Recreation, Sport, and Community Development

Recreation, Sport, and Community Development

George Karlis

Recreation, Sport,and Community Development

George Karlis

© 2020 Sagamore-VentureAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher.

Publishers: Joseph J. Bannon/Peter BannonSales and Marketing Manager: Misti GillesDirector of Development and Production: Susan M. DavisGraphic Designer: Marissa WillisonProduction Coordinator: Amy S. DagitTechnology Manager: Mark Atkinson

ISBN print edition: 978-1-95281-505-8 ISBN eText: 978-1-95281-506-5ISBN ebook: 978-1-95281-507-2Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2020941385

Printed in the United States.

3611 N. Staley Rd., Ste. B.Champaign, IL 61822www.sagamorepublishing.com

This book is dedicated to Elder Ephraim of Arizona (1928-2019), who epitomized the true meaning of community development. Elder Ephraim, a spiritual offspring of the eminent St. Joseph the Hesychast (1897-1959), revitalized four Greek Ortho-dox monastic communities on Mount Athos, and conceived, founded, and guided the development of at least eight other Greek Orthodox monastic communities in Greece, 16 Greek Orthodox monastic communities in the United States, and two

Greek Orthodox monastic communities in Canada. I am grateful to have met him and to have received his blessing.

In Memoriam:

In memory of my friend, Andreas Petros Andreadis, chanter of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). A gentle, devoted, and beloved community builder who, at the young age of 39, succumbed

to complications of COVID-19. He is missed by all who were blessed to know him. May his memory be eternal.

ContentsPreface ............................................................................................... ix

About the Author ................................................................................ xii

1 Introducing Recreation, Sport and Democracy ........................1 Learning Objectives ..............................................................................1 Introduction ...........................................................................................1 DefiningRecreationandSport...............................................................2 ThePurposeofRecreationandSport ...................................................4 RecreationandSportinContemporarySociety .....................................6 People,Recreation,andSport ............................................................ 11 Democracy,RecreationandSport .......................................................12 Conclusion ..........................................................................................13

2 Understanding Communities ...................................................15 Learning Objectives ............................................................................15 Introduction .........................................................................................16 DefinitionsofCommunity.....................................................................17 TypesofCommunities .........................................................................19 ApproachestoStudyingCommunity ....................................................20 FunctionsofCommunity ......................................................................22 ACommunityModel ............................................................................25 Conclusion ..........................................................................................26

3 DefiningCommunityDevelopment .........................................29 Learning Objectives ............................................................................29 Introduction .........................................................................................30 ConceptsofCommunityDevelopment .................................................30 DefinitionsofCommunityDevelopment ...............................................31 RecreationandSportDefinitionsofCommunityDevelopment ............. 32 WaysofViewingCommunityDevelopment .......................................... 34 PrinciplesofCommunityDevelopment ................................................34 SocialCapitalandCommunityDevelopment ....................................... 36 EmpowermentandCommunityDevelopment ...................................... 38 ThePlayersofCommunityDevelopment .............................................40 Conclusions ........................................................................................41

v

4 TheBenefitsofCommunityDevelopment ..............................43 Learning Objectives ...................................................................43 Introduction ................................................................................44 ThePersonalBenefitsofCommunityDevelopment ....................44 TheSocialBenefitsofCommunityDevelopment ........................46 TheOrganizationalBenefitsof CommunityDevelopment ...........................................................49 TheBenefitsofCommunityDevelopmentforRecreation andSport ...................................................................................51 TheLimitationsofCommunityDevelopment ..............................52 Conclusion .................................................................................54

5: Approaches to Community Development ...............................55 Learning Objectives ...................................................................55 Introduction ................................................................................56 Self-Help ....................................................................................56 TechnicalAssistance .................................................................57 Conflict ......................................................................................58 FactorsthatInfluencetheApplicationsofCommunity DevelopmentinRecreationandSportOrganizations .................59 TheAdvantagesandDisadvantagesofCommunity DevelopmentApproaches ..........................................................63 Conclusion .................................................................................65

6 TheProcessofCommunityDevelopment ..............................67 Learning Objectives ...................................................................67 Introduction ................................................................................68 AnIntroductiontotheProcessesofCommunityDevelopment ...68 TheCommunityDevelopmentProcessModel ............................69 TheCommunityChangeModel ..................................................70 TheChangeAgentProcessofCommunityDevelopment ...........71 PlannedChangeasaProcessofCommunityDevelopment .......71 TheSocialActionModelofCommunityDevelopment .................72 TheProcessofCommunityDevelopmentinRecreation andSportSettings .....................................................................74 Conclusion .................................................................................75

vi

7 Community Development in Recreation and Sport Settings ..........................................................................77 Learning Objectives ...................................................................77 Introduction ................................................................................78 TheServiceSectorsofRecreationandSport .............................78 TheUniquenessofRecreationandSportServices ....................79 CommunityDevelopmentinRecreationandSport ....................81 Conclusion .................................................................................90

