In sports management education, you may learn about how sports can affect social change. Currently, there are a lot of great programs out there that are really trying to make a difference in the world, and they’re using athletics as a hook to get people involved and helping with those social changes. For example, there are entities out there that use soccer as a way to get children participating in the sport, and then educate them on certain things.
It could also be to help communities in certain ways. Maybe they live in a very poor area and they don’t really have any opportunities. So, these programs go out and offer opportunities to kids who would never have a chance to play, and with that, they also give them some type of education or support in what they need.
One example of this is in India, where women historically have not been educated well on their own reproductive systems. And so, there are programs out there that offer soccer, and the girls show up and play. It works great as a hook because they want to come play soccer, and when they do, the program educates them on how to take care of themselves, what feminine hygiene is, about the organs that are involved in reproduction, and the things that they will go through as they transition into womanhood.
These programs are a great opportunity to, for one, change the way that culture sees women and reproduction, which has been a real problem. Athletics can also offer the girls an education in a way that they never would have had if they hadn’t participated in the soccer program.
There are many other examples out there that are about peace. For one, there are refugee programs, in camps where people have been transitioning into different cultures. And there’s a lot of culture shock that goes on. Some of them are living in camps. These people have been completely uprooted and taken into a new area. Sports offer them an opportunity to feel good about themselves, to give them a break and escape from their current situations. It can also start to bridge gaps.
We have a lot of culture clashes happening with all of the movements, and sports are a great way to bridge those gaps and allow people to have a common language. For example, we both may be from different areas, but we both play and enjoy soccer.
A result of this is that it really provides an opportunity to start having a conversation about differences and the culture shock that’s happening. It gives people something that they know, understand and can grow in. Sports programs and entities that are offering these kinds of solutions are really helping a lot of people in a lot of different ways.
Online sports management education is a convenient and effective way for anyone who’s interested to learn more about how athletics can bridge people’s differences and lots of other concepts relating to sports management and global sports issues.
