Article Review Example on Sports for Health: A Guide to Improved Wellbeing

Introduction

The article “Managing Sport for Health: An Introduction to the Special Issue” by Edward and Rowe (2019) provides information about the role of sports in managing a variety of human health issues. The authors argue that sports can positively impact health outcomes. It is this reason that most governments decide to promote and subsidize sports. The authors also connect sports activities to an increment in social connectedness, reduction in risky behavior, and improved mental health. The article shifts focus on the preferred characteristics of sports that can help to improve human health. First, the article proposes sports ought to be accessible and considerate of the community needs as well as empowering. Secondly, Edward and Rowe (2019) elaborate on the need for sports to be adaptable and evolving to sustain a health-oriented culture. Thirdly, Edward, and Rowe (2019) address the role of organizations in establishing partnerships, building capacity, and sustainability as far as sports for health is concerned. The article does not provide statistics but rather adopts a theoretical approach to identify and explain several themes of sports and how these elements can promote health in a country or region. Finally, the authors provide several directions for research to enhance knowledge in the topic area. Edward and Rowe (2019) acknowledge that many sports organizations find it hard to establish sports, business, and health. In this context, the article suggests further research on strategies that managers have utilized to deal with these challenges. Also, Edward and Rowe (2019) urge other scholars to expand on the knowledge about sports funding, partnerships, and managerial; practices that contribute to better health.

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Key Authors

Edward and Rowe (2019) developed their arguments and conclusions based on the works of other authors. The main theory and assumptions have already been researched by other scholars whose works are cited in different parts of the article. One of the most notable authors, who also contributed to this article Michael Edwards. One of the articles that are cited in this article authored by Edwards & Casper (2012). Edwards & Casper (2012) links participation in sports to a reduction in risk behaviors and improvement in mental health outcomes. Apart from health benefits, Edwards also identifies health complications that are caused by sporting activities such as injuries and distress among athletes. This information provides another perspective about the topic as far as elite sport development is concerned. Edwards (2015) is another source of information that contributes to the knowledge about the role of sports in building community capacity.

Key Findings

Edward and Rowe (2019) did not conduct a study that involved the collection of data but rather a desk study that utilized information from secondary sources. According to the introductory part of their article, Edward and Rowe (2019) suggest that a causal relationship exists between the improvement of population health and sports activities. It is further argued that sports activities help in the prevention of non-communicable diseases. The line of argument is true because some diseases such as obesity, heavyweight, and relate cardio-vascular diseases are always linked to inadequate physical exercises. Prevention of non-communicable diseases through sports is supported by the World Health Organization. These assumptions lead to Edward and Rowe (2019) to the argument that sports can be used as a policy tool that enables social outreach, intervention, and prevention of non-communicable and mental health issues. However, the efficacy of sports in managing health issues is always affected by policies and management tools. Sports activities can be divided into two major categories that include competitive and non-competitive sports. In competitive sports, the participants pursue sports as a career where they get a source of income. On the other hand, in non-competitive sports, the people involved seek to have fun, stay fit, or address health issues such as obesity and overweight. Therefore, both the critics and supporters of sports as a tool for managing health issues are limited by the definitions they adopt or the context used to analyze the impacts of sports (Edward & Rowe, 2019). The ability of sports to promote health is dependent on organizational, community, and social settings.

According to Edward and Rowe (2019), the framework of sport for health should have three fundamental themes. The first theme recommends sorts to be accessible and aligned to the specific needs of a community. In this theme, Edward and Rowe (2019) argue that sports for health programs that are aligned to community needs encourage participation. Examples of similar approaches are retrieved from a study conducted by Stronach et al. (2019) who focused their research on indigenous Australian women. Aligning the unique needs and cultures of a community encourages participation. Also, Edward and Rowe (2019) found that the community cycling project in the UK was successful because of intensive stakeholder engagement. This line of argument tends to suggest community-based programs that target to improve the health of people should be designed using a bottom-up approach. Members of a targeted neighborhood must be included in all stages including the designing phases, implementation, and evaluation. Edward and Rowe (2019), confirm the bottom-up approach by elaborating that such programs must be accessible and led by the participant.