8 HealthyCommunities:TheGoalofCommunity Development ............................................................................93 Learning Objectives ...................................................................93 Introduction ................................................................................94 DescribingHealthyCommunities ...............................................94 AHealthyCommunityisaGoodCommunity ..............................96 OrganizationalRequirementsofHealthyCommunities ...............97 EstablishingandSustainingHealthyRecreationand SportCommunities ..................................................................100 Conclusion ...............................................................................101

9 TheFutureofCommunityDevelopmentforRecreation and Sport ................................................................................103 Learning Objectives .................................................................103 Introduction ..............................................................................104 ChangingNeedsandChangingTimes .....................................105 SocietalTrends ........................................................................106 RecreationandSport:PeopleServingPeople .........................107 DirectionsinSociety’sQuesttoServeAllthrough CommunityDevelopmentinRecreationandSportSettings ......108 Conclusions ............................................................................. 110

References ....................................................................................... 111

vii

Preface

In the past 50 years, the world has changed more, and faster, than any other time period in history. Societies, governments, political systems, communities, organiza-tions, and even people have all been subject to change, and have all had an impact on change. Technology, mass communication, knowledge transfer, education, and science, have all had an impact on change and the way that we respond to change.

Community development is a process and a system of change that responds to changing needs. It is a process and a system of change that is driven by people, in a democratic fashion, or is guided by people that are trained technical assistants and/or community developers. The intent of community development is to respond to changing needs, while taking the needs of the people affected by change into con-sideration. Thus community development is a system of change by the people for the people.

Recreation and sport activities and services are people-oriented experiences. Recreation and sport activities and services are experiences that are intrinsically motivated and tend to be freely chosen. Participants tend to decide when they want to start, and when they want to stop or quit. Attracting participants and sustaining involvement is one of the many challenges faced today by recreation and sport ser-vice organizations. Competition as well as changing societal and individual needs make the provision of services and the marketing appeal of programs challenging for recreation and sport service providers.

Community development is a process and system of change that can aid in at-tracting and sustaining sport and recreation participants. Those who get involved or want to get involved in recreation and sport look to see if their needs will be fulfilled and addressed. Community development as a process and system of change not only helps assure that participant needs will be fulfilled, it also provides assurance to those looking to get involved that their opinions and expressed needs will be heard.

This book introduces community development as a system and process of change for recreation and sport. The purpose of this book is to introduce community de-velopment and the role it plays and can play in the provision of recreation and sport activities. To fulfill the purpose of this book, this book is divided into nine chapters. Each chapter commences with learning objectives and wraps up with concluding thoughts. Below is an overview of the main content that appears in each chapter.

Chapter 1 introduces the key concepts of this book, as well as overviewing rec-reation and sport in contemporary society. Chapter 1 introduces recreation, sport and community development, and a very important feature of community develop-ment—democracy. Chapter 1 consists of five parts: (1) definitions of recreation and sport; (2) the purpose of recreation and sport; (3) an examination of recreation and sport in contemporary society; (4) a look at people, recreation, and sport; and (5) an introduction of democracy, recreation, and sport.

ix

Chapter 2 presents an analysis of community. The notion of community is pre-sented as follows: (1) types of community; (2) approaches to studying community; and (3) functions of community—specifically, community building, community ca-pacity, community networking, community planning, and community as a system. This chapter concludes with the depiction of a community model.

The third chapter of this book is entitled defining community development. In this chapter community development is introduced, conceptualized, and linked to social capital and empowerment. Chapter 3 consists of the following sections: (1) concepts of community development, (2) definitions of community development, (3) recreation and sport definitions of community development, (4) ways of view-ing community development, (5) principles of community development, (6) linking social capital to community development, and (7) empowerment and community development, and (8) the players of community development.

In Chapter 4, the benefits of community development are explored. The benefits of community development covered range from individual to community/organi-zation benefits. This chapter commences by presenting personal and social benefits of community development. It then moves on to look at the structural and organi-zational benefits of community development. Focus is also placed on the benefits of community development for sport and recreation. Chapter 4 ends with a depiction of the limitations of community development.

Community development can be initiated and implemented by the people for the people and/or through technical assistants and trained community developers. Chapter 5 looks at the three general approaches that are used in community devel-opment. These approaches are the self-help approach, the technical assistance ap-proach, and the conflict approach. Further, this chapter presents the approaches of community development in recreation and sport, while also discussing the use-abil-ity of community development approaches.

