ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of scholarly research and thought on the latter and more specific of these two visions – namely, athletic involvement as a means for social intervention and individual-level change. It focuses on the historical origins and contemporary organizational manifestations of sport as intervention. The chapter highlights some of the limitations, misunderstandings, and pitfalls of sport-based intervention that have been identified by sport scholars. It discusses theoretical innovations that lay out key principles underlying how sports-based social interventions are best conceptualized so as to best make meaningful contributions to intervention and change. The chapter summarizes the implications for program design, policy implementation and assessment, and future research. In the most general terms, the role of sport participation in contributing to educational attainment and social development has proven difficult for scholars to document systematically and conclusively, whether intervention oriented or more generally developmentally based.
