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Email The Development Factor: The Challenge of Sport in the 21st Century
Posted: 10/21/2014 8:39 am EDT Updated: 10/29/2014 9:59

Sport occupies a peculiar place in world dynamics in that it surpasses the limitations of geographical boundaries and social classes.

Still, a gap remains between developed and developing nations when it comes to sport. In the industrialized world, sport as an economic sector represents approximately 2% of GDP. For developing economies, though, the challenge remains making sport a factor of economic development, and a driver for social change, so it benefits all citizens in the long term.

UNESCO's 1978 International Charter of Physical Education and Sport classified sport as "a fundamental right for all." But the low place sport occupies in the developing world's priorities shows that its importance as an educational and social tool is not yet universal.

Everyone agrees that sport contributes to economic development by creating jobs and stimulating business activity. The organization of a major sporting event, for example, is a great opportunity for the local economy. The thousands of people who attend will spend money on food, lodging, transportation and other, related tourist activities.

However, in recent years, we see these economic benefits are obvious only the short term. If we take the example of South Africa in 2010, the positive impact of the World Cup was, in terms of job creation and reduced crime, only temporary and fell far short of pre-tournament projections. For example, the 309,000 tourists who came to the World Cup spent about $400 million, based on studies of the tourism department. The estimates prior to the tournament were three times higher. While the World Cup saw FIFA profit more than $2 billion, it cost South Africa $4.3 billion -- including nearly a billion dollars to build massive, rarely-used stadiums in Cape Town and Durban.

The Brazilian riots early in 2014 can be attributed mainly to the huge federal investment for this summer's World Cup, despite the persistence of rampant poverty in the country. Many Brazilians think the billions could have been better spent on infrastructure development, poverty eradication, and so on. This debate is not new. At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, stadium graffiti read "No queremos goles, queremos frijoles" (We not want goals, we want beans.)

We see from these examples that sporting events are really beneficial to the host nations only when they encourage the local citizens to get out and play, and when the local professional teams can subsequently make use the facilities built for the event. As IOC founder Pierre de Coubertin said, "For every ten who are capable of amazing feats, we need one hundred playing sports intensively and one thousand actively participating."

One of the great challenges of the 21st century is ensuring that sport contributes greatly to the development of countries, particularly those currently least developed. According to Golda El Khoury, chief of the UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences,

"If we are looking for evidence of a development path ... sport has again not demonstrated its real benefits for a country and its people," said Golda El Khoury, chief of the UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences.

This is true but it's often because too often the sport has benefited government and business elites and not the citizenry. In many of the least industrialized nations, especially on the African continent, sport is rare because there is a shortage of knowledgeable coaches and a lack of sport equipment. In an attempt to remedy this, the French NGO Sport Without Borders operates in places like Afghanistan, southeast Asia and Bolivia, enacting projects that aim to allow everyone to access sport.

We can also commend Morocco's efforts to create localized social sports clubs. Women make up 25% of the attendees at these clubs, all of whom are taking part in a sport on a daily basis for likely the first time in their lives. This is proof of the effectiveness of real sports outreach in these nations.

A few years ago, Hugh Robertson, UK Minister for Sport and the Olympics, launched the "International Inspiration" initiative aimed at promoting physical education and sport among youth. The program includes everything from swimming lessons in Bangladesh, to reduce the number of children who drown, to teaching young Zambians about societal issues like HIV/AIDS prevention through sport.

Of course, the sport itself cannot lift a country out of poverty. But it can help as a tool to kick start social change. This is what the United Nations has been aware of ever since its first proclamation in 1978. By October 2002, the Secretary General mandated an inter-agency review of sport-related activities. The team produced a report entitled "Sport for Development and Peace: Towards Achieving the Millenium Development Goals." In it, the team concludes that sport is a relatively inexpensive and effective way to promote the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals, the common program adopted by world leaders at the U.N. Millenium Summit.

We must now follow this path that has long been abandoned by states focused solely on reducing spending. Out of global solidarity, we must allow developing countries to build sports facilities for their populations. Sport is not an industry, or an economy; it is and must be a significant driver of development for countries across the globe.

This challenge will be one of many issues at the heart of discussions at the next edition of Doha GOALS (Gathering of all Leaders in Sport), the world's leading forum on the social impact of sport, to be held November 3-5 in the presence of many athletes, politicians, business and civil society leaders.

Sport and Development: Challenges in a New Arena
Frank van Eekeren

Introduction
In 2005, the United Nations spread the message “sport for development and peace” loudly and clearly around the globe. Looking back on the international Year of Sport and Physical Education, it must be said that the UN has achieved its goal. Sport is increasingly becoming accepted both as a goal in itself and as a means to achieve development ends. Many countries from both the North and South have raised the profile of sport in society, and various international, national and local organizations have begun translating this policy into hundreds of projects in the developing world.

With hindsight, there has been a remarkable shift. Less than ten years ago I decided to study the importance of sport in the development of poorer countries. At that time, the topic of sport was taboo in developmental cooperation circles. Sport was seen as a luxury and funding sports projects in the Third World was out of the question altogether.

There were exceptions of course. A few enterprising organizations and individuals persisted despite (political) resistance and set up their own sports projects, achieving impressive results. They responded to needs expressed by sporting organizations and governments, mostly from Africa. But these initiatives were few and far between. At that time, it was easy to compile an international survey of sport-related initiatives and policy documents. Within just a few months of research, I could call myself an expert in the field. As always, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Today, the situation is dramatically different. During the Magglingen Conference that rounded off the UN year of sport, I concluded that I was unaware of about 90% of the current initiatives. Whether in Russia, Egypt, Tanzania, Hungary, Afghanistan, Iran, Brazil, or Tunisia, new projects are popping up all over the globe. And the involvement of the North has also changed. While Norway, Canada and the Netherlands used to lead the pack, now it is Switzerland and the UN organizations that are playing the most visible role.

At the same time, the involvement of the academic community has also grown. Until recently, research into sport was tantamount to academic suicide, but now the small army of interested researchers is growing. Sport has begun to draw academics from a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from social sciences, management and governance to kinetics and medicine. This development is also reflected by the list of participants in this conference: “Unlocking the Potential of Sport for Youth Wellness and Development”.

In short, when the organizers of this conference asked me for an introductory overview of the main international trends and milestones in the field of sport and development cooperation, I knew it would not be easy. Nonetheless, it is important to provide such an analysis of the current situation and a forecast of the main challenges ahead. After all, the year 2005 showed us not only how many positive developments have taken place over the years, but also that the issue of sport and development could use some quality control. UN phraseology, and in its wake the words of countless politicians, sound wonderful. However, it often smacks of preaching to the converted, and preaching a message which is poorly founded as well. After all, is sport always such a useful instrument or goal? Does sport actually make a qualitative difference to those people with whose help and for whose benefit such projects are set up? How much do we really know about the effect of sporting activities under various conditions? Do the organizations involved have sufficient know-how and do they make adequate use of the information available? In short, we lack convincing analyses of the relevance of sport to specific development issues in specific circumstances.

I believe that after years of expansion, it is now time for reflection. Without a sound underpinning, the belief in the potential of sport will never be founded on anything more than the ‘common sense’ of those who are passionate about it. But this seems too weak a basis. In order to improve the quality and effectiveness of future projects and to firmly establish the issue for the years to come, it is necessary to go deeper. This means being willing and able to learn. Increasing the learning capacity of the sector may be the biggest challenge in the years ahead.

The question I am trying to answer in this article is this: How can the Sport and Development sector increase its learning capacity and which preconditions must be fulfilled in order to do so? In other words, what are the conditions under which the outcome of the debates to be held during this conference “Unlocking the Potential of Sport for Youth Wellness and Development” can be applied in practice?

In order to answer these questions, I will zoom in on the situation in the Netherlands. For a long time, this country was a pioneer of funding and organizing sports projects in developing countries. The Netherlands was one of the first countries to formulate a sport and development policy, and as early as 1998, various organizations attempted to raise the profile of this issue. The successes and failures of the Dutch approach hold valuable lessons that may be relevant in an international context. In the following case study, I will discuss the formation of a new organizational chain, described as an arena, and the effect it had on the attempt to deepen the new policy theme. The dilemmas, solutions and consequences are analyzed and transposed to the current international context, clarifying the challenges for the future.

A Brief History of Sport and Development in the Netherlands
Fifty years ago, former IOC chairman Avery Brundage said “[s]port is completely free of politics” (Cashmore, 1990). Dozens of recent incidents make clear that this statement was naive to say the very least. Sport has become a political instrument, for either selling political ideas or achieving development goals. There are plenty of examples of sport serving as the flagship of a political regime; one need only think of the former DDR and the Soviet Union. But then, there was also the effect of the international sport boycott of South Africa during the Apartheid era. At the same time, millions of people enjoy practicing their favourite sport, whether state-subsidized or not.

In 2005, the Dutch cabinet stated that sport was an important tool to rectify the perceived failure to integrate various ethnic groups into Dutch society (Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Sportnota, 2005). Over a decade earlier, the Dutch government had already recognized the importance of sport in the social development of developing countries. In 1993, the then-minister of Development Cooperation made available funds to rebuild the Zambian football team, which had lost almost all its players in a plane crash in the run-up to the 1994 football World Cup in the USA. The minister acknowledged that good performance by the national team was important to a developing nation. Dutch parliament called the minister to account for this initiative, incidentally. Financing sport from development cooperation funds was not done in those days.