As there are a number of processes that can be utilized to implement commu-nity development in sport and recreation settings, Chapter 6 focuses on present-ing processes of community development that appear in literature. This chapter commences by first introducing the processes of community development. It then proceeds to discuss three main processes of community development—the change agent process, the planned change process, and the social action process. Further, the process of community development in recreation and sport settings is also de-picted in this chapter.

Chapter 7 explores the relationship between community development, recre-ation and sport. It starts by presenting the services sectors of sport and recreation. It then moves on to looking at examining social capital, sport and recreation. The uniqueness of recreation and sport services are also identified. Moreover, the social challenges (pre and post COVID-19) of sport and recreation services are highlight-ed, while also presenting examples of community development in action in recre-ation and sport settings.

Chapter 8 illustrates the goal of community development—that is to build healthy communities. This chapter starts by defining and describing healthy com-

x

munities, while postulating that a healthy community is a good community. In Chapter 8 the organizational requirements of healthy communities are also present-ed. Also, in this chapter a section is devoted to establishing and sustaining healthy recreation and sport communities.

The last chapter, Chapter 9, focuses on the future of community development for recreation and sport. Change and current trends are brought to the forefront of this chapter. This chapter starts with a section on changing needs and changing times. The section is followed by a section on societal trends with direct emphasis on those that affect recreation and sport. An analysis is also presented on recreation and sport and its relationship to people serving people. Finally, this chapter and the book conclude with directions of service provision and the quest to service all.

George Karlis, Ph.D.June 2020

xi

xii

About the Author

Dr. George Karlis is a full professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. His primary areas of research are leisure, culture, and society. Dr. Karlis’s textbook entitled Leisure and Recreation in Canadian Society: An Intro-duction, now in its third edition, is a leading resource in the field of leisure studies in Canada. Many of his over 60 peer-reviewed publications focus on leisure, recre-ation, community development, and ethnicity.

1

Introducing Recreation, Sport, and Democracy

Chapter Outline

Learning ObjectivesIntroductionDefinitions of Recreation and SportThe Purpose of Recreation and SportRecreation and Sport in Contemporary SocietyA Look at People, Recreation and SportAn Introduction of Democracy, Recreation and Sport

Learning Objectives• To define recreation and sport• To present the purpose of sport and recreation• To overview recreation and sport in contemporary society • To examine the relationship between people, recreation, and sport• To introduce democracy, recreation and sport

Introduction

Recreation and sport are two different concepts with meanings that sometimes ap-pear to overlap. The major similarity between recreation and sport is that both concepts identify participation in active athletic pursuits. The main difference is that the concept

2 Recreation, Sport, and Community Development

of recreation, as compared to the concept of sport, encompasses involvement in passive activities as an additional defining attribute. Recreation is thus regarded as being the broadest of the two concepts when compared with sport, as recreation incorporates both active and passive pursuits whereas sport focuses primarily on active pursuits. That is, a defining attribute of sport is active play, whereas for recreation active play and/or passive activity involvement may determine the recreation experience. This chapter introduces the concepts recreation and sport while also presenting the purpose of both notions. This chapter also discusses the relationship that exists between sport, recre-ation, and society while also discussing the impact sport and recreation has on chang-ing people. As community development is regarded to be “democratic” in nature, this chapter concludes with an overview of the relationship between democracy, recreation and sport.

Defining Recreation and Sport

Defining Recreation No introduction of the concept recreation would be complete without a discussion

of the concept of leisure. Just like recreation is viewed as a being a broader concept than sport, leisure is regarded as being a broader concept than recreation. The argu-ment behind leisure being broader than recreation is that leisure can be “anything for anyone at any time.” That is, when compared with recreation, leisure is a concept that is intrinsically determined by the one who is experiencing it. The experience of leisure and more specifically, the perception of leisure can differ from person to person. Lei-sure can include active, passive, or even sedentary pursuits; yet for these pursuits to be leisure, they must be recognized as being leisure by the person who is engaged in the experience. Indeed any experience or activity has the potential to be defined as leisure. Leisure can be anything or any experience for anyone at any given time. Whether or not an experience or activity is defined as leisure is case specific; that is, it depends on how it is perceived by the individual in question.

Literature defines leisure as consisting of three attributes: time, activity, and state of mind (Karlis, 2011). Time is looked at as free time from work, or discretionary time after work and other obligations have been fulfilled. Time is also viewed as a limited commodity—a set time period with a beginning and an end. It is during this set period of time that leisure, as activity or experience, takes place. Leisure as activity or experi-ence is thus time specific, that is, leisure is something that happens during a set time period. It is worthy to note that according to this perspective, time is not infinite, but finite. That is, “leisure time” is the period of time that provides a break, or a distraction from routine. This period of time, however, does not last forever and comes to an end with one returning to work or other obligations.

