Managing diversity in sports and recreation activities

Managing diversity in sports and recreation activities

Sports and other recreational activities bring a lot of people from all over the world regardless of their nationality, gender, age, religion or race. These activities can range from national to international level and engage different types of people. Therefore, these activities act as a platform that fosters inclusion and acceptance of diversity and mutual respect that aims at combating discrimination and exclusion. Sports and recreation activities are becoming more popular around the globe (Hennekam et al., 2017). With a networked world, great talents are identified, and enthusiastic partisans support them in building a great thrill by organizing host events. Therefore, the interest that grows attracts people from different diversity to join the activities. It is essential to appreciate that sports and recreation activities require diverse players. Fans that watch events happen always to feel a sense of belonging by virtual of seeing a person of their close race being a player. Without forgetting, the motivation behind any team organized to take part in an activity is based on concern for attaining better results than their opponents. It is now vivid that sports and recreation managers need to understand diversity and manage it.

Diversity is a common issue that arises from these activities as we see more often players being discriminated against because of their distinct features. This has severally happened especially in football leagues. Anyways, the wave of diversity is part of human life and cannot be ignored since it is here to stay (Spaaij et al., 2019).  In today’s sports activities, there is a need to manage the diversity that exists so that we can express value to everyone. Sportspeople have different practices and beliefs, but they come together with a common goal and objectives though they have diverse cultures practices. Therefore, there is a need to manage this diversity so that everyone feels appreciated. All people should be treated equally and avoid generalizing a particular ethnic group because it only brings adverse effects like hatred, discrimination, and conflicts in society. Diversity in this context means differences in race, age,  gender and culture, among others. Managing diversity should aim at opening opportunities to all people of all gender with different cultural practices.

Race and ethnicity diversity management

Race and ethnicity differences usually influence the way people approach sports and other recreational activities.  Therefore, issues of discrimination due to racial disparities should be addressed at all levels to manage diversity. Many stakeholders in sports and other recreational areas have been implementing policies, several interventions and campaigns that ate helping to promote race equality, diversity, and inclusion (Spaaij et al., 2019). There are several examples of anti-racism organizations in the world that have tried to manage variety by fighting race and ethnicity discrimination. One example is ‘Sporting Equals’ organization that focuses on researching the needs of black and minority ethnic communities within the sport and other recreational activities to increase their participation. Participation in sports activities and race equality requires a very critical understanding so that it can be managed well.

Age diversity management

Everyone in society wants to participate in recreational activities regardless of their age. There should be diversity management regarding age to avoid age-based discrimination. For instance, older people might be barred to participate in certain sports and other leisure activities. This might make them not feel like part of society (Aigner, 2015). There must be legislation put into protecting them against this discrimination or harassment that is age-based to manage diversity. Equality need to strengthen across all age brackets.  Those are depicted to be underage and therefore, not allowed to participate in particular sports activities should be provided with alternative options that will make them not feel left out.

Gender diversity management.

Underrepresentation has seen male participation to be five per cent higher than that of women in sports and recreation activities. Respective centres should work towards closing the gap between women and men’s participation in activities. The goal can be achieved by preparing the gender-based talent campaigns aiming to increase women’s participation in activities. Many female applicants are drawn, and several of them succeed to join the events. Some countries like the UK have shown an example by encouraging women participation through launching a joint campaign like the ‘Girls4Gold’ campaign (Price, 2015). Another important management perspective is by advocating male-dominated sports and recreation activities traditionally to change perceptions through the creation of women teams of dedicated participants.  Also, institutions like banks are of great essence to promote women’s participation by announcing support through sponsorship of women’s sports and recreation activities.

Cultural diversity management.

Different groups of people who participate in sports and other recreational activities have cultural beliefs and practices. For organizations to manage cultural diversity in sports, there is a need to provide training about issues concerning culture and diversity to all managers and participants of such events. People should instil the ability to work with fellows from different cultural backgrounds (Aigner, 2015). There should be skills to communicate to each during these events and make everyone feel that their culture is valued. There is an example from Australia where Culturally and Linguistically diverse members are likely to participate less in sports and recreational activities. People in sports leadership should take this opportunity to provide sporting clubs and recreational centres to attract them and encourage cultural diversity.

Disability participation

Disability sports and recreation activities are increasingly becoming popular in the recent past. In this context, physically challenged people mostly encounter barricades to participate in activities around them. There has been very little attention put onto disability in the field of sports and recreation. One of the considerations in managing disability in sports and recreation activities is by encouraging parallel activities to happen where persons with disability are allowed to participate in their means while taking part with others with the same ability (Cunningham, 2016). Also, there can be adaptive activities in which people without a disability can actively get involved in the activities meant for disabled persons to be able to reach parity through a common adaptation. More so, the rules for activities can be modified where persons with disabilities participate in integrated activities.

Managing diversity based on region

It is good to ensure that activities don’t face a geographical disparity. At the local, national and international levels, there is a need for sport and recreation leaders to reflect on a population where their activities are operating. They should ensure that their activities don’t seem to less active in some regions than others. People involved in these activities promote physical fitness (Cunningham, 2016). Therefore, the leaders should create an awareness that mines a positive attitude to at least two-thirds of the population. The good news is that this can easily be managed. Many people love participating in physical activities. Physical activities usually rate higher in participation than any other form of activity ever hosted in the world globally. A while back a survey with a title Sport England Active People Survey shows that about sixty-two per cent of the population get involved in physical activities every week.

Managing diversity in socio-economic background

Striking through the divide is the socio-economic background where those who fall under the classification of more affluent groups in comparison with those falling in the low socio-economic background is distinctive. Those with less affluent have poor access to sports and recreation facilities. Besides, the gap is still widening since those from low affluent socio-economic groups suffer hardship with struggling semi-routine jobs and unemployment (Cunningham, 2016). Their participation is slightly above fifty per cent in contrast with those with more affluent hitting higher with seventy-two percent in their respective populations. The term of achieving or managing this diversity is ideal by ensuring the host of sports and recreation activities co-operate with bodies that consider these activities as a critical driver to opening opportunities for economic growth. For instance, the UN offers financial supports to programs aligned with these activities to foster employability to the low socio-economic group by building sports and recreational centres.

Conclusion

Commitment to managing diversity in sports and recreational activities is merely dependent on an individual who decides to be a champion in driving a change. While these persons with proper management remain essential, their seamless efforts may be at risk of fading away if they resign. Where diversity management is given high priority, the work offers fruits to positive ripples.  The bottom line is that the inclusion of all persons irrespective of their different features is the key to managing diversity in sports and recreation to consider all the time.

References

Aigner, P. (2015). Ethnic Diversity Management In Theory And Practice. Journal Of Diversity

Management (JDM), 9(2), 111-120. https://doi.org/10.19030/jdm.v9i2.8976

Cunningham, G. (2016). Sport, Race, and Ethnicity: Narratives of Difference and Diversity.

Managing Leisure, 17(4), 363-364. https://doi.org/10.1080/13606719.2012.670698

Hennekam, S., Tahssain-Gay, L., & Syed, J. (2017). Contextualizing diversity management in

the Middle East and North Africa: a relational perspective. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(3), 459-476. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12150

Price, J. (2015). Where Are All the Women?: Diversity, the Sports Media, and Sports

Journalism Education. The International Journal Of Organizational Diversity, 14(1), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.18848/2328-6261/cgp/v14i01/58057

Spaaij, R., Knoppers, A., & Jeanes, R. (2019). “We want more diversity but…”: Resisting

diversity in recreational sports clubs. Sport Management Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2019.05.007