By the mid 1990s, more and more Dutch sport organizations were getting involved in projects in developing countries. Organizations such as the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) and the Dutch football association (KNVB) ran successful teacher and coach training projects in Africa. There were various private initiatives in response to requests from local governments, sporting organizations and individuals from the South. Sporting organizations and passionate individuals were particularly pioneering on various fronts. And these pioneers increasingly turned to the government for subsidies for their projects. In 1998, this prompted the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health, Welfare and Sports to commission Utrecht University to organize a symposium on the subject. Dutch stakeholders and international academics debated the value of sport in developing countries.

The ministers involved translated the enthusiasm displayed at this symposium into a combined Sport and Development Cooperation memorandum (entitled “Cooperation Scores” [Samenspel scoort], 1998), which announced structural plans to encourage and support sport in developing countries. The memorandum motivated and brought together Dutch organizations. The government subsidized a Sport and Development program, run by NCDO, an independent administrative body. This organization set up a platform for sport and development organizations to regularly meet and exchange information. NCDO also developed a website (www.sportdevelopment.org) making accessible relevant information about projects, organizations, funding, and so on. In addition, NCDO publishes “Supporter”, a quarterly about sport in developing countries, which ensures that the issue is brought to the attention of the Dutch population.

Although the budget for projects in developing countries remained limited, the new policy document and the Sport and Development program sparked off a number of new large-scale projects in Burkina Faso, Surinam and Kenya. A few Dutch sporting organizations formally incorporated sport and development into their mission and even appointed a specialized employee. The development cooperation organizations proved harder to convince of sport’s added value, and long steered clear of the debate and the implementation of projects.

In the meantime, the issue of sport and development had also made it onto the international agenda. Countries such as Norway and Canada had been very active for years, and Right to Play (formerly: Olympic Aid), headed by erstwhile Olympic speed skating champion Johann Olav Koss, became the largest international NGO for sport and development. The Dutch Foreign Affairs ministry was so impressed by the Right to Play projects, particularly those in refugee camps, that it awarded a large subsidy to this organization. Right to Play, who use popular top sportsmen and women as their ambassadors, also lobby for the sport and development issue internationally. International umbrella organizations such as the IOC and FIFA came to realize that sports could contribute significantly to development, so they formulated their own policies. Gradually, even the United Nations became interested in the value of sport and set up the Office of Sport for Development and Peace. The increased interest from donor organizations stimulated a rise in requests from the developing countries, and at the same time these requests from the South could be more adequately targeted at specific organizations.

In November 2003, the Netherlands – specifically NCDO, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and NOC*NSF – organized an international meeting of experts, entitled ‘The Next Step’. Here, participants from both the North and the South gathered for the first time to debate the value of sport and to decide what steps to take. Earlier, during the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Right to Play had organized a round table conference on this theme. The Salt Lake City conference resulted in the founding of a special taskforce on Sports for Peace and Development and the appointment of a special UN ambassador. On a more practical level, UK Sport and Commonwealth Canada organized a donor conference in London and a recipient conference in Johannesburg. The main issue of debate at these conferences was cooperation between North and South. Here, the first steps were taken to formulate a code of conduct for cooperation between Northern and Southern organizations.

At the first Magglingen conference in February 2003, many international organizations and governments signed the Magglingen declaration, expressing their commitment to sport and development. Just like its 2005 edition, this conference was organized by the Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SAD) and Federal Office of Sport Magglingen (BASPO).

In the meantime, the Dutch political landscape and development cooperation policy changed, decreasing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ involvement in sport. As an issue, sport and international cooperation became marginalized. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport had limited resources and the Sport and Development program – by necessity – was redirected towards creating support among the Dutch population. State funding of organizations and projects was drastically cut back. Various organizations that over the years had become specialized in sport and development found it necessary to raise alternative funds elsewhere.

This decrease in political attention and involvement does not mean that Dutch organizations no longer play a significant role in the field. Many Dutch organizations are still equally active in sports projects in the South. One recent contribution to the (international) development of the Sport and Development theme is a toolkit with Best Practices. This Dutch initiative will be followed up by the Norwegian government. In the UN Year of ‘Sport and Physical Education’, a number of organizations campaigned in the Netherlands and contributed to international meetings held in Livingstone (Next Step part II) and Magglingen. These meetings make clear that in an international context, the theme is more alive than ever. The UN has recognized sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace (UN resolution 58/5), and more recently the European Parliament also passed a resolution about sport and development (P6_TA-PROV(2005)0464).

Selection of International Milestones:

December 2005: Magglingen 2005 Declaration – Magglingen, Switzerland

December 2005: European Parliament Resolution on Sport and Development

June 2005: The Next Step 2005 – Livingstone, Zambia

February 2005: Unicef Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation – NY, USA

September 2004: Council of Europe: The Contribution of Sport to Intercultural Dialogue – Istanbul, Turkey

August 2004: Roundtable Forum: Harnessing the Power of Sport for Development and Peace – Athens, Greece

November 2003: UN Resolution 58/5

November 2003: The Next Step: 'International Expert Meeting on Development In and Through Sport' – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

February 2003: Declaration and Recommendations: Magglingen Conference on Sport & Development – Magglingen, Switzerland

May 2003: International Donor Meeting – London, UK

April 2003: International Recipient Meeting – Johannesburg, South Africa

March 2003: UN Task Force Report

February 2002: Round Table Conference - Salt Lake City, USA

Selection of International Actors and Networks

• International Platform on Sport and Development www.sportanddev.org Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC)/ Swiss Academy for Development (SAD)

• Platform on Sport and Development Cooperation www.sportdevelopment.org/ www.toolkitsportdevelopment.org
NCDO
Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS)
Netherlands Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sport (NOC*NSF)

• UN Programs and Funds www.un.org/themes/sport UN Office Sport for Development and Peace
UNHCR
UNICEF
UNDP
UNEP

• Selection of Other International Actors
Australian Sports Commission
Sport Canada
Commonwealth Games Canada
CGC
ICSSPE
ICSA
International Labour Office (ILO)
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
FIFA
FK Norway
Kicking Aids Out
KNVB
MYSA
National Sports Council Zambia
Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF)
Right to Play
Sport sans frontiers streetfootballworld South African Sports Commission
SCORE
UEFA
UK Sport

Looking back on the last decade, it is clear that the Dutch government has both nationally and internationally influenced the development of this policy area. In the Netherlands, more organizations are now involved in the issue than there were ten years ago. The theme is nationally better known and more projects and partnerships have been launched.
The field has been succesfully broadened. In terms of content, important steps have also been taken. Various organizations have combined their expertise and the organizations involved have become aware that delivering quality requires a professional approach. Yet, in terms of content and depth, themes such as gender, HIV/AIDS, coping with trauma, and monitoring and evaluation have only been touched upon. Furthermore, cross-fertilization with other, related sectors is still in its infancy. In the implementation of their projects, the organizations involved keep running up against the same barriers, which limits their ability to focus on the further, qualitative, development of their work. How can we explain this limited learning capacity of the sector?

A New Arena
The central question posed by this article is how to enlarge the learning capacity of organizations (directly) involved in a new arena. Learning implies a change of behaviour, or as Swieringa and Wierdsma (2002) call it, ‘competence’. In their view the learning organization is an “organization that can perpetually improve, innovate and develop itself. That is learning capacity. To increase this capacity, actors must not focus on what happens but on interactions”.

Learning takes place in a complex environment. Complexity translates onto more than one level (Van der Winden, 2004):
• The international political context, including the balance of power (interests);
• The balance (of power) in an ‘aid arena’ (institutional context);
• Denotation: different actors with different interpretations;
• Representation.

The short overview I have provided, the history of the Sport and Development policy area from a Dutch perspective, may also be described as the birth of a new aid arena. My point of departure here is that the creation of a new policy arena entails the creation of a new order. Ordering means assigning social positions – and therefore rights and obligations – to groups and individuals. In order to visualize such an ordering process and its consequences more clearly, the new policy area can be seen as an arena in which each actor tries to impose its own position, rights and obligations onto others. They try to achieve this partly through cooperation, and partly through competition. (De Ruijter, 1998).

According to De Ruijter (1998), one characteristic of an arena is that it is a relatively well-demarcated battlefield on which different, and by definition unequal, partners enter into combat. The nature and structure of the fight is more or less predetermined (negotiated order). The actors and spectators in the arena occupy different positions and possess different weapons to wield as they strive to reach their goals.

For a long time, the content of the sport and development projects supported by Dutch organizations was determined from a sport development perspective. Requests from the South usually landed on the desks of sporting organizations by way of existing international networks. These requests often dealt with the physical and organizational infrastructure of sports. Dutch organizations and individuals would honour these requests partly out of social consideration and partly out of self-interest. What Dutch organizations had to offer was very much coloured by their experiences in The Netherlands and insufficiently adapted to the local context (Boessenkool and Van Eekeren, 2000). Cooperation with development organizations was scarce; general development goals usually played second fiddle to the development of the sport.

When the Dutch government got involved and organizations started trying to lay claim to subsidies, the sport and development issue in the Netherlands became more politicized. The goals shifted away from sport and development and towards the official development cooperation policy. Sport development was no longer seen as a goal in itself, but mainly as a tool to achieve social goals. This became apparent at the first Dutch symposium on the issue. There, debates were held on the significance of sport in the contexts of coping with trauma, marginalized groups, and gender, all subjects that played an important role in Dutch development cooperation policy at that time.