The second attribute of leisure—activity—is the attribute that is more closely related to sport. Activity as an attribute of leisure is considered to be an active and/or a passive pursuit. The activities of leisure can include any activity one deems to be leisure, such as playing hockey, pleasure walking, reading a book, or being a spectator at a tennis match.

Introducing Recreation, Sport, and Democracy 3

For an activity, active or passive, to be defined as leisure, the activity would have to be deemed one that provides a feeling of satisfaction and pleasure to the one who is expe-riencing it. Although this tends to be the case, it is not always applicable. For example, many municipalities publish seasonal recreation guide handbooks that identify a wide array of activities ranging from auto mechanics to pickleball lessons for seniors. Activ-ities listed in such documents are identified as leisure, yet the reality is these activities may not be identified as being “leisure” activities for all people.

Finally, the third attribute of leisure, state of mind, postulates that leisure is an in-trinsic experience that depends on one’s perception of the experience or activity. Lei-sure, according to the state of mind conceptualization, is a case-specific perspective that is determined from within the individual. The individual chooses how to define leisure and what experiences and activities constitute leisure. Typically a leisure experience or activity is one that provides feelings of pleasure and satisfaction to the one who is ex-periencing it, yet this may not always be the case as someone may define leisure as any activity outside of work whether or not it provides feelings of pleasure or satisfaction. Thus, the state of mind attribute of leisure portrays leisure as something that is case specific and determined solely by the one who is experiencing it.

Specifically, what distinguishes leisure from recreation is “activity.” Leisure can be activity, but it can also be experience, any experience. Recreation tends to be largely “activity” focused, and this is what makes this notion different from leisure. Although recreation can also be an experience, or state of mind, or even a sedentary pursuit (i.e., such as reading a book), recreation tends to be more closely linked—at least by defini-tion—to activity. It is from an activity perspective, that the concept of recreation is often viewed as being synonymous with leisure. It is important to note that recreation as ac-tivity can be active or passive. Active recreation activities are closely linked to sport but


not restricted to sport. For instance, dancing and playing hockey are active recreation activities. Cultural dancing, although active, may not be defined as a sport, whereas playing hockey is defined as a sport.

Defining SportAs compared to recreation, sport seems to be the concept most often researched.

Perhaps this has to do with the fact that leisure and recreation studies as disciplines evolved out of the older, more established discipline of sport studies. Thus, sport, as an area of scientific inquiry, was researched well before leisure and recreation. Indeed, many of the perspectives of sport that we currently have are derived from the disciplines of sociology, cultural studies, and economics (Houlihan, 2005).

There are many different definitions of sport, some that emphasize the competitive nature of sport and others that integrate competition with play, physical activity, and development. The Conference Board of Canada, in a report published in 2005, defined sport as activity that tends to involve competition. Specifically, the Conference Board of Canada (2005, p. 1) defines sport as “an activity that requires a degree of physical exer-tion and skill, which typically involves competition with others and a set of rules (such as ice hockey, soccer, and bowling).” Moreover, in this same report, the Conference Board of Canada provides a subsequent definition of sport, a definition that empha-sizes physical activity. This definition states that sport is “physical activity undertaken to improve personal sporting performance” (for example activities such as jogging for exercise and biking to work) (Conference Board of Canada, 2005, p. 1)

Sport has also been defined from a developmental perspective to include the fit-ness and playful dimensions of participation. The United Nations defines sport, from a developmental perspective as follows: “All forms of physical activity that contribute to physical fitness, mental well-being and social interaction, such as play, recreation, organized or competitive sport, and indigenous sports and games” (United Nations, n.d.). Sport is thus viewed as a tool that can aid in the development of individuals and societies. For individuals, sports can assist in the development through the life stages, whereas for societies sport can aid in the development and improvement of quality of life and living conditions. That is, sport can undertake a paramount role in community development.

The Purpose of Recreation and Sport

Purpose of RecreationIn 1974, the interprovincial ministers of Canada responsible for recreation gathered

together to identify the purpose of recreation in Canada. From their discussions they identified the three purposes of recreation from a national perspective. The three pur-poses of recreation in Canada as identified were as follows: (1) to assist individual and community development, (2) to enhance social functioning, and (3) to improve quality of life (National Recreation Statement, 1987).


The first purpose, to assist individual and community development, emphasizes the relevance of recreation for individual and community wellness. Recreation is identified as being an essential element for helping individuals adjust through the stages of life. Recreation is also regarded as being an educative tool, an activity that helps develop social and communication skills necessary for individual development. Indeed, an es-sential purpose of recreation is to help bring about positive change both within the individual and the community as a whole.

