SSHRC research study aims to reduce post-pandemic barriers to recreation and sport

Dr. Liam Kennedy and Dr. Derek Silva, both Associate Professors of Sociology at King’s University College, are the recipients of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant for a collaborative research study, Policing & Post-Pandemic Participation in Sport and Physical Activity.

The study will examine how sports activities and places like gyms, golf courses, basketball courts and soccer fields, were experienced, politicized, and regulated - or not - at different moments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The central goal of the project is to understand the barriers and challenges to post-pandemic participation in recreational sport, particularly for criminalized, marginalized, and underrepresented groups,” says Dr. Kennedy.

The research will be carried out by co-investigators Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Silva, and Dr. Mark Norman, a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Dr. Kennedy says the project builds on their previous paper, published in Annals of Leisure Research in 2022, which analyzed the ways that media understood and represented public health measures and their relation to sport and recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were all struck by the ways leisure activities and spaces became major flashpoints for public debate and emotional expression during COVID-19,” says Dr. Kennedy. Within three weeks of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a global pandemic, he notes that the Province of Ontario closed recreational spaces and prohibited many outdoor recreational activities, including the use of parks and playgrounds, sports fields, beaches, and community gardens.

“Our preliminary research of this topic revealed how media discourses contributed to the ongoing stigmatization and marginalization of certain populations, particularly racialized and low-income groups,” he says.

Dr. Kennedy notes that leisure was often portrayed in ways that privileged affluent consumers and citizens, with relatively little concern expressed for the implications of the pandemic on marginalized or vulnerable populations.

Work on the new SSRHC-funded study was planned to begin this summer. During the first stage of the project, the research team will identify the frequency, type and location of instances where a person or group was charged, ticketed, or fined in relation to recreational activities and spaces in Canada.  

They will then analyze the public discourse around the policing of sport and recreation during the pandemic by examining parliamentary discussions, mainstream new media articles, and social media posts.  

The final stage of the study will examine how recreational sport organizations and adult athletes in Ontario have navigated regulations and experienced their return to sport.

“There is reason to believe that COVID-19 exacerbated existing health inequities created by social determinants of health - like class, race, gender, and geography,” Dr. Kennedy notes. “Our research can be used to understand barriers to participation in recreational sport brought on by public health measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent return to play protocols.”

Dr. Kennedy hopes their research findings will contribute to increased access to health and wellness opportunities for marginalized populations. “We hope this study results in greater social inclusion of populations that have been disproportionately criminalized and / or underrepresented in sport,” he says.

In July 2023, Dr. Kennedy received word that he had been awarded a $20,000 Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI) supplement to attend the annual Sport Canada Research Initiative (SCRI) conference. 

Dr. Kennedy, Dr. Silva, and Dr. Norman are all quite pleased to receive the supplement.  Dr. Kennedy says the supplement “will be critical in the coming years as we communicate our research findings to a broader audience. Connecting with these stakeholders will advance the sound development of policies and practices that support recreational athletes and leaders as they seek to better comprehend the challenges of returning to play post-crises, particularly for marginalized and underrepresented groups.”

The SPRI is a joint initiative of SSHRC and Sport Canada. The funding is awarded to the successful Insight Grants that focus on one of the target areas identified under it. The funds are provided to recipients to prepare a short paper and participate in the annual Sport Canada Research Initiative Conference, taking place in the Fall 2024. The remaining funds can be used for knowledge translation or research activities related to the Initiative project. 

The supplement will start in January 2024 and may be used for the duration of Dr. Kennedy’s Insight Grant.

At King’s, Dr. Kennedy teaches courses including Sociology of Corrections, Crime and Society, Seminar in Criminological Theory and Research, and Crime, Punishment, and Pop Culture. His research investigates and challenges social inequalities in the criminal justice system and sporting world.

Dr. Silva’s areas of interest include sociocultural studies of sport, critical sociology and criminology, punishment, and terrorism studies. In addition to teaching courses including Sociology of Sport, Surveillance and Society, and Power & Resistance, he serves as OCUFA Director on King's University College Faculty Association, is co-editor of Emerald's Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance book series, and co-hosts a podcast called The End of Sport.