This book tells the story of how participation in a community soccer program helped to facilitate the social inclusion of immigrant youth living on the margins of 'Global Toronto.' The central questions it seeks to answer are: Did sport participation affect the everyday integration experiences of these youth? If so, how, and why? And how were these experiences unique for different genders? To answer these questions, the author chronicles eight years of ethnographic immersion (from 20122020) as a community soccer coach in Toronto's marquee immigrant reception sitethe neighbourhood of St. James Town.

The book reveals how community-based sport participation positively influenced immigrant youth's sense of social inclusion in multicultural Canada. This 'theory of social inclusion through sport' was advanced based on the capacity of the program to facilitate engagement, personal development, bonding and belonging in youth's lives. These forms of inclusion into Canadian society were at times contradictory, contested, and eclectic, but always personal, agentic, and meaningful to youth.

The findings of this investigation will be useful for policy makers and community based practitioners who recognize the importance of positive reception contexts on immigrant integration, and the influence of localized social service provisions therein. The book will also interest scholars working within the international fields of sport-for-development and sport sociology, who have begun exploring how sport programs may impact the integration experiences of immigrant youth living in diverse urban contexts. It also provides up to date and engaging examples for teaching on sport, gender, health, and inclusion in a variety of disciplines.

Analyzes the ways that immigrant youth use sport to construct forms of belonging in a changing and globalized world Explores an evidenced-based study of sport-for-inclusion within the global sport-for-development field Constructs a comprehensive theory of social inclusion through sport that adds a gendered lens

Autorentext

Greg Yerashotis is Professor of Sport, Gender, Health and Social Inclusion at Trent University, Canada.

Inhalt

CHAPTER 1: The Cultural Politics of Immigrant (Sporting) Inclusion in Toronto, Canada.- CHAPTER 2: Sport-for-Inclusion Research: A Review of Literature and Advancement of a Theory.- Chapter 3: Constructing and Conducting Community Sport Ethnography: Modern Influences and Postmodern Innovations.- Chapter 4: Daily Engagements with the Wellesley Community Recreation Centre.- Chapter 5: 'Girls can't ball:' Exclusion Resistance and Empowerment in Women's Soccer.- Chapter 6: Relational Integration Through Team Sport: Bonding and Belonging in the Wellesley-Jarvis Soccer Tribe.- Chapter 7: Community Sport Matters: Academic Contributions, Substantive Limitations and Policy Implications of the Project.