The second purpose of recreation addresses the social nature of the individual by recognizing that recreation enhances social functioning. Recreation is a common de-nominator that brings people together, to interact and engage in activities of common interest. It is out of interest in a recreation activity or activities that stimulates people to join groups or communities. It is because of this interest in a specific recreation activity or activities that people engage in social recreation. Thus, recreation as social function-ing refers to the act of enhancing interaction and social contact with fellow citizens in order to establish social cohesiveness and build social networks.

Finally, the third purpose of recreation is to improve quality of life. In the 1970s, recreation had come to be recognized in Canada as being critical for improving and establishing a satisfactory lifestyle. This is still the case today. Recreation builds self-es-teem, provides us with feelings of joy and happiness, and gives us purpose and meaning. Recreation is the activity and experience that we partake in to make our lives complete. Recreation is a necessary resource to help improve the quality of our life.

Purpose of Sport It may also be argued that sport is also a necessary resource to help improve qual-

ity of life. Sport, like recreation, is social in nature; it acts as a focal point for bringing people together in groups, teams, and leagues. The social nature of sport is prevalent for the individual, community, and society. Indeed, the contributions that sport makes to the individual, community and society are plenty. Heritage Canada (2011) has identi-fied six general contributions of sport to the individual, community and society. These contributions are: (1) social and personal development, (2) health and well-being, (3) culture, (4) education, (5) economic development and prosperity, and (6) tourism and entertainment.

The Canada Sport Policy document released in 2002 identified the four visions of sport in Canada. These are as follows: (1) enhance participation, (2) enhanced excel-lence, (3) enhanced capacity, and (4) enhanced interaction. Indeed, these four visions address the purpose of sport in Canada. Ultimately, Canada’s Sport Policy (2002) recog-nizes that the intent of sport is to contribute to society as a whole through personal and social wellness, achievement, and community improvement. In sum, sport in Canada, just like recreation, is recognized by society’s decision makers as essential to quality of life.

For the United Nations (n.d.), sport has a fundamental purpose—to act as an ave-nue for change, growth, and development. Indeed, the United Nations has affirmed that sport and sport opportunities can improve the quality of individuals and societies. That


is sport has been recognized by the United Nations as providing the following benefits to individuals, communities, and society as a whole (United Nations, n.d.):

1. Individual development 2. Health promotion and disease prevention 3. Promotion of gender equality 4. Social integration and the development of social capital 5. Peace building and conflict prevention/resolution 6. Post-disaster/trauma relief and normalisation of life 7. Economic development 8. Communication and social mobilisation

It may be that sport is best defined at the grassroots level by the athlete. Athletes spend a big part of their lives committed to a sport through training, practice, and participation. Athletes are thus in a good position to articulate the purpose of sport. In an interview conducted by Duff Gibson, Jim Peplinski, a former professional hockey player, identified the following as the purpose of sport (Gibson, 2012):

1. Sport can make people great athletes.2. Sport can make athletes great people.3. Many people participate in a sport or get their children to participate in sport, invest

countless. 4. To me sport teaches character. Character is doing what you said you would do when

it costs you!5. To me sport teaches discipline. Get discipline. Get better. At anything. 6. To me sport teaches the value of fundamentals. Get great at skating, shooting, pass-

ing, and you reach a high level in hockey. Get educated, you reach a high level in life.7. To me sport teaches the value of health. Look after your body, and it looks after you.8. To me sport teaches commitment. It is rarely the most talented who succeed. It is

regularly the person who does the work and hangs in longest who is rewarded.9. To me sport teaches empathy. Know how you teammate feels, instead of only think-

ing about how you feel.10. To me sport teaches performance. Keep score. Measure yourself. Get better.11. To me sport teaches mental toughness. Fall down. Get up. Push yourself through

discomfort.

Recreation and Sport in Contemporary Society

Both recreation and sport have become a major part of contemporary society. Al-though the opportunity to engage in recreation and sport experiences may not be of-ficial recognized as being a basic right in all societies, it tends to generally be assumed


that recreation and sport are necessary experiences to improve quality of life. Perhaps the primary reason for this assumption is that recreation and sport experiences are es-sential for healthy living, health promotion, and a well-balanced lifestyle.

Today more so than in the past, recreation and sport activities have been described as means to combat sedentary lifestyles that have led to an increasing number of peo-ple (adults and children) that are obese. Recreation and sport activities have also been viewed as a solution to reducing rising health care costs—a concern for many societies with the aging of baby boomers. Moreover, recreation and sport activities have been viewed as a means to increase personal, face-to-face interaction between and amongst people in this era of impersonal technological communication that features emails, on-line shopping and banking, and social media.