From that moment on, the new arena was born. At first, the Dutch organizations involved wanted to know who in their own country was active in sports projects in the South. Their idea was to form a network in which the Dutch actors could meet, exchange information and coordinate their activities. The wide diversity of actors, ranging from enthusiastic individuals to professional organizations, had to be better streamlined. Furthermore, the government wished to take part, which meant the arena was further formalized and the rules of the game were laid down for the first time. The ministries of Health, Welfare and Sport and Development Cooperation were tentatively finding their feet in the arena. Since opportunities to steer were limited, the government was unable to position itself as the main games master. Instead, the government-subsidized NCDO was given the role of director and promoter of content in the arena. This made the government somewhat less visible to the other actors in the arena, but it remained active in the background.

In the early stages, the actors in the arena were fuelled by commitment and enthusiasm. At that time, it was a small group of passionate people who finally found a platform for their efforts. These actors had a common goal: to put the issue of sport and development cooperation on the political agenda, thereby securing better financial means to achieve their content goals. It seemed desirable to involve the development cooperation sector in the arena. The sector’s expertise and experience, and its organizational and financial resources were seen as key to further development of the issue. However, it turned out to be difficult to convince the development cooperation sector of the value of sport. For a long time, the development organizations appeared to have little or no interest in actively contributing to the arena.

Around the year 2000, more funding became available. At the same time, the interests of the actors in the arena began to diverge. Organizations wishing to lay claim to subsidies tended to share less information with each other. The strategy of various actors shifted from cooperation to competition. Moreover, the creation of funds, and their attending criteria and procedures, led to further formalization. Actors had to comply with all kinds of accountability mechanisms required by the government. A great deal of time and attention was spent on drafting project proposals and writing evaluation reports. The creation of funds created more opportunities to implement projects and further professionalize the actors, but it also meant the arena lost some of its cohesion and creativity.

One remarkable development is that since 2000, debates about content within the arena have been waning, while organizations from the South have still only been heard through their Dutch counterparts. The increased government influence has led the actors in the arena to focus primarily on Dutch desires and requirements. The Sport and Development program is also geared towards this; it aims to inform the Dutch partners and to increase the support for sport and development cooperation among the Dutch public. The latter is a specific goal set by the NCDO, the most central actor in the arena.

Figure 1: Sport and Development Arena

Politics (national/international)

Public opinion / support

Donor
(government)

lobby

Inform Intermediary Organization

support / dialogue

Recipient
(government/ NGO/ CSO)

Target group

The arena is a dynamic system. Some organizations, like the Dutch football association, give the sport and development issue a prominent place in their own organization. The associaton’s increased capacity and quality makes it an important partner. At the same time, some organizations, such as Right to Play Netherlands and Unicef Netherlands, have a fluctuating bond with the arena. They are relatively independent organizations with their own financial resources and know-how. These organizations do not always clearly see what the arena has to offer them. Smaller organizations, which are more dependent on government funding, must play along in the arena, but to them the rules of the game are often too obscure.

Various actors in the arena have formed partnerships. These parties usually join forces for the purpose of setting up and implementing projects. In some cases, these partnerships are instigated by the government or NCDO, while in other cases actors start to cooperate because they know each other from the arena and believe they can create added value by combining their competences and capacities. At the same time, however, links with actors from outside the arena remain tentative. This is why the dialogue with Southern partners and other policy areas, such as education, science, health care, and so on, has not yet got off the ground. What is worse, the pressure of diminishing financial means and increasing competition threatens to create separate sport and development industries, each more interested in conserving the status quo than in developing further.

Roughly speaking, the actors can now be divided into two groups, each with its own way of doing battle. The first group has opted to extract itself from government funding and join different networks to look for alternative funding. To these actors, going more in-depth might be interesting, but it is not strictly necessary. A joint effort to explore the issue more deeply in relation to specific themes can hardly be called crucial.

The second group has opted to maintain close links with the government, and gears its policies and organizations to dovetail with government policy. This group forms the more stable section of the arena. Private initiative and entrepreneurial spirit seem to be waning in this section because most actors focus on the same resources. Government influence, and therefore indirect political clout, has largely set the agenda in terms of content. Furthermore, the main focus has been on development cooperation organizations, and this has pulled the sector into the vortex of development issues. One example is the rising number of sports projects linked to HIV/AIDS awareness. This is a hot issue in development cooperation circles and the actors in Sport and Development have jumped on the bandwagon. The message of the (sporting) organizations is that sport makes HIV/AIDS education simpler. This assumption is widely accepted, but a debate on the relevance of such projects might still be useful: In which circumstances is HIV/AIDS education important, in which circumstances is it appropriate to use sport as a tool and in which circumstances would other tools better serve the purpose? For the time being, it seems not to be in the actors’ interests to pose and answer such critical questions.

Most actors in the arena have invested a relatively large amount of energy in intervening in the government and development cooperation arenas, leading to a lack of solid ‘identity’. Debates on content, when these have taken place at all, have focussed mostly on how (sporting) organizations can work on logical frameworks and on proving the value of sport to the Millennium Development Goals. In so doing, they have gone along with the discourse of the development and government sectors, where debates, studies and evaluations are not primarily aimed at learning, but at accounting and convincing. In addition, pressure from the government and development cooperation sectors has led many to see sport mainly as a tool, while sport’s intrinsic value is mentioned less and less.

It is clear that the new arena offers new broadening potential, in the form of agenda-setting and a neutral exchange of information. At the same time, the different actors’ specific interests have become so widely divergent that a joint attempt to go deeper in terms of content seems out of the question. Actors are interested in studies that prove the value of sport beyond any doubt. That is in everyone’s interest. There is much less eye for the importance of more specific or more critical studies into the relevance of sport in different contexts. The small number of academics who are part of the arena have proven unable to raise funds for independent research.

Challenges for the International Arena
My description of the Dutch arena has exposed the factors underlying the Dutch Sport and Development sector’s learning (dis)ability. My decision to use the concept of the arena in this article reflects a view of society as a conflict zone. After all, society is interpreted in terms of warring parties trying to fulfil their (conflicting) needs. From this angle, society is not primarily a market where free and equal participants can trade ideas, goods and services; instead, it is primarily a battlefield (De Ruijter, 1998).

I find this a refreshing view, particularly when applied to (Sport and) Development Cooperation. Partnerships, sharing information and comparing notes are all hackneyed, hollow phrases in this field. It is assumed that everyone is aligned in support of the same noble cause. The actors involved seem genuinely amazed when it turns out the desired cooperation and in-depth exploration fail to emerge on cue. And when it is revealed that the facade of idealism actually also conceals (organizational) self-interest.

We could label this undesirable or even unethical, particularly because we are dealing with development cooperation, but it would be more helpful to look the truth straight in the eye. Many organizations pay lip service to concepts such as in-depth studies, learning and improving, but an analysis using the arena model shows that various factors hamper the sector’s ability to learn. Within the arena, a common goal such as agenda-setting is relatively simple to achieve because this leads to an increase in funding, which benefits everyone involved. Access to other resources, particularly knowledge, is a different matter. This touches upon the actors’ positions of power and tends to elicit a competitive strategy. This limits the learning capacity in the arena.

The international arena which is currently forming shows some similarities to the Dutch arena. The UN organizations, large international sporting organizations and governments from the North seem destined to become the main actors to whom most others will conform. The main actors have access to the greatest financial resources as well as to knowledge, experience and networks. They are well-organized and professionalized. The sector can benefit from these strong partners, whose pioneering role will allow them to raise the profile of the issue.

At the same time, there are certain dangers attached to such a static arena. The main actors’ (political) agendas will figure largely and make the policy area vulnerable. Political choices may have great consequences for the dependent organizations in the arena, while these may be unable to significantly affect these decisions. In particular the voice of the Southern nations, the recipients, is in danger of being drowned out. Their position in the arena is vulnerable because of their limited access to funding and information resources.

Such a situation will compromise the arena’s learning ability. The knowledge, needs and experience of organizations from the South are crucial to learn what the value of sport is in specific circumstances. Failure to strengthen the position of such organizations in the arena (capacity building) will lead to the loss of a great deal of relevant information. The content and issues will be determined by the large players’ desires, procedures and systems rather than the desires and needs of the target group. In this situation, going deeper will be more about creating unity (in approach, methodology and tools) than about the diversity and complexity of the context in which the projects take place.

Dutch history can teach us that it is important to create a vital arena. If the actors in the international arena truly want to deepen the field, they must decrease their dependence on a few, central sources of power. Knowledge is one of the key resources. The actors in the arena should not only be looking for common interests but also be willing to acknowledge each other’s specific interests. Organizations’ and networks’ own identities may ensure more independence. Knowledge should be sought outside one’s own arena as well. Experts should be welcomed from the fields of pedagogy, social science, management consultancy, and medicine, but most of all from the target group itself. All these people can provide valuable contributions to the content development of the policy area.

More knowledge about the effectiveness of sport in developing societies may spark off a dialogue with the powerful, international donors about their approach and the quality of the programs and projects. It will be the donors’ task to facilitate and encourage ‘learning’. The donors’ monitoring and evaluation practices should be aimed not only at accountability, but also at gathering information that will allow them to learn. Donors should pay attention not only to quantifiable effects, but also to the process taking place in the society where their projects are implemented.

The actors in the arena can also make themselves more independent by finding alternative financial resources. The private sector has so far barely been tapped. Their financial support, but also their expertise, may help ensure that the arena will become more open, balanced and vital. This will allow actors to start exploring the various policy issues in greater depth, regardless of political agendas, thereby strengthening their position in the arena.

