In the 2013 article, “The Integrative Role of Sport in Multicultural Societies”, the authors examine the role sport plays in bringing people together from different cultural backgrounds and the bonds of friendship that are created. Sports are more than just about winning and losing. Winning is always nice, it does feel good to see hard work payed off with a victory. However, when we step back and look at it from the outside sport is the vehicle that brings people together. In some cases, it can be catalyst for conversation that sparks progressive change.  They create a community of people from different upbringings and “help protect against social exclusion and facilitating inclusion” (192) and in my opinion is the purpose of them. They help give “individuals a sense of belonging” (192) and allows people to feel a part of community that normally wouldn’t have a group of people around them that supports them. Teams in some cases can become one’s family and their teammates become their brothers and sisters. And those who do participate on a team sport “experience greater interaction and may develop socially adaptive attitudes” (197) and become more open minded of other cultural backgrounds. It’s also important to note that one most important studies the authors looked at was looking at whether or not international students at US colleges, participating in sports “was used as a vehicle for adapting to a multicultural environment” (195). And it was found that “sport participation was more important for adapting to a multicultural environment rather than retaining cultural identity” (195) which tells me sports can be a vehicle that allows people to 1) have a better understanding of what’s around them and 2) can help breaks down stereotypes of people from different backgrounds.

Hatzigeorgidis, Antonis; Morela, Eleftheria Morela; Elbe, Anne-Marie; Kouli, Olga; Sanchez, Xavier. October 9, 2013. “The Integrative Role of Sport in Multicultural Societies”. Hogrefe Publishing (Germany). 18(3): 191-202. Accessed March 26, 2017. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000155