It has become important to recognize the value that recreation and sports programs, activities, and services have on contemporary society. An examination of current trends of recreation and sport will help articulate the value that recreation and sport has on contemporary society. Below is an overview of some of the most prominent trends of recreation and sport in contemporary society.

For Recreation

1. Work has become less of a central focus in life with recreation increasing in value.It is hard to argue that work is not the central focus of life. We invest all lot of time,

money, and effort to become university and college educated to find good, high-paying jobs. Once we find these jobs, they occupy a major part of our time; indeed, in many


cases, one-third or more of our time. We know that our days are determined according to our set, structured work time. Indeed, in our daily lives, particularly during week-days, our daily schedule consists of work time, and other time.

Although work continues to be the central focus in life, recreation as leisure has also become the central focus. Most of us work, often in more than one job, not only to survive, but to also have the means to re-create ourselves. One of the major reasons we work, and work hard, is to have more recreation as leisure. In some cases, this recreation may compensate for the lack of pleasure received from work. In other cases recreation, or more specifically leisure through recreation, may be experienced at work. Thus, al-though work is still our central focus, recreation can be viewed as being a strong driving force as to why we work longer, and harder. We are thus valuing recreation more than ever.

2. Recreation appears to be the end goal to work while also being viewed as a reward for the completion of life’s obligations.

In ancient Greece, leisure was for the citizens, those who were free from labor and had time to contemplate, debate, and pursue cultural enrichment. Aristotle, for instance, wrote that the end of labor is to gain leisure. We can argue that this mindset still holds true today. Our reward for working is an enhanced quality of life consistency of living comfortably and recreating accordingly. Recreation has become important not only for enhancing our enjoyment outside of work, but also for re-creating, or re-energizing our batteries for more work.

In an ideal world, we would re-create as soon as we quit work. This however does not happen. Most of us live in urban centers with commutes sometimes as long as two hours daily to and from work. As soon as we get home from work, we have other ob-ligations such as cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, and helping our kids with their homework or bringing them to piano lessons. Once these obligations are over, we take whatever time and energy is left over to re-create ourselves. For most of us this time, and energy, is scarce and often not enough. We thus look forward to our vacations as a time period, free of obligations, focusing solely on recreation.

3. Involvement in both active and passive recreation activities is on the rise.We are more aware of the benefits of recreation than ever before. We have come a

long way since the Puritan work ethic, where work was viewed as the end all. Today we value recreation more than ever in the past. We realize that it is important to get involved as stay involved, as the benefits are many. In 1992, the Recreation Federation of Ontario published a catalogue entitled, The Benefits of Parks and Recreation: A Cata-logue. This catalogue helped enhance awareness of the social and psychological benefits of passive and active recreation involvement. Passive recreation consumes roughly 40% of the daily leisure time of Canadians whereas active recreation accounts for approx-imately 60% of the leisure time of Canadians. Without doubt, the word is getting out that both passive and active recreation provides us with benefits, psychological, social and spiritual.


4. People are gathering together in groups to form associations and organizations that focus on fulfilling recreation needs.

With an increasing value in recreation, comes an increasing need for diverse recre-ation opportunities. In a period of economic restraints and cutbacks, public recreation service providers have a difficult time finding funds to provide limited basic services, let along expanding the diversity of programs offered. Individuals, who are motivated and driven to fulfill collective recreation needs not addressed through public service providers, act together to form associations and organizations focusing on addressing their collective needs. In multicultural societies such as Canada for instance, individu-als of ethnic descent have grouped together to form ethnic community organizations to address collective ethno-cultural religious, linguistic, and recreation needs.

5. Recreation has become a focal point for social interaction.Recreation brings us together; it also keeps us together. It has often been said that

a family that plays together stays together. Recreation offers a chance to socialize, to directly interact with others. By nature, humans are social animals. We need to be with others, to socialize with others. Recreation activities offer a fun, pleasant environment in which to be with others. The happiness that we experience as a result of recreation activity is spread to others as we participate with others in social settings.

For Sports

1. Sports have become widely endorsed as a means to become fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We are living in a small world, a world that has become small thanks to mass com-munication. The Internet has been used extensive in the past two decades to “spread the gospel” of fitness. Globally societies have come to recognize what has been preached in western societies for years—that becoming physically fit leads to an active and healthy lifestyle. Fitness begins at home with healthy eating habits and the establishment of a fitness ethic. The Internet has been able to bring the knowledge that we need to our homes, the knowledge that we need to become fit and stay healthy.

