DISABILITY SPORT RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Researh Fellows
RESEARCH PROJECT:
Inclusion of the Sport for Athletes with Disabilities into National Governing Bodies of the Sport
Objective
The objective of this project will be to study two National Governing Bodies with respect to the inclusion and integration of the sport for athletes with disabilities into the organizational structure and operations of these organizations.
The organizations to be studied will be US Soccer and US Skiing.
Background
The principal investigator to this project will be Eli
A. Wolff. Wolff
is a former Sport in Society intern with the Urban
Youth Sports Program. He is a senior at Brown University studying
Sociology and Organizational Management.
Wolff is a member of the Soccer for Challenged Players Standing Committee
of the United States Soccer Federation. He is a member of the US National
Soccer Team for the Disabled, and competed in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic
Games.
At Brown, Wolff will have two academic advisors:
- Dr. John Modell, professor of sociology
- Dr. Barrett Hazeltine, professor of engineering, and chair, organizational management degree
Wolff's assistants
include:
- Dr. Mary Hums, Professor of Sport Management, University of Louisville
- Dr. Ted Fay, Professor of Sport Management, University of SUNY, Cortland
This piot study of US Soccer and US Skiing has the potential to serve as a model for a broader scope study looking at each of the national governing bodies, community-based multi-sport organizations and education-based multi-sport organizations.
Rationale
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC)
is currently encouraging National Governing Bodies to include and integrate
the sport for athletes with disabilities. Little empirical data has been
gathered to date to inform the principle stakeholders in the process of
inclusion and integration.
There is a need to address the critical gaps in qualitative and quantitative data regarding the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities into the operating structures of the USOC and its related national sports organizations.
Action
Plan
Over the summer of 1999, organizational materials will be collected
from US Soccer and US
Skiing. Organizational materials will also be collected from national
soccer and skiing programs that specifically service athletes with disabilities.
In September of 1999, relevant stake-holders to both US Soccer and US Skiing will be surveyed. These stake-holders include: paid sport managers, board members, and chairs of advisory committees. Relevant stake-holders to national soccer and skiing programs that specifically service athletes with disabilities will also be surveyed. These stakeholders include: program directors and volunteers staff.
After the survey process is complete, select stake-holders to both U.S. Soccer and U.S. Skiing will be interviewed. Select stake-holders to national soccer and ski programs that specifically service athletes with disabilities will also be interviewed.
Based on the feedback received from all parties surveyed and interviewed, recommendations will be made on how to include and integrate athletes with disabilities.
Recommendations will be set forth by May 2000.
Benefits
This project will be beneficial to US Soccer and US Skiing
because it will assist the organization in meeting the mandate to better
include and integrate soccer for athletes with disabilities.
The project will also put these two organizations at the forefront of examining the issue of including and integrating athletes with disabilities into national sport organizations.
copyright Eli A.
Wolff
August
16, 1999
Northeastern
University's
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SPORT IN SOCIETY
716 Columbus Avenue, Suite 161 CP
Boston, MA 02120
Phone: (617) 373-4025
Fax:
(617) 373-4566