ABSTRACT
This chapter extends on the foundational levels of understanding of sport development established in Chapter 1 to consider praxis: the application of theory to practice. This chapter focuses on describing the development of academic models, approaches, and frameworks for the development of sport (SD) and sport for development (SFD). A brief audit of what is known, common practices, and key gaps in knowledge, in relation to theories of SD and SFD, is presented. The chapter emphasises how theories function in a practical sense. Specifically, the raison d’être of this chapter and its placement at the end of the introductory section of this textbook is to facilitate an understanding of the broader tensions within sport development that will be discussed briefly in this chapter and then revisited throughout the textbook. Drawing upon examples from the US, the tension between theory and practice is considered, as is the tension between SD and SFD.