The Internet is a valuable social tool not only for enhancing our knowledge of what it takes to be fit, but also for helping us find or become connected to resources that will help us be fit. The Internet connects us to sport programs, activities, and services within our respective communities. Finding what we need is simply a “click” away. Most of us cannot remember what life was like before the Internet and how difficult it was to dis-cover the plethora of sport programs, activities, and services that society offered.

2. Sports organizations are viewed as a means to bring selected populations together in social groups.

We are social by nature and long to be in the presence and company of others. Sport organizations help bring people with common interests together. The common interest is the “sport” or “sports” of focus. As an interest in the sport(s) is the focal point for


participation, those who become a part of the sport organization automatically know that the reason for involvement for most members is an attraction or appeal toward the sport(s). Sport is the common denominator that shapes the organization and keeps the members attracted to the organization.

3. An “active living” philosophy is promoted as a means to enhance sport involvement.

Active living, a means to get people involved on a regular basis, is best promoted through society. Sports are a fun way to be social while also being active. Although we can definitely be active without participating in a sport or sports (e.g., going for leisurely walks or taking the stairs up instead of the elevator), sports is an avenue that provides a multitude of activity choices for being active. Societies such as Canada have targeted ac-tive living as a means to enhance quality of life through increased fitness levels through-out the life-stages. The Active Living Alliance that was established in the 1980s in Can-ada has focused on encouraging, promoting, and instilling an active living philosophy in Canadians of all ages and ethnic groups. The message of this organization has been relayed through media channels and the Internet with the intent of making Canadians more active through involvement in active activities, but also in sport as well.

4. Governments have recognized the value of sports and have endorsed national sport policies.

In 2012, the Government of Canada released a revised version of its 2002 national Sport Policy. Just like the 2002 version, the 2012 policy put forth a plan of action on what is targeted in a ten-year period (Canadian Heritage, 2002; 2012). The intent of this sport policy is to establish a plan of action for sport, sport involvement, and sport par-ticipation for the future as well as endorse, support, and encourage the delivery of sport services and programs for all Canadians, whether competitive athletes or not. Sport policies such as Canada’s provide guidelines for sport service providers and organiza-tions as well as reveal the place of sport by the respective society.

5. Sports have become a focal point of many organizations and communities.In addition to government-operated national, provincial or state, or local sport-re-

lated services, a number of non-government organizations (NGOs) focus on the pro-vision of sport services. For example, organizations such as America’s Cup, Deportes sin Fronteras in Peru, and Greenpeace (Jacopin & Urrutia, 2007). The focal point of organizations such as the aforementioned is sports. Interestingly, organizations that do not have sport in the mission of their organizations may also use sport as a focal point for the attainment of organizational objectives. For example, the Hellenic Community of Ottawa, whose mandate focuses on religious and linguistic services, has established within its organization the Ottawa Hellenic Athletic Association (OHAA). OHAA, which operates under the auspices of the Hellenic Community of Ottawa (Canada) of-fers a number of sport services including hockey and soccer which ultimately enhance social cohesion, social closure and bring individuals of Greek descent into the commu-nity. Ultimately for this community, both the religious and linguistic components of its


mandate are enhanced as a result of the experience and integrative nature of its sport activities.

People, Recreation, and Sport

Recreation and sport are activities that are people-oriented, people-driven, and peo-ple provided. Both recreation and sport activities are engaged in by people for pleasure, goal attainment, or simply to serve others. Moreover, both recreation and sport activi-ties are engaged in to fulfill a specific need—the need to be stimulated. Recreation and sport activities stimulate us and they excite and entertain us. We all need to be stimu-lated and entertained, not only to fulfill free time but to also enhance quality of life.

Perhaps the driving force for both recreation and sport involvement is pleasure. As humans we are pleasure-seeking creatures. Our need for pleasure is satisfied through either active or passive involvement. Recreation and sport activities can be engaged in either active or passive ways. An active form of recreation involvement could be walking for pleasure or mountain biking, whereas active involvement in sport can be playing hockey or synchronized swimming. A passive form of recreation is reading a book or playing chess, whereas a passive form of sport can be watching a hockey game on television or being a spectator at an event held in an Olympic Stadium during the Olympic Games.

Goal attainment is also a driving force to active and/or passive involvement in rec-reation and sport activities. By achieving, or even pursuing our personal goals we feel good about ourselves. We set goals when we engage in competitive and non-compet-itive recreation and sport activities. Our goals may be to get in shape, to demonstrate superiority with physical and/or mental skills, or to win a match or game. Although we continue to strive to fulfill our goal(s) for involvement we often do not achieve our objectives with one try. Ultimately, goal attainment can be an ongoing process that leads


to further development and improvement through continual engagement in the recre-ation and sport activity.

