Complex Dynamics
Social Media as a Way to Understand the Impact of Informal Sports on Communities: Case Study on the Expansion of Surfing in Maine, USA
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tracy Michaud
Surf destinations have been mostly found in tropical locations in the past but are increasing in more extreme cold-water climates such as the Maine, USA coast in the North Atlantic. In order for sustainable management around informal sports like surfing to take place, understanding which places are impacted most by these new recreation pursuits, is a way to mitigate issues between communities hosting these activities and those visitors participating.in them. This analysis reviews the contributions social media VGI (Voluntary Geographic Information) mapping techniques in understanding the dynamic between locals and visitors as well as shows the changing density of surfing as it spreads over 20 years along the Maine Coast. It is suggested that this special geographic technique using big data sets can be of value especially for informal sports that don't have ticket sales or formal tracking of participation.
The Global Game and the Search for Domestic Belonging : How a Soccer Program Influenced the Integration of Marginalized Immigrant Youth in Multicultural Toronto View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Greg Yerashotis
This paper lays out the findings of my doctoral research that I completed while enrolled at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Sport Policy Studies, which is due to appear as a book in Palgrave Macmillan’s Sport and Global Culture series in early 2026. The study used immersive ethnographic methods to chronicle my involvement in sport-based youth development initiatives from 2014- 2020 in urban Toronto. Here I took on the role of a community soccer coach to better investigate if, how and why sport programming was affecting the integration experiences of marginalized youth living in urban Toronto’s marquee immigrant reception site—the neighbourhood of St. James Town. Using this avowedly intersectional community context as a background, my work tells the story of how local immigrant youth used sport in nuanced ways to construct unique senses of inclusion and forms of belonging in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized world. I focus on one finding in particular: the diverse forms of belonging youth expressed in my research through their sport participation. This included: 1) adolescent boys’ experiences of ‘sport-based urban belonging,’ that resulted from their ongoing involvement in ethno-culturally diverse recreational programs; 2) A more politicized form of belonging young women experienced as part of girls-only soccer programming; and 3) a subcultural/neo-tribal form of belonging that bridged gendered divides, and facilitated a localized multi-generational soccer community.
Why Did They Still Choose to Leave?: The Dilemma of Empowering Elite Women Coaches in post-Paris Era
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ava Xingmeng Huang
Paris 2024 achieved full gender equality on the field of play for the first time in the Olympic history. Gender equality as a global value has been given increasing importance to create a more equal, inclusive, and diverse elite sporting world. There is a question mark that whether the distribution of an equal number of quota places to female and male athletes truly represents gender equality in elite sport scenario. The fact that the number of women holding coaching positions remains remarkably low at the international level can be regarded as a breakthrough point for gender study in sport. This ongoing study is in nature, ontologically critical realist, and epistemologically interpretivist. On the basis of the preliminary findings which thoroughly reviewed the timeline and milestone of the key strategies and initiatives on gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in chronological order for the past three decades in sport world including the Olympics, this research additionally investigates the underlying reasons that why do elite women coaches with successful achievements choose to ‘drop out’ their beloved sporting career and ultimately develop a solid and marketable strategy for more transparent and inclusive policy making and implementation processes with a case study in the non-Western scenario, which is China. The utility is twofold, in practical terms refining gender equality policy and incorporating gender equality progress into an international blueprint, and in academic terms, providing a unique perspective in sport policy and gender research by bridging gender issues with elite sport development.
