Change Agents’: Cultivating the Seeds of Access within the Sociology of Sport

Sport diaspora has developed beyond the allusion that it belongs to a particular group. Sport is interwoven into the lives and cultures of people globally and has an inherent and inimitable ability to connect people while providing opportunities to transform individuals and communities. However, the notion of inclusive sport diaspora in many spaces would remain exclusive without the change agents who have sojourned to empower pathways of access, which illuminate the invisible individual, thus, promoting their valuable power to the collective community. In the Sociology of Sport, diaspora can be applied as ground-breaking, pioneering, and inventive. Nonetheless, for this evolution of sport access to occur, the cultivation of the seeds that foster change, must be nurtured. As described by W.E.B. Du Bois (1995) “Proof Of The Seed”, he states “To be sure, good seed proves itself in the flower and fruit, but the failure of the seed to sprout is no proof that it is not good. It may be proof simply of the absence of manure--- or its excessive presence”(p. 473). The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, is positioned uniquely to provide a platform in New Orleans, Louisiana that supports inclusive access which is primary toward the production of ideas where sport access is mandatory, and the intentionality to cultivate spaces that empower participation are vital to our global sport communities.

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