Recreation and sport activities offer an avenue and an environment to serve oth-ers. Perhaps one goal is to help improve the quality of life others. The implementation of recreation and sport activities may be an avenue chosen to help improve the life of others. Recreation programmers and sport/fitness trainers are in the business of serving others. Although their intent may be to improve the lives of others, personal goals of achievement and self-satisfaction may also be derived.

Finally, involvement in recreation and sport activities can also enhance self-esteem. Self-esteem can be enhanced through the mastery of a task, the completion of a chal-lenging endeavor, as well as victory in a competition. For example, in the case of playing chess (recreation) and figure skating (sport), the mastery of the task refers to learning the basic moves and rules of competition. The completion of a challenging endeavor can refer to an intermediate level of accomplishment found at a high level of competition. Victory refers to winning the ultimate prize set as a goal—perhaps the Masters Chess tournament or an Olympic Gold medal in figure skating. Enhanced self-esteem can be experienced at each and every one of these levels and it is the recreation or sport activ-ity that is the central focus for building feelings of self-esteem. Thus the experiences provided by recreation and sport activities have the potential to make one feel good and have increased self-esteem.

Democracy, Recreation, and Sport

Recreation and sport are both socially oriented activities and pursuits that tend to be engaged in groups and communities of two or more. Every time people gather in groups, decisions for operation are made. Since recreation and sports are experiences or pursuits engaged in groups, out of the free will of individuals who are apart of these groups, some governing processes need to be established for the implementation of these pursuits. Governing processes that tend to be democratic seem to be best as they offer all recreation and sport participants with a chance to get involved in decisions that directly affect their recreation and sport lifestyles.

Democracy comes from the Greek words demos meaning people, and kratia mean-ing to rule. That is, people have a say in the decision-making process and in the way that decisions are governed. Recreation and sport activities and programs have a direct impact on people. Indeed, recreation and sport services are best addressed when people are heard and when they have an opportunity to influence the service decisions made. Recreation and sport are people-oriented services that provided services directly to the people. It only makes sense that people therefore be involved in the decision making process for the provision of recreation and sport services.

The greater the involvement of people in the decision making process for the pro-vision of recreation and sport services the greater their demands on leisure (Heming-way, 1999). Hemingway (1999) refers to two broad spectrums of democracy—partici-patory and representative—with participatory democracy leading to greater demands


by the people for leisure that can include recreation and sport. Specifically, for Hem-ingway (1999, p. 14) participatory democracy consists of “more citizen involvement” whereas representative democracy consists of “less citizen involvement”; participatory democracy is “individually focused” whereas representative democracy is “group fo-cused”; participatory democracy is “communicative” whereas representative democra-cy is “adversarial”; participatory democracy is “process oriented” whereas representa-tive democracy is “outcome oriented”; and, participatory democracy relies more on a “developmental model” approach, while representative democracy employs a “market model.” Based on the aforementioned perspectives put forth by Hemingway in 1999, participants in recreation and sport organizations are more likely to benefit from an organization that provides opportunities for participatory democratic practice. The rec-reation and sport needs of participants are more likely to be best addressed if they are as involved as possible in the decision-making process, an opportunity that is made possible via participatory democracy. Without a doubt, having a say and a direct impact in the decision-making process provides one with a sense of importance as well as an enhanced feeling of direct involvement in the outcomes of the decision-making process.

Conclusion

This chapter introduced the concepts of recreation and sport. Both concepts are similar as activity is the common denominator that defines the two concepts. Recre-ation, as a part of leisure, is described as a broader concept in meaning than sport. The reason behind this is that recreation—as a part of leisure—is often defined as anything for anyone, extending beyond the structured, competitive, organized, and activity pa-rameters than define sport. Moreover, it was depicted in this chapter that sport tends to “active” in nature, whereas recreation can be “active” and/or “passive.”

Recreation and sport programs and services are important for enhancing the quality of life of individuals, as well as improving to the overall state of condition of communi-ties. Recreation and sport programs and services not only act as a focal point for people to come together, they also act as a means for people to enhance their quality of lives through increased social interaction. Thus recreation and sport programs and services bring people together and keep people together in groups and communities.

In any community or society, it is not a given that the recreation and sport needs of citizens will be sufficiently met. The greater the democratic action behind service pro-vision, the greater the probability that the recreation and sport needs will be fulfilled. Participatory democracy is perhaps the most useful approach that can be employed to ascertain need fulfillment. Participatory democracy makes active involvement in the decision-making process possible, thus increasing the likelihood of need fulfillment through active involvement in the decision-making process.

Documents

Recreation, Sport, and Community Development