ABSTRACT
Sport is a very popular form of societal involvement for larger parts of European populations. In countries like Italy, sport is the sector of civil society that involves the highest number of active persons, especially among the youth. However, in the frame of this chapter, sport is not considered for its signifi cant quantitative dimensions in terms of participation, but for the ‘qualitative’ consequences of sport involvement. In fact, it is worth considering sport as the sphere where people learn to know each other; to develop trust and loyalty; to increase cooperative behaviour. Sport is made of simple acts of cooperation, as synthesised by a handball coach interviewed by the author: “The simple fact of passing the ball to someone is already a form of cooperation” (Man, Parma, February 2007).
