| Over 40 million school-age youth participate in sports in the United States (National Council on Youth Sports, 2008). Yet despite its popularity, youth sport is not a subject of serious consideration among community development planners and policy makers. With no available literature on whether youth sport can provide an effective means of improving communities, this pilot study makes an initial inquiry into the relationship between the domains of youth sport and community development.;Data generated by 12 key informant interviews with practitioners of both youth sport and community development in Lawrence, MA, and Springfield, MA, indicate that interaction between practitioners across these fields is quite limited. When this interaction did occur, there was a broader understanding of issues and opportunities for youth sports from the community development perspective. However, while interaction may broaden their understanding of youth sport, the idea of connecting youth sport to community initiatives was not readily received by community development leaders. Data suggest that community development practitioners see a strong connection between their work and the youth in their community, however they do not go so far as to see a strong connection between their work and youth sport in their community. The lack of awareness of the possible community-level benefits of positive youth sport experiences appears to hinder the exploration of youth sport as a viable avenue for community development, and may well represent a missed opportunity for community development professionals to harness existing resources to improve communities. Therefore, there is substantial reason to further explore the role that youth sport can play in community development initiatives. |
