country or region that, particularly when good sport results are produced, appears to possess values such as quality or authenticity; on the other hand, it keeps the most politically engaged segment of society active and mobilized. This article considers the positive role of sport public diplomacy in nation building for targeting external audiences as well as keeping internal audiences active and engaged. Nonetheless, there are some negative factors to consider, such as frictions and divisions that may surge between internal audiences regarding the political use of sports (for example, between Basque nationalists and non-nationalists as well as within Basque nationalists as a group). A comparison of the use of sports in the Basque Country and Catalonia, another Spanish region with a strong local identity, suggests that successful local sport organizations with players chosen regardless of their birthplace, such as Catalonia's Barcelona Football Club or the Basque cycling team Euskadi-Euskaltel, does more for the international projection of a regions' identity than do regional or national teams made up solely of local players.