The role of action sports in post-disaster recovery Research Completed
Title
The role of action sports in post-disaster recovery
Lead Author
Holly Thorpe
Organisation(s)
Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, School of Education, University of Waikato
Publication Year
2013
Publisher
Sport and Dev.org: www.sportanddev.org
Contacts
Corresponding author:
Holly Thorpe: hthorpe@waikato.ac.nz
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sport and Leisure Studies
Faculty of Education
University of Waikato
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract
A spate of recent natural disasters has prompted many scholars working in the social sciences and humanities to examine the economic, social and psychological impact of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, and volcanoes. To date, very little research has examined the role of recreational sport and physical activity in the recovery and resilience of individuals and communities affected by natural disaster.
Sport—and particularly action sports (e.g. surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking, climbing)—may seem trivial pursuits in the wake of a natural disaster. However, in the weeks and months following a natural disaster, as individuals and communities attempt to re-establish familiar lifestyles and routines, sport and physical activity can play an important role in individual recovery and community resilience.
Interested to understand how committed ‘lifestyle sport’ participants adapted their action sport participation in the changing socio-cultural-economic-physical geography of post-earthquake, I travelled to Christchurch in March 2012. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 surfers, skateboarders, climbers and mountain bikers living in Christchurch before, during and after the earthquakes.
This study is among the first qualitative examinations of the effects of natural disaster on residents’ everyday sporting practices. For the Christchurch residents in this project, beaches, indoor skate parks, and bouldering routes became “therapeutic landscapes”—their sporting participation in these spaces helped some escape (if only temporarily) from the stresses of daily life.
Keywords:
disaster recovery, sport for development, natural disasters, earrthquakes, lifestyle sport, surfing, climbing, mountain-biking, skateboarding
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2079
Added
February 15, 2013
Last Modified
February 15, 2013