The main lesson we can learn from Dutch history is that a strong key player, in this case the government, may prove an important facilitator, but may also compromise the vitality of the arena. The initial enthusiasm and the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit are jeopardized, just like the input from recipients. This thought process is nothing new. A multinational such as Microsoft is well aware of the importance of a vital organization. They are trying to achieve this through programs aimed at “sustain[ing] the company’s start-up mentality” (Florida, 2002). Without its original inspiration and enthusiasm, the policy area of Sport and Development is in danger of becoming embedded in political and bureaucratic systems which impede independent and creative thought.

In Conclusion
Sport will never be free of political influence in the way that Avery Brundage would have had us believe fifty years ago. But if the issue of sport and development is to be sustainable, than a vital arena is crucial. This must be an arena in which learning is desirable, possible and even necessary. But this can only be achieved if the similarities and differences between the various actors and their specific interests are identified beforehand, and the start-up mentality is sustained.

To increase learning capacity, a heavily centralized and directed arena is undesirable. The creation of an international society for sport and development should leave room for the individual organizations’ diversity and specificity. Loosely linked systems or networks, which may differ in composition and methodology depending on the issue and the interests involved, offer the best guarantee for a learning environment. The existing (internet) platforms and international conferences offer opportunities for meetings and exchanges of information which may engender new alliances. Such alliances offer the best opportunities for well-directed learning and in-depth exploration. Such a vital arena would provide opportunities to independently study the relevance of sport to development, from different perspectives, free of political and bureaucratic influence. This is the only way to ensure a sustainable sector.

About the author: Frank van Eekeren is a consultant and researcher at the Utrecht School of Governance (USG), Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

References

Boessenkool, J. and F. van Eekeren, “The nature of sport and international cooperative development.” In: A. Knoppers (ed.), The Construction of Meaning in Sport Organizations: Management of Diversity. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing (2000)

Cashmore, E., Making Sense of Sport. London: Routledge (1990)

Florida, R., The Rise of the Creative Class. Basic Books: New York (2002)

Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), Tijd voor sport. Bewegen, meedoen, presteren.[Time for Sport: Exercise, Participate, Perform.] The Hague: SDU ( 2005)

Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), Sport en ontwikkeling: samenspel scoort. [Sport and Development: Cooperation Scores.] The Hague: SDU (1998)

Ruijter, A. de, “Invoegen en uitsluiten; de samenleving als arena [Inclusion and exclusion; society as arena].” In: C. Geuijen (ed.), Multiculturalisme [Multiculturalism]. Utrecht: Lemma (1998)

Wierdsma A. and J. Swieringa, Lerend organiseren, Als meer van hetzelfde niet helpt. [Learning from Organizing: When More of the Same No Longer Works.]Groningen: Stenfert Kroese (2002)

Winden, B. van de, Do Not Beat a Drum … With an Axe: Responsive Evaluation
Methodology in an International Context. Utrecht: Utrecht University (2004)

CHALLENGES OF SPORTS DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

By Abraham Steiner Previous | Next When it comes to sports, Ghana is a force to reckon with. In recent times, Ghanaian sports men have exhibited to the world, some superior skills in many sport disciplines. At the most recent completed World Cup, the Black stars were favorites. Also, in the world of boxing we have seen some great boxers like Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, and presently Clottey and Agbeko. However, despite the success the ministry of Education and Sports, it is plagued with problems. This was very evident at the poor performance displayed at the most recent Beijing Olympics game.

After the competition the Ghanaian airwaves were bombarded with news and views about the poor performance displayed by the Ghanaian athletes. Ironically, Mr. Joe Aggrey had a press conference at TV 3 to discuss the cause of the failure when this competition was a yardstick to measure his years as a sports minister. He also evaluated the programs that he implemented in preparation for the games. Dr. Owusu Ansah was also on Joy fm with his ideas and to blow his horns and also point accusing fingers. Being in the position of a Sports Development officer, I was expecting him to explain or state the development programs that he has instituted all his years at the ministry and to show the results.

After listening and observing, I see it very clear and vivid that the problem of the decline of Sports in Ghana has still not been identified. I deem it very necessary and a call to duty to write this article to bring to light the challenges of sports development in Ghana and propose some solutions.

Problems

1. Disconnect between Inter school sports and the national sports council.

2. The need to change officials of the Ghana Olympics committee and sports association after four years in office.

3. The need to hold officials of the Ghana Olympic committee, national association, and interim committee officers accountable after competitions.

4. Selection of officials and sports stake holders should include educated sports personnel, former athletes and not business men.

5. The need to give International exposure to athletes.

6. The provision of top notch training facilities, equipments and coaches.

7. The need for an exemption on custom duties on all sports equipments.

8. The need for the Development of quality training programs and sports education programs

9. The need for sponsorships of tournaments and competitions

Disconnect between Ghana education service Physical education department and the national sports council.

The physical education department of Ghana education service is in charge of organizing inter-school sports around the country. It is through this competition that a lot of new talents are revealed. However during such competitions the only thing that sports council executives do is to get there and read long scripts at the opening and closing ceremonies. The athletes at the end of the competition go back to their regions and villages to wait for another year or two for another regional’s event. What should happen next after the inter-schools? How many school athlete are recruited to join regional teams? Is the hierarchy functional so that regional level athletes are refined and recruited to join for example, east, west, north or south teams? Do we recognize athletes as All Ghanaian capable of joining a national team or an olympic team? What is the role of the Olympic Development wing in the country? Is the Olympic development wing able to tap talents from east, west, north and south teams to constitute a developing Olympic team? Does the Olympic Development wing have a cadre of coaches to work with these talents when they are identified? There appears to be a clear disconnection between the various facets of sports in the country. This is a very serious matter.

In the developed countries, like the USA, the NCAA can be compared to the Physical Education department in Ghana. The Education Department oversees all inter-school sports when talents are unearthed. The organization works close with regional, as well as school coaches, who follow up with the athletes with good counseling services, equipment and other pertinent training materials. Athletes are advised on future competitions, training events etc. We do not have a clear view for sports development in the country. Should Ghana Sports, in part, be school-based? If yes, then we have not done much in that aspect. Schools can produce talents if sports development is targeted, in part, to schools, colleges and universities.

Proposed Solution

The National Sports Council should come to a realization that athletes don’t drop from the skies, instead it take years of training and dedication to develop an athlete. For this reason, they need to work in close contact with the Ghana Education Service. The National Sports Council should be staunch participant at all inter-school competitions to scout for these talents. Also, the Sports Council should develop training programs for these athletes and follow up with their educational and sports goals. A child that is scouted in Accra, with exceptional soccer talents at the basic level, can be recruited to join the Accra Olympic team, for example. It is now the olympic coach’s responsibility to guide and train this athlete to the next tertiary level and from that level, scholarships can be awarded to successful athletes to go to prestigious colleges abroad. We all witnessed good athletes from the Caribbean Islands during the Olympics, but what we don’t know is that most of these athletes develop their talents while on educational scholarships in Canada, USA, England, Germany and other countries abroad. We can do so too if we don’t have adequate facilities at the moment.

The need to change officials of the Ghana Olympics committee and sports association after four years in office.

It is unfortunate the way members get selected to the various national sports association as well as the Ghana Olympic committee. The sad part of is that these associations have become money making machines for the members. They get to travel for free to competitions abroad and paid huge stipends for doing nothing but to go shopping and sleep in big hotels which they could never afford on their own. There are people who have been members of various associations for over ten to fifteen years and had never been changed and may not be changed until they die or resign. Should we measure success by years of service in committee or by products and achievements? We are not heading the right direction when it comes to sports development. The disconnect is evident within departments and committees. No doubt, we are clueless about our own potential and developmental pattern. We interject foreign face into our sports industry and pay heavily to invigorate our growth pattern but always short-lived. We need to connect the facets of the sports industry in country more tightly and with purpose for national development rather than individual pocket enrichment.

Solution

The national sports council should develop a new system in appointing national association as well as GOC members. The present head of the GOC has been in office for over eight years, don’t you think by now he has run out of ideas? Also, why should you be a member of a national sports association before you would qualify to become a member of the GOC and why can’t we create a system of checks and balances but instead have the same people on both committees?

Selection of officials and sports stake holders should include educated sports personnel, former athletes and not business men.

It is very sad that Ghana has two well endowed Health Physical education Recreation and sports departments at Cape Coast University and University of Education Winneba and when it comes to the selection of sports association and committee members and coaches, we end up appointing businessmen, owners of sports apparel shops, sports journalist. For example, Joe Aggrey is to spear the affairs of sports. I would describe these people as the blind leading the blind

Solution

The Ministry in conjunction with the national sports council should make sure that outstanding HPERS students should be seconded to the sports council. Also, in selecting committee members, a fraction of members should be from these departments as well as previous athletes who will be there not for monetary gains but for the love of their country and sports. Also since they have studied about the fields, such as ethics of sports, they will perform better than the laymen that we have on the committees; for example, someone plays tennis at stadium club so that would qualify him to be a Ghana tennis association member rather then a tennis player who may have a first or higher degree in sports from Winneba or Cape Coast.

The need to hold officials of the Ghana Olympic committee, national association, interim committee officers accountable after competitions.

Furthermore, it is very sad that as Ghanaians, we fail to identify the cause of most of our failures during such competitions and the blame is always blamed on the coaches and players. For the purpose of this article I would like to use the Ghana Black queens as an example. Before the China games the GFA selected the queens organizing committee, they were responsible for the training, selection, and the total running of the queen’s affairs, which I believe they did. After the poor performance at the Women’s World Cup nobody, until this day, has called for a probe into the preparation towards the competitions and events that really happened during the competition.

