ICSSPE News
No.41
June 2004		  
    

International Forum on Sport and Development
13-15 February, 2005
Co-organized by Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll and the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE)

Context and Main Issues
2005 has been declared the International Year for Sport and Physical Education by the United Nations. In light of this, the Akademie Bad Boll, in co-operation with ICSSPE, wants to further promote the discussion process commenced in February 2003 at the Sport and Development Conference held in Magglingen, Switzerland, by asking what the global role of sport is, within ethical reflections. For example:
  • Is there a mainstream understanding of sports, and if so, where do the traditional/cultural sports and games belong within this understanding? Or, is sport a universal culture standard?

  • Are there comparisons between global economic cycles and global sports development?
  • Should sport take social responsbility for global proceedings? How could this look and what are the development possibilities for sport?
  • How far can the "western model" of sport contribute to education, peace and development globally? Where are the boundaries?
  • Can sport-ethics agreements be made in a global context? What could these agreements look like?
Aim
The organisers intend with this project:
  1. to engage representatives from different areas of sport, science, education, politics and economy, also global acting human rights and non-government-organisations (NGOs) who would usually not come together. This will allow participants to take advantage of competence, knowledge and experiences to closely and objectively contribute to the current international debate on the global role of sport.
  2. to continue the discussion process established by the United Nations development conference in Magglingen, Switzerland, 2003, for stronger ties within sport in the global development program. The main themes of Economy, Culture and Ethics will support the second Magglingen Conference, planned for December 2005.
The organizers have defined three different areas from which they want to approach the global role of sport: culture, development and economy.

Culture
Culture is under constant change. Globalization creates the impression that different societies in different parts of the world become more and more similar and cultural diversity disappears. Does globalization of sport offer opportunities to access to those who have not participated in the past for political, traditional, religious, economic or other reasons? At the same time, are people being prevented from being physically active because traditional sports are being displaced by sports that don't offer alternative forms for specific parts of the society?
The organizers of the forum have invited as keynote speaker, the Belgium scientist Prof. Dr. Roland Renson, who is an expert in his field of sport, physical activity and games within traditional and cultural aspects.

Development
Development includes changes within the world of sport from all possible angles: for example in which way sports develop in different reagions of the world, how performance is constantly being optimized and how one sport develops in relation to one another. Development also deals with the expected and unexpected impacts that global sport has on the development of other areas of life.
Dr. Aneesa Al Hitmi, member of the National Olympic Committee of Qatar and invited keynote speaker, will report on the relationships between sport and development.

Economy
Sport is healthy and regular physical activity helps to decrease national health expenses. Many countries offer specific measures supported or implemented by the government to motivate the population to be more physically active. At the same time, a huge sporting industry has developed world-wide that includes people, companies and institutions from different areas of society: athletes, media, sporting goods-industries, sport facility industries, consultants and agents, hotel and restaurant businesses. With the development of sponsorship, companies have become involved in sport even when the originial purpose of their product or service has nothing to do with sport. From a business and national economic point of view, sport and economy are closely linked to each other; their connection, their perspectives and problems shall be critically reflected.
Keynote speaker will be the British sport sociologist Prof. Dr. Joseph Maguire.
The Akademie Bad Boll has a reputation within Germany as a neutral place for discussion with great confidence in the area of sports. Several international sports conferences have already been successfully conducted at this venue.
For further infomation please contact the ICSSPE Executive Office at icsspe@icsspe.org



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