With a large interest in youth development through sport I chose the following article to blog on.
Intermediaries supporting sports-based youth development programs.Full Text Available By: Wicks, Anne; Beedy, Jeffrey P.; Spangler, Kathy J.; Perkins, Daniel F.. New Directions for Youth Development; Fall2007, Vol. 2007 Issue 115, p107, 12p; DOI: 10.1002/yd.226; (AN 27040721)
The Article discusses 3 different organizations that are what I would describe as consultants for those who operate youth development programs through sport. All of these organizations exist to research and apply techniques to help gain support and community commitment to our youth. Creating opportunity for children to gain valuable life skills by participating in sport has been proven through many studies, some of which are pointed out in the article. However, what is interesting for me is the focus by these organizations on how to create community interest, involvement and most importantly recognition of the benefits of sporting activity for children. I think these types of consulting groups are what in fact the non-profit firms need to help them with their direction and identifying the missing stakeholders that can have a large effect on their mission.
As I listen to the famous stories of athletes that made it to the big leagues from meager beginnings and how they used sports to get out of their plight I can't help but think that the point was missed and the wrong message is being sent to society. While I do agree that participation in sport contributed largely to the individual’s success, the overall benefits are overlooked and worse it is seen as a way out of a situation rather than an opportunity to improve an ongoing problem. The skills obtained by these individuals through sport are universal and beneficial whether they lead to a direct career or not. It is up to a community to see the success of their own and understand why it occurred. It is this that the organizations in the above article are focused on. Would it not be so much better to hear that a previously impoverished but now famous athlete lead a community to explore improving their youth, rather than the clichéd version of how these athletes used sport to escape?
Where are the key stakeholders in this community that facilitated the evolution of these celebrities, coaches, parents, peers, community members that are proud of their protacle son? The success story is obvious but the process is being chalked up to some type of lottery rather than a real life process that occurred in your very own community. It is engaging these missing stakeholders and having them contribute that the intermediary organizations of this article are addressing and I believe this is how a community begins to grow not just an individual.