The sad part at the present time is the same people are still in charge of the queens and we should expect the plateau effect because there are no new ideas and no consequence for these organizers.

Solution

It is about time that Ghanaians wake up and stop pointing fingers at the wrong people. Committee members should be held accountable at the end of competitions and if some failures or weaknesses are identified those members should not be allowed to serve on future committees.

The need to give International exposure to athletes

Years ago Ghana had what we called the scholarship secretariat where a lot of Ghanaians who excelled in school, sports and other fields were given scholarships to attend prestigious colleges abroad with the view of gaining some international exposure and expertise. At the return of the scholar he would become beneficial to the country as a whole. What has really happened to such scholarships? As I mentioned earlier on most, athletes from the Caribbean’s e.g. Jamaica are all students based in USA or Canada.

Solution

Ghana should give our athletes some international exposure. We can get most of our athletes in NCAA division one schools that award sports scholarships. Also, there is the need for the government to support our athletes while they either study or train abroad because the cost of membership for athletic facilities in the developed countries is very expensive. For example, a few of Ghana’s best tennis players live in the Bronx, USA for them to train in a tennis facility in New York City. They have to pay as much as $50 an hour to use the facility with no government support. However during Davis cup the government of Ghana gets the audacity to invite these players to come and play for their nation for nothing in return.

The provision of top notch training facilities, equipments and coaches.

Training facilities, equipments and coaches play a vital role in sports development. It’s unfortunate that the Accra sports stadium has been converted into a soccer stadium in a third World country that has very few facilities. I don’t know whose idea it was to eliminate the athletic oval during the construction and instead send the oval to Elwak stadium which belongs to the military. Until today Ghana still does not have any well equipped athletic training facility or gym for our athletes to train. About a year ago we received a container load of equipment in a form of donation from Japan; I would like the Chief Executive to tell us where those equipments are.

Solution

It’s about time that the sports council creates world class gyms for our players. We need work out equipment for cardio development, such as tread mills and free weights for muscle and power development. Also, there is the need for top level coaches to train our athletes. They should promote more coaching courses and also sponsor our coaches to training programs around the world to improve our quality of coaching. Have we ever thought that the salary of a foreign black star coach couldn’t pay the school fees for a coach in the USA in a top class sports college or sports program?

The need for an exemption on custom duties on all sports equipments

Sports equipment costs too much in Ghana; most of these high prices have been necessitated because of the high custom duties on sports equipment. During the introduction of the International Tennis Federation school tennis initiative there was loads of equipment, such as tennis racquets that were shipped from the ITF to Ghana for the program. All this equipment was locked up at the ports because of bureaucracy and lack of exemption duties on these equipments.

Solution

If Ghana has exemptions on imported trucks because it will help develop the farming and construction sectors of the country, then I think its right for Ghana to implement exempt duties on sports equipment because that will also help to develop the sports sector. A lot of schools and NGO donate sports equipment in the developed countries but when the equipment arrived to Ghana they are overwhelmed with custom duties and that devours the motivation that they accepted the equipment with and they then say they will never again accept it.

The need for the Development of quality training programs and sports education programs

The days are gone when you get into the Accra sports stadium at three o’clock from the main entrance. The sports Hall is filled with numerous table tennis boards with Hatramani coaching. Also gone are the stadium tennis courts with coach Abraham Owuo (deceased)of the GES, coach Nortey Dowuona, coaching children tennis, the Oval where you had Rose Hart and others coaching athletics outside the stadium, the hand ball at the Osu end. When will we get such programs again? If you want to know I am willing to tell you what the future the results of these programs would be, I can give you countless names. So the question is, are we missing leaders?

Solution

It’s about time that we develop more training programs. If we all agree that soccer is taken over all sports in Ghana then let’s make sure that every soccer team should have an athletic, boxing team etc so that during half time the athletes can compete or the boxers can fight during half time. Also the Ghana education service should introduce their sports clinics in the various regions. Also there is the need to revise the physical education curriculum in our schools.

The need for sponsorships of tournaments and competitions

Gone were the days when we have all kinds of sponsorships. I remember the Mobil games, Milo Tournaments, Afko Tournamnet etc, and the forces games. Tournaments and competitions give athletes the platform to showcase to the world their skills and talents. Constant training without competition kills the motivation of the athletes.

Solution

The Government should institute all kinds of incentives for companies that sponsor athletes and competitions. These incentives can be in the form of tax breaks. Also, the government should allocate money for such competitions like national sports festivals that should be organized periodically.

If the Ministry of education is able to adopt and implement the above proposed problem and solutions, then Ghana can perform very well at 2012 Olympics in Great Britain.

Sports Impact Group Ghana

Sportsimpact_gh@yahoo.com

Key problems facing sports today

03/16/2010 shalomsoundproject 1 Comment

Management is of utmost importance in today’s sports. In modern days of keen competition success depends upon management skills of high grades. Management indicates execution or implementation for the sake of attaining predetermined objectives of Sports associations.

The success of any sport depends upon on three factors – Organization, Management and administration. Of these, Management is the most important as it is concerned with planning and programming, policy formulation and coordinating activities. It also includes control or work performance and maintenance of discipline for a purpose of maintaining a satisfactory quality of the sport.

The Key Problems in Sports revolve around the above-mentioned paragraph, and the following is a summary of the problems analysed by me:

Key problems facing Sports

Management: The problems that are seen at management level can be dubbed as the root of all problems in sports today.

There are numerous sports governing bodies in many countries, which operate very unprofessionally. This is a very common problem in developing countries. In India politicians who have no interest in developing the sport occupy top positions in sports associations. They are all given honorary positions and since they have no experience in the sport due to which the growth of that sport hampers.

Sports associations and governing bodies should change their mindset and should issue serious job roles with ex sports men on decision-making posts.

National associations and federations must stop whining about the governmental support and work towards developing a saleable product.

Economic: Economics of scale is a major talking point in the sports today. Inequality in the finances is a major threat to popular sports like Football. Economic imbalances in football leagues are a major drawback in the sport today. Issues of differences in salaries across sports is causing a very evidential competitive imbalance which will have a near term disadvantage which may result in declining popularity of the sport amongst the fans.

Developmental: The development of sports in the country needs a change in the basic mindset and evolution of the new culture. There is a need for sports associations and marketers to change the face of marketing by Professional methods, Packaging the sport well, Present the concepts better and position the sport confidently.

Grass Roots: Development of Sport at grass root level should be a focus of all sports governing bodies across the world, unfortunately only the popular sports, which are country specific, manage to flourish at grass root levels, there are success stories of grass root development which nations and sports associations can boast off example International Tennis Federation’s Mini Tennis Promotion and US Soccer’s Grassroots’ development program, which has made soccer a popular sport in a country that has popularized their national sports in the world. Development of grass root sports is the starting point of disciplined and structured atheism of the future.

Disciplinary: Discipline in Sports is a major problem in the past and even consists today. That’s the reason why there is negligence in the case of Doping, Match fixing, biased selection procedures, violence in sports. These are key problems that are hampering sports.

This primary study investigates the challenges and obstacles facing the development of volleyball in Oman. The researcher conducted questionnaires and interviews with eighty one volleyball sport specialists in an effort to trace their athletic, coaching and administration background in the development of volleyball. Each of these respondents played multiple sports, specialised in volleyball and spent the majority of their career promoting and developing this field. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and analyzed, which showed several similarities in their participation. The results of this study reflected the current volleyball situation in Oman. Also, it was compared with similar studies implemented on volleyball in neighboring countries. The output of this research has led to a greater understanding of the challenges facing the development of volleyball in Oman. Furthermore, suggestions to improve this sport, nationally and internationally, have been proposed.

An investigation into the challenges of the development of volleyball in Oman
Shihab Al Riyami
Dissertation (M.A. in Coach Education and Sports Development) - University of Bath, 2010. 2010
Shihab Al Riyami, volleyball coach at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), has achieved many things through his work with first division volleyball clubs in Oman. The former assistant coach for the Oman national team and junior team, he was recently nominated by the Oman Volleyball Association (OVA) to serve on the Coaching Committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). Elections will be held in September, and there is no doubt that Shihab’s selection would give volleyball a much-needed boost in Oman. In this interview, Shihab, an internationally qualified volleyball coach with a license from the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB), talks about his passion for volleyball, his desire to further its development in Oman and his research into volleyball injuries.

Home / KO Interviews / SHIHAB AL RIYAMI: Promoting Volleyball in Oman
SHIHAB AL RIYAMI: Promoting Volleyball in Oman
Posted on August 26, 2011 by Editor in KO Interviews with 2 Comments
Volleyball coach Shihab Al Riyami at the University of Bath, England

Shihab Al Riyami, volleyball coach at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), has achieved many things through his work with first division volleyball clubs in Oman. The former assistant coach for the Oman national team and junior team, he was recently nominated by the Oman Volleyball Association (OVA) to serve on the Coaching Committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). Elections will be held in September, and there is no doubt that Shihab’s selection would give volleyball a much-needed boost in Oman. In this interview, Shihab, an internationally qualified volleyball coach with a license from the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB), talks about his passion for volleyball, his desire to further its development in Oman and his research into volleyball injuries.

1. Could you please introduce yourself to KnowledgeOman.com

My name is Shihab Aldin bin Ahmed Al Riyami and I’m originally from Nizwa. I’m currently living in Al Khoud and working as a volleyball coach at SQU. I’m also an international volleyball coach, recognized by the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB).

