Session: Sport Social Work (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

Sport social work is a growing subspecialty within social work practice, research, and education in North America, with increasing international contributions. Given the complex challenges pertaining to inequities in access, athlete mental/behavioral health, and organizational culture, social workers in these settings have become especially important. With over two decades of scholarship, sport social work has begun to be collated into three distinct domains: (1) the use of sport to promote positive youth development and holistic wellbeing, particularly among historically marginalized and underrepresented populations; (2) the provision of clinical and non-clinical mental and behavioral health services to those participating in competitive sport; and (3) engagement in social justice-promoting efforts within sport systems as sport coaches, administrators, and/or sport management leaders. Within these focus areas, sport social workers practice across diverse settings, including community recreation programs, schools, intercollegiate athletics, and elite international competitions, with scholarship continuing to inform this practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.