The second theme identified by Edward and Rowe (2019) requires sports to be adaptable and evolving to align health improvement at the center of every program. The top-down approach to designing a program can fail to yield the desired outcomes. In top-down strategy, the governing bodies may have conflicts of interest that affect the efficacy of a sports program to impact health outcomes. The alternative bottom-up approach should further be characterized by flexible and adaptable. It implies that some instances can require careful approaches to trigger cultural changes to adopt sports for health programs. Edward and Rowe (2019) suggest that sporting activity can only promote health outcomes if it supports health. To justify this argument, it is argued that some athletes undergo physical punishment and immense straining to achieve specific competitive levels. Such approaches and views on sport do not support health. Sports organizations are encouraged to consider healthy approaches and not only to focus on competition ends. At the community level, sports for health programs have been tried among refugee communities in Germany and the Netherlands (Anderson et al., 2019).

Promoting sport for health programs should not only target a community but also the employee's ad volunteers of the organization in charge. It is vital to establish a positive organizational practice that supports both the physical and mental health of employees. The traditional approaches to managing sports are always focused on the competitiveness of the athletes while disregarding the need to establish a health-oriented culture that also includes employees. Therefore, sports organizations should include health objectives in their charters.

The third theme by Edward and Rowe (2019) recommends sports organizations to leverage health partnerships that help in the promotion of organizational sustainability. One of the major inputs of partnerships is to strengthen the capacity of an organization. Therefore, bringing onboard health-oriented or specialized partners can help to steer a sports organization to adopt a healthy culture. Health partners can incorporate health goals as well as ideas that help to achieve these targets. However, the article reveals that many sports organizations cannot prioritize the health agenda unless it presents economic opportunities and commercial benefits. For instance, the NFL’s Play 60 program was found to ignore recommendations from the public health department about the promotion of physical activities. Both the public health and the NFL improved their partnership to realign the primary goals of their program in the delivery of health-related programs.

While on one hand, managers find it beneficial to engage health-related partners, on the other hand, they are unable to avoid inhibiting partners. Some of the inhibiting partners include companies that produce junk food, cigarettes, alcohol, and other consumable products that are likely to cause health complications. The dilemma often unearths the desire of sports organizations to focus more on the business end rather than the less lucrative approaches.

The relevance of the article to sports development policy and practice

First, the articles reveal that the best healthy sports programs can only come from the bottom-up approach. Therefore, organizations interested in running smear programs should consider extensive stakeholder engagement with a special interest in the targeted community. The choices and preferences of a selected community should be incorporated into a healthy sports program. A community should be able to design and roll their programs to make it sustainable.

Second, sports organizations should make an effort to partner with federal and local agencies to improve health approaches and outcomes. An example from the NFL proves that through coordination and mutual understanding, sports organizations can roll out better programs.

Third, sports organizations should adopt ethical approaches to handling health sports. More focus on the business end can only achieve short term goals. For instance, striving to enhance current athletes and failing to promote healthy programs at the community level affects the ability of a sports organization to get better athletes in the future. A good example can be retrieved from major soccer clubs around the world that have established football academies. A similar approach can be used to promote healthy sports and provide a guarantee for more competitive athletes in the future.

References

Anderson, A. et al., 2019. Managerial perceptions of factors affecting the design and delivery of sport for health programs for refugee populations. Sport Management Review, 22, pp. 80-95.

Edward, M. B. & Rowe, K., 2019. Managing Sport for Health: An Introduction to the Special Issue. Content Management Review, 22(2019), pp. 1-4.

Edwards, M., 2015. the role of sport in community capacity building: An examination of sports for development research and practice. Sport Management Review, 19(1), pp. 6-19.

Edwards, M. & Casper, J., 2012. The role of sports. In: Sociology of sports and physical activity. Texas: Center for Sports Management Research and Education, pp. 69-98.

Stronach, M., Maxwell, H. & Pearse, S., 2019. Indigenous Australian Women promoting health through sport. Sport Management Review, 22, pp. 5-20.