2. When did you first start playing volleyball?

I first started playing volleyball in SQU in 1997 when I was studying Sports and Physical Education. Before that, I did athletics and swimming and basketball. But Dr Wageh, a sports tutor in the PE department at that time, persuaded me that I should try volleyball. As a result, I joined two volleyball clubs – Al Bahla and Kamal Al Wafi. In addition, from 1997 – 2000, I participated with the university volleyball team in overseas tournaments in places such as Qatar and Dubai.

Explaining tactics to the Al Seeb team

3. What did you do after finishing your studies at SQU?

Before I finished my PHA degree in Physical Education I completed all levels of the FIVB coaching licence. After that, I worked with several volleyball clubs such as Al-Seeb and Muscat, and achieved excellent results. In addition, I gained further experience by working as assistant coach for the Oman National team and junior team in many overseas competitions. From 2003-2008, I served on technical and coaching committees in Oman Volleyball associations, and presented several projects and proposals to develop volleyball here, such as establishing volleyball training centres for young people aged 11-15, innovating scientific methods of analyzing volleyball tournaments and establishing evaluation mechanisms for national volleyball coaches. I also conducted coaching courses and workshops for the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education. Through such achievements, I greatly expanded my experience and knowledge of the volleyball field. Recently, I completed a Master’s degree in sports coaching at the University of Bath, which is one of the best universities in the UK for sports. My thesis was on the development of volleyball in Oman. Since then, I’ve spent a few years researching volleyball coaching and injuries to volleyball players.

4. What is the situation with volleyball in Oman?

Although volleyball is gaining in popularity, it needs more promotion. At the moment, the number one sport is football. We have lots of football clubs, but only ten volleyball clubs in Oman, and just one volleyball club in Muscat. Other Gulf countries such as Qatar and Bahrain have a lot of clubs. We only have two or three competitions in Oman every year and we need to increase this number. As the former head of the Coaching Committee of the OVA, I can say that volleyball suffers from a lack of qualified coaches and a clear action plan for the future. Although we have good volleyball pitches and good outdoor facilities and some good players, we need more indoor facilities which the Ministry of Sport is trying to provide. In general, we need to establish a clear scheme and clear vision for volleyball.

Receiving the award for Head of OVA Coaching Committee & Premier International Volleyball Instructor in GCC Volleyball Championship in Oman 2009

5. What do you hope to achieve if you are elected to the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC)?

Honestly, I was extremely happy when I obtained my International Volleyball Coach Instructor’s licence (FIVB) in 2008 and as a result became the premier FIVB instructor in Oman. I’m currently very optimistic about becoming a member of the AVC Coaching Committee. If I’m elected, I think it will enable me to contribute greatly to the development of volleyball in Oman and bring lots of new ideas to improve volleyball here. There are only five places on the Coaching Committee and I will be in fierce competition with people with a lot of coaching experience from countries like Japan, China and Australia. However, I’m hopeful I have a chance!

6. You’ve recently returned from Greece. What were you doing there?

I was attending an international sports session in the International Olympic Academy. The participants were sports professionals from around the world – coaches, players and officials from Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA. My name was put forward to attend this event by the Oman Olympic Committee. This was after I presented a paper in January 2011 at a medical congress in Slovenia organized by FIVB. My paper was about volleyball injuries in Oman and what we can do to prevent them.

Receiving an award from Kuwait Olympic Committee as Volleyball Instructor in 2008
7. Why do injuries in volleyball happen?

Actually, this is a crucial issue in the field of sports. There are many reasons for volleyball injuries in Oman, but they happen mainly because of unqualified coaches and inadequate coaching which results in players not being aware of how they can avoid injury. The main injuries in volleyball are ankle and knee injuries. A coach’s role is vital in advising players how they can protect themselves from injury during a game. Lack of physiotherapy in sports clubs in Oman is also a basic problem.

8. How do you select people with a good potential for volleyball?

There are several aspects involved in selection. For example, medical tests, physical tests, anthropometry measurements (the science dealing with measurement of the size, weight, and proportions of the human body) and skills testing. The best age to select volleyball players is when they are 10 or 11 years old because young players can be taught how to move, and jump, and have good co-ordination. As a result, coaches and trainers can help them to overcome difficulties and develop their skills to a high level. In GCC countries adult volleyball players need to have a minimum height of 1.70 cm.

Indicating the height to jump to in volleyball tests at SQU
9. Which country has the best volleyball team in the world?

Brazil. It’s been at the top for the past ten years. The Brazilian team plays with a high level of technical and tactical performance.

10. What advice do you have for young people who want to be volleyball players?

Well, young people need to focus on studying first. But sports are very important in our life. Through playing a sport, you can improve your ability all round . . . . as the saying goes, ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’.

11. What future does volleyball have in Oman?

Volleyball needs more support in many ways. Firstly, it requires a clear strategy for the future, and to establish a framework for educating volleyball coaches. This will enhance coaching at all levels, and provide skilled and qualified coaches to meet demand. We also need more equipment, balls and courts in the schools. I got a diploma in volleyball training in Germany, and when I visited schools there, I saw they had an excellent sports methodology – teaching young people how to throw, jump, react and of course, develop good co-ordination. In addition, in Oman we need to organize workshops and courses for teachers so that they can update their knowledge and pass on information to their students. I am hopeful that volleyball has a bright future here, especially if our media and sports organizations work together to inspire and promote a sports culture in Omani society, so that more and more young people become interested in volleyball.

Bronze Medal with University's National team in competition, Muscat 2008

12. Any final word for KnowledgeOman.com?
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to talk about the different aspects of how volleyball in Oman can be enhanced, and also highlight some of the challenges. Many thanks for the interview, and I will be delighted to answer any questions. Looking forward to hearing from you, and keep the ball flying!

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Contemporary Sports Issues
Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Contemporary Sports Issues Should Performance Enhancing Drugs be banned in Sport? History The use of stimulants to improve an athlete's performance can be backdated all the way to the Ancient Greek times '...it was Galen who reported that ancient Greek athletes used stimulants to enhance their physical performance' (Mottram 2003, p29). From then till the modern day one vital thing has never changed, athletes wanting to win. The only discrepancy being how far an athlete will go to achieve this success. Throughout time people have aspired to reach higher levels of achievement in sporting situations to show prestige over others and acquire the feeling of success. Many athletes devote their lives to hopefully get this feeling, a feeling only they can truly appreciate due to the sacrifices that they must have made. But because of human's instinctive desire to succeed, it is needless to say that some looked for the easier routes to success. So even from an early time in history (668bc) some athletes were effectively looking to cheat. One Ancient Greek reported of a competitor being tripped by the opposition's fans, to win a foot race. It's funny to think of the Olympic morals being things such as fair play and competition for all, when even the Ancient Olympics were covered in corruption, fraud and scandal. People throughout time have been looking for that 'magic potion' that will enhance their performance. In the Roman era through to the medieval knights, there have been reports of athletes or gladiators using stimulants to improve performance, mainly for fatigue and recovery after injury. One of the first reports of drug related death was Arthur Linton, the cyclist, in 1896. Although his death was covered up as a typhoid fever, his coach was subsequently banned. There was little reported evidence of drug use in the 19th century but in 1920 the Dangerous Drug Act was introduced to restrict peoples access to cocaine and opium unless with prescription. ...read more.

Middle

This was to demonstrate the East German superiority over the West. This did work until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, when German athletes would then reveal the truth about the governments doping. One athlete, Kornelia Ender, who won 4 gold and 4 silver medals in swimming at the 1972 and 76 Olympics, admitted to receiving performance-enhancing injections from the age of 13. Also athletes were now feeling the longer-term effects of taking these substances. Many were having health problems, such as organ damage, fertility problems, liver cancer, psychological defects and experiencing major hormonal changes Once this started to become more and more apparent, the government realised that they would have to be held accountable for their actions. A German court later found the late ex-East German sports boss Manfred Ewald and his medical director, Manfred Hoeppner, culpable for what it called "systematic and overall doping in (East German) competitive sports" until the fall of the Berlin Wall" (2003, CBC- Top ten drug scandals, Internet site) They were all given suspended sentences and minimal fines, German democracy! A trust fund was set up for any athlete wanting to claim for compensation. Surprisingly though only 197 athletes applied for this, which was marginal, compared to the masses that had received the performance enhancing drugs. Thus possibly showing that maybe the drugs are not always harmful to the athlete if used properly or at least not over-used. SPORT IN SOCIETY As mentioned, sport has underlying morale values. The most obvious being fair play or fairness. To understand this concept fully you have to look at the role of sport in society. Modern advances in various forms of media have made sport a huge industry. But sport has a naïve aura surrounding it. This being that sport is part of a separate world, away from politics, where the rules are clearly defined and the best athlete triumphs. ...read more.

Conclusion

We should take an aggressive stance against drug users. If an athlete is found cheating, they should be banned from participating in any international competition for five years, something extreme to scare them off taking the substances. Doesn't sound fair, does it? Well neither is cheating in order to gain an unfair advantage! As long as every country is treated the same, then in theory drug usage should all but stop. The next idea is allowing everyone to do it. If the use of drugs in sporting competitions became the norm, nobody would have anything to complain about. If these people (normally so obsessed with personal fitness) want to poison themselves for the sake of a quick performance boost, I don't see why we shouldn't let them. Although the testing would be un-ethical, more studies need to be carried out on actual athletes. The tests carried out on 'normal' people cannot be fully justified on athletes. As well as more tests, the drug testing measures The problem with this solution would be that eventually new and more powerful drugs would have to be created in order for athletes to remain competitive. And in truth this is un-practicable because of their effects on society. Its one thing to let a grown adult abuse their own body but to advocate their use is also accepting that children will be copying these athletes and harming their bodies from younger and younger ages. To sum up, this situation is never going to be resolved unless sports officials make a decision one way or the other. In all likeliness, it's the punishments that need to be decided on. The use of performance enhancing drugs is not going to be permitted, not in the foreseeable future so the drug penalties need to be the same in every sport. At the moment, there are not enough measures in place to fully discourage athletes from using drugs, but on the other hand no steps are being taken to en sure that the good, well trained athletes (the ones that don't need to cheat) are getting a fair deal. ...read more.

