A West Virginia University faculty member is helping to bring sport management to an entire continent.

Dr. Floyd Jones, an associate professor in WVU’s College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, participated in the creation of the African Sport Management Association. Jones was invited to serve as a delegate to the International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sports conference at Kenyatta University in Kenya recently.

The assembly, made up mainly of representatives from African countries, agreed to train professional sport managers at all levels to improve and strengthen sport management throughout Africa. The group’s goal is to promote the training of young college graduates and to advance the quality of life of Africans through sport. The group will develop linkages with more established universities and begin to develop sport management curriculum.

“From every perspective – social, economic, political and sports – it’s time to forge a new way forward in Africa,” Jones said. “Newly formed partnerships will feature an equal investment and a partnership in which Africa is the driver.”

As a relatively new academic discipline originating in American colleges, sport management has spread internationally during the past two decades. Once dominated by North America and Western Europe, the sports marketplace has become global and highly commercialized.

The forming of the ASMA is another step forward in Africa’s sports and sport management globalization. This summer, South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“The days of Colonialism are slowly fading. Africa, with the sport management association, is beginning the long process of taking control of the way sport is organized, managed, directed, and presented for public consumption, ensuring that any commercial benefit is shared with Africa, and not exported to the world,” Jones said. “By managing sport, Africa will also benefit by improving health, well being, and quality of life among its citizens.”

—WVU—

kc/7/09/10

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CONTACT: Kimberly Cameon, College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences
304-293-0827, Kimberly.Cameon@mail.wvu.edu