In the context of Sport for Development (SFD), researchers have primarily examined the concept of development (Black, 2017). However, little attention has been given to the concept of sport, which is expected to be the differentiating factor.
Within SFD, the term sport is defined as "a generic term, comprising sport for all, physical play, recreation, dance, organized, casual, competitive, traditional and indigenous sports and games in their diverse forms” (UNESCO, 2017, p. 9). Simply put, this encompasses all kinds of sports and physical activities that one can conceive.
It is common for the question of which sport is being referred to in the context of SFD to arise. This includes whether we are discussing school, mass, or recreational sports, as well as whether games and dance are included. This issue often arises in discussions between colleagues. Nevertheless, this matter is seldom addressed in research. Instead, diverse kinds of sport are haphazardly enumerated or summarized using vague collective terms, like “general physical activity” or “multiple sports” (Schulenkorf et al., 2016, p. 31; Svensson & Woods, 2017, p.37). This is surprising, given that sport is considered to be the tool that initiates development processes. However, it remains unclear which methodological-didactic implementation of sport could be responsible for this effect. Is simply playing football sufficient, or does the modification of the game, such as adding a third half as in the methodology of football3 (Fox et al., 2013), make the difference?
In general, various SFD activity guidelines and methodologies have been created and implemented in various countries and settings. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Society for International Cooperation) (GIZ), as the main German development agency, has compiled approximately 100 manuals on the SFD Resource Toolkit Homepage. The manuals, which were developed in the context of GIZ-funded programs in various countries, serve as blueprints for how sport can address specific development issues, such as gender equality or climate action, through exercises and games, with most of them centered on football (S4D Resource Toolkit, n.d.).
Prompted by imprecise definitions and terms, never-ending discussions about which sport is being referred to, as well as the flood of manuals that raise questions about pedagogically valuable and effective sport-based methodologies, this commentary highlights three perspectives to approach the important role of sport-based methodologies in SFD: (1) concepts of sport in sport sciences, (2) pedagogical perspectives with a focus on experiential learning and (3) team sports. Although this reflection is focused only on the SFD approaches of one German actor, it illuminates the research gap related to sport-based methodologies and can serve as a stepping stone for future research.
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