Either as an athlete, coach or business we all aspire to be successful. We want to be noted in the same breath as excellence. Even as an individual trying to convince yourself to go to the gym to prepare for your next race, you are chasing excellence. However where does this culture of excellence begin? In my mind it begins in how you handle stress or adversity in obtaining a level of excellence (because this stress or adversity will be there). I think we see this ability to handle stress in professional coaches when things are maybe not going as planned. Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings might be one of the best in putting the stress to the side in order to push through. After losing back to back games vs the Chicago Blackhawks and creating a game 7, Babcock was quoted as saying “I love Game 7s. I’m excited about it. We got a chance to push them out of the playoffs. Should be a lot of fun.” It is only a quote; however it speaks volumes of what is ahead and what the positives are as opposed to dwelling on the negatives. In his post-game press conference after Game 6 he also discussed taking ownership of “making young mistakes.”

Some may view this attribute of overcoming stress, doubt or adversity as mental toughness, however I propose this concept of competing and creating a culture of excellence individuals must develop hardiness. Hardiness has been used to describe stress resistant individuals (Bartone, 1999; Bartone & Snook, 2002; Maddi, 2006). Maddi (2006) implicates that hardiness involves the three C’s – commitment, control, and challenge and that hardiness can be seen through the courage “to remain involved with the events and people around you, no matter how stressful things become” (p. 160). As outlined by Salvatore, Khoshaba, Persico, Lu, Harvey, and Bleecker (2002) commitment is an attitude in which people initiate instead of react; the control attitude involves people influencing what is going on around them through effort, and finally the challenge attitude involves people continuously growing in wisdom and learning from negative and positive experiences. Maddi (2006) goes on to suggest that the 3C’s “provide the courage and motivation to do the hard work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities instead” (p. 160). “The aspects of performance that are expected to be enhanced by the hardiness process include effectiveness in carrying out difficult tasks, taking a leadership role, being creative, increasing awareness and wisdom, and avoid rule-breaking and other conduct problems” (p. 161). Hardiness in my mind is a more direct and concrete conceptual framework in establishing a culture of excellence. These cultures do not happen overnight, they take time to evolve and require a purposeful approach to competing.

In moving forward there are couple of key initiatives Competitive Will likes to establish in working with their clients to establish the concept of hardiness and helping in developing a culture of excellence for individuals, teams or business:

1. Stay Process Focussed: This can be difficult, but if things do not go as planned stress and emotions usually enter the equation and those who can surpass those emotions and move forward (take steps forward) usually create a strong foundation for when adversity strikes again.

2. Take Ownership: Mistakes or taking a few steps backwards are always out there, however we usually find an excuse for why it happened. However it seems as though human nature has the ability to move forward after a fault if we take ownership of the mistake or misstep. It increases our sense of awareness and when we are more aware we are more willing to narrow our focus on the correct process.

3. Your Route to Excellence is not the same as Others: As in previous articles, I am a firm believer that we all have different route to success. It may not be fair but that is the way it is. Goaltender Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks is a 2012-2013 finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender. However what many fail to realize is that Niemi was a part time Zamboni driver playing in the 2nd Level of the Finnish League before signing with the Chiacgo Blackhawks as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and earning a roster spot as a backup to Cristobal Huet before earning the starting spot and winning a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. Now as a Shark he is still heralded as the hardest working goalie that his teammates have seen and has created his own culture of excellence.

In closing, creating a culture of excellence is out there, however as teams or individuals you must identify through honest self-awareness what is possibly holding you back and how you are going to overcome that stress or adversity? The outcome you want is out there, it just may take a conscious effort to achieve.
What Hinders Team Effectiveness? by Lynne MacDonald, Demand Media Different approaches to work can cause tension within a team.
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Team Effectiveness & Increased ProductivitySample List of Accomplishments on a Performance AppraisalHow to Write a Short Bio About YourselfThe 10 Effective Qualities of a Team LeaderWhat Is a Good Typing Speed Per Minute?Examples of Great Employee Goals Workplaces are diverse environments. Companies bring together people who may never choose to spend time with each other and expect them to work toward a common goal. By harnessing the diverse skills, experience and knowledge of your team, you can improve your bottom line. However, teams can experience uncertainty, friction and conflict, leading to poor performance and missed targets.

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Lack of a Common Goal
In sports, the aim of the team is clear. The team must score more points than its opponent to win the game, whether that entails scoring touchdowns, goals or runs. In business, the aim of the team may be less obvious. Do you prioritize throughput or quality? Is the aim to excel at customer service or offer the lowest cost service? Lack of clearly defined goals or targets will hinder team effectiveness, as team members may take a conflicting or contradictory approach.

Poor Interpersonal Relationships
While it is important for team members to challenge each other to avoid group think and stimulate creativity, conflict between team members can hinder team effectiveness. If team members do not respect one another, they may be unwilling to share vital knowledge and skills. Lack of social cohesion can impact on team members' job satisfaction, lowering productivity. Time invested in team-building activities can pay dividends in increased performance.

Related Reading: How to Bond Your Team to Achieve the Company's Objectives

Management Style
A manager's leadership style can impact his team's performance. An established team, with highly qualified team members carrying out tasks that are within their abilities, needs less input than a new team full of inexperienced employees. Over-management of experienced employees can lead to frustration and disempowerment, while lack of direction may cause inexperienced employees to make mistakes. The ideal management style is mixed or situational, able to adapt to the changing needs of the team.

Impact of Change
Even successful, high-performing teams can hit problems if key team members leave or the external environment changes. To avoid your team becoming ineffective due to internal or external changes, you should carry out a regular evaluation of the team's performance. Identify key strengths to build on and development areas to be addressed. Summarize these points in an action plan with clear targets and timescales to ensure effective action is taken in a timely manner.
I sincerely believe that my study will lead to a better understanding of the challenges facing our sport in Oman" - Shihab Al Riyami, Author

The book is not just a theoretical thesis that has been produced for academic gains but a sincere attempt by a passionate practitioner and follower of the sport to study the real challenges facing volleyball in Oman

In what is been seen as a first of its kind in Oman, a new study on volleyball looks into the operational system of the sport in the Sultanate and suggests the ideas to develop it further in the country.

Though primarily conducted as a scholastic study and published as an academic book, done as it is by an experienced player, coach, instructor and administrator, Shihab Al Riyami, it is a well-researched document that not only delves into the boon and banes of volleyball in Oman but also explores the ways that will lead to the growth of the game.

Aptly titled Oman's Volleyball Challenges: Between fact and development, published by Germany's Lap Lambert Academic Publishing Company, the book, as mentioned by author himself, is 'a primary study that investigates the challenges and obstacles facing the development of volleyball in Oman'.

And it is not just a theoretical thesis that has been produced for academic gains but a sincere attempt by a passionate practitioner and follower of the sport to study the real challenges facing volleyball in Oman.

In reaching his conclusions, Shihab drew on his vast experience as a player, coach, coach instructor and administrator as well as extensive interactive sessions he had with innumerable and well-informed contacts that he developed thanks to his involvement in the sport.

And the outcome of his hard work, as explained by the author himself, is ' a greater understanding of the challenges facing the development of volleyball in Oman'.

"My book delves into the current volleyball situation in Oman. I have also done a comparative study of similar volleyball researches done in neighbouring countries," explained Shihab.

"I sincerely believe that my study will lead to a better understanding of the challenges facing our sport in Oman. And most importantly, I was able to come up with suggestions to improve the sport not just in Oman but other parts of the world as well."

"And this would not have been possible without the cooperation of all the volleyball experts I contacted for my study and who gave me their valuable time for the sake of the game they love dearly," Shihab, who himself is familiar with each and every aspect of the sport, said.

Detailed research
For the record, Shihab's playing career lasted more than 15 years having represented various clubs and university teams as well as the national teams. As a coach, he served the Omani clubs and the national teams as well as varsity and army teams for over a decade.

Shihab, who also served on various committees of Oman Volleyball Association between 2003 and 2008, frequently travels around Middle East and Asia attending Asian Volleyball Confederation workshops and conducting international coach courses as a world body FIVB's instructor.

Speaking about the efforts he put into his research, Shihab said: "I worked really hard because I was making a very sincere effort to find what is ailing our sport and what is needed to overcome those challenges."

"I had interviewed as many as eighty-one volleyball specialists. All of them have vast experience in the sport and also as athletes, coaches as well as administrators.

"And incidentally all of them played multiple sports but specialised in volleyball and dedicated their entire lives for the sport."

Not limiting himself with the individuals, who were involved with the sport as players and coaches, Shihab also interviewed the officials of the organisations who in one way or the other have been contributing to the sport.

The most important being the Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Sultan Qaboos University, various sports clubs as well as Ministry of Education and Minister of Higher Education.

"It was important to get in touch with these ministries, clubs, educational and services institutions and it was very vital for my study to learn from their experience as administrators and organisers of volleyball events," he explained.

The findings
Asked about the overall outcome of his research and his suggestions for volleyball growth in the Sultanate, Shihab said: "I tried to go deep into all aspects of Oman volleyball and study it all levels, from how it is being run, how it is being played and also the way the sport is being marketed and promoted."

"I dedicated a chapter, with supporting inputs from experts, to each of these aspects," Shihad, who thinks the 'real boon' is the talent available in Oman, added.

Talking about the bane, he said: "What we lack is lack of suitable education programme for coaches, which in turn is resulting in shortage of qualified coaches and trainers."

He also laments lack of proper marketing and sponsors which is having an adverse impact on the sport.

Shihab's study also found shortcomings in Oman's vision for sports in general and that's why he dedicated the entire first chapter on government's vision, involvement and support to sports in general while other chapters talk exclusively about Oman's strategy in volleyball and the media's role.

"I think the government and volleyball governing body are very important for the development of the sport. Based on my findings I have also suggested an action plan for the Oman Volleyball Association.

"In the modern world of marketing, promotion and sponsorship are very vital and so is the role of the media," he said while adding: "Hopefully my research will contribute to volleyball development in Oman."

Erin McGrath
Skip to contentHomeAbout Erin ← >Haiti Relief Benefits from Social MediaThe Benefits of Professional Organizations →Challenges in Sports Marketing
Posted on June 26, 2011 | Leave a comment
Sports marketing is more involved than marketing a typical product or service. The 4 P’s of the traditional marketing mix have to be expanded to cover all characteristics of sports. The Sports Marketing Mix includes the traditional 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Place, Price and Promotion, in addition to the 4 P’s of sports marketing: Planning, Packaging, Positioning and Perception. The 4 P’s of sports marketing take into consideration that sports are considered a service (Beech, 2007). Although sports marketing may be linked to a physical product, the service is fundamentally intangible. The sport consumer cannot judge the quality of the product until the product is distributed and purchased; which poses quite a challenge to sport industry managers.

Marketing and promoting a sport product is taxing given that it is heterogeneous and perishable. Consumer perceptions of the sports product can change due to various aspects. Weather, injuries, facilities and performance are some of the many heterogeneous factors which cannot be controlled by marketers. Another distinct feature of the sport product is that it’s consumed while it is produced and therefore has no shelf life. “Perishability also forces sports marketers to place great emphasis on the quality of the experience for the consumer because it may be a one-time interaction” (Pedersen, 2007). The quality of the sport experience will most likely influence consumers’ perceptions and affect their decision to return to an event. Will waiting for 20 minutes to purchase a hot dog at an event effect consumers’ perceptions of the sport brand? Will rain on game day affect the number of fans in attendance? These are the types of questions sports marketers are confronted with on a daily basis.

Sports marketing has many benefits, including sponsorships, recognition and sales. A thorough marketing plan will ensure the proper steps are taken to research the market and target audience(s). An advantage of sports sponsorship is the ability for companies to reach a specific demographic or target market. A company most likely engages in a sponsorship due to cost and the possibility of increased media exposure and sales. Media coverage is expected throughout the sporting event, as well as signage and promotional opportunities.

High customer loyalty is a significant factor of sports marketing. Fans have a tendency to be loyal to their favorite teams and share that loyalty with their families and social networks. For instance, parents follow certain sports teams, therefore it is likely their children will follow the same teams and the brand loyalty will grow. Athletes are also inclined to be brand loyal; evidenced by endorsement deals in which they get paid to use or wear certain sports products at each event (Beech, 2007).

Marketing the sports product is demanding due to the unique nature of sport. Sports communications managers generally have to advertise and market three key factors: the on-field product, the fan experience associated with the sport product and the benefits gained through consuming the sports product (Pedersen, 2007). To produce an effective sports marketing campaign, it’s vital to take into account the distinct characteristics and challenges found amongst sports.
The Adidas ad pictured promotes their signature shoes created for NBA stars, Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose. This is an example of a sports brand utilizing two of the NBA’s brightest stars to help elevate their brand to a new level.
This article may also be viewed at www.presspass-chicago.com.
References:
Beech, J., Chadwick, S. (2007). The Marketing of Sport. Prentice Hall and Financial Times. p. 592.
Pedersen, P., Miloch, K., Laucella, P. (2007). Strategic Sport Communication. p. 242.

Home / Sports Marketing: 5 Challenges Sports Business May Have To Face In 2012Sports Marketing: 5 Challenges Sports Business May Have To Face In 2012Posted Dec 23 2011 in Sports Marketing

As 2011 draws to a close we take some time not to review this year’s finest but to take a look at the possible challenges the sports business industry may have to face in 2012. Obviously, none of this is in a specific order, just a shuffle list.

1 – London 2012. This year’s Olympics are obviously the biggest story we are going to tell at the end of 2012. Economically speaking, we might witness a fantastic boom or a tragic fallout. In 2005, cost projections were around 3,7$ Billion. Nowadays it seems reasonable to think that the 2012 London Olympic Games will cost between the 15 and 18$ Billion, making it the second most expensive sports event ever (Bejing was $40 billion).

2 – The European Football situation. Poland and Ukarine will host the 2012 UEFA Euro Competition, a very tough tournament with some of the world’s best teams, including Spain, the reigning 2010 world champion. Bad clouds, however, are gathering upon Europe’s favorite ballgame, with more than one national championship involved in betting and frauds. When more time is spent in court than on the pitch, nothing good can happen. Let’s just hope for the best or the forthcoming EuroCup might turn into a huge flop.

3 – Formula 1: a decade of dominance? – In 2011 Sebastian Vettel won his second world title in a row with the Red Bull Racing team. Not only the German “enfant prodige” won the Championship but also left no space for hope, finishing 122 points ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, second in the seasonal standings. However, this year’s F1 season has been one of the most exciting and thrilling of the past decade, with loads of overtaking, clever new rules, more ammo in the drivers’ arsenal and sensational scenarios. F1 has probably found the perfect mix and the man to beat. If Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren will be able to catch up with the Bull at the beginning of 2012, we’ll probably get the most enjoyable season in a while.

4 – MotoGP – In terms of audience, MotoGP is one of the world’s favorite sport events. A brilliant Casey Stoner managed to conquer the 2011 title on an equally superb Repsol Honda HRC. This year, however, will be also surely remembered for the death of one of its rising stars, Marco Simoncelli. Marco was one of the fastest riders one of the paddock’s favorites. His loss is a tragic casualty MotoGP had to face both in terms of emotionality and future planning. Some say this dreadful event will backfire on MotoGP’s business, others claim that the renewed 1000cc class will instead improve and get better in terms of security and competitiveness, a conversational position we firmly support. Whatever it is, in this 2011 Christmas we are close to Marco’s family and friends

5 – The NBA lockout spreading amongst other American Leagues – On Christmas night the NBA will be ready for the first tip-off of this year, after a long and harsh lockout. We already discussed the huge impact this strike has had on the NBA business, but the blow might not be circumstantial to basketball. Similar rumors are heard in the lockers of the National Hockey League and in the campuses of college sports. Should such a thing happen both to the NHL and the NCAA, the sports industry would have to cope with a massive problem in terms of TV rights, partner agreements and money in general.

Uncategorized Key problems facing sports today
03/16/2010 shalomsoundproject 1 Comment

Management is of utmost importance in today’s sports. In modern days of keen competition success depends upon management skills of high grades. Management indicates execution or implementation for the sake of attaining predetermined objectives of Sports associations.

The success of any sport depends upon on three factors – Organization, Management and administration. Of these, Management is the most important as it is concerned with planning and programming, policy formulation and coordinating activities. It also includes control or work performance and maintenance of discipline for a purpose of maintaining a satisfactory quality of the sport.

The Key Problems in Sports revolve around the above-mentioned paragraph, and the following is a summary of the problems analysed by me:

Key problems facing Sports

Management: The problems that are seen at management level can be dubbed as the root of all problems in sports today.

There are numerous sports governing bodies in many countries, which operate very unprofessionally. This is a very common problem in developing countries. In India politicians who have no interest in developing the sport occupy top positions in sports associations. They are all given honorary positions and since they have no experience in the sport due to which the growth of that sport hampers.

Sports associations and governing bodies should change their mindset and should issue serious job roles with ex sports men on decision-making posts.

National associations and federations must stop whining about the governmental support and work towards developing a saleable product.

Economic: Economics of scale is a major talking point in the sports today. Inequality in the finances is a major threat to popular sports like Football. Economic imbalances in football leagues are a major drawback in the sport today. Issues of differences in salaries across sports is causing a very evidential competitive imbalance which will have a near term disadvantage which may result in declining popularity of the sport amongst the fans.

Developmental: The development of sports in the country needs a change in the basic mindset and evolution of the new culture. There is a need for sports associations and marketers to change the face of marketing by Professional methods, Packaging the sport well, Present the concepts better and position the sport confidently.

Grass Roots: Development of Sport at grass root level should be a focus of all sports governing bodies across the world, unfortunately only the popular sports, which are country specific, manage to flourish at grass root levels, there are success stories of grass root development which nations and sports associations can boast off example International Tennis Federation’s Mini Tennis Promotion and US Soccer’s Grassroots’ development program, which has made soccer a popular sport in a country that has popularized their national sports in the world. Development of grass root sports is the starting point of disciplined and structured atheism of the future.

Disciplinary: Discipline in Sports is a major problem in the past and even consists today. That’s the reason why there is negligence in the case of Doping, Match fixing, biased selection procedures, violence in sports. These are key problems that are hampering