In May 2014, Botswana hosted its first-ever Major Sport Event (MSE), the 2nd African Youth Games (AYG). These Games brought 51 countries to Botswana and featured 2000 athletes competing in 21 sports. In the broader international sporting context, these Games are part of a growing number of MSEs being hosted in transition and developing economies. Also notable in the Botswana case is the high level of involvement of the National Sport Federations (NSFs) in the preparations for the event. Following Hall et al.’s (2003) conceptualization of capacity, the goal of this thesis is to investigate how hosting a multi-sport MSE can influence the overall capacity of sporting organizations, namely these NSFs, within a developing economy. The topic will be explored using the results from and analysis of semi-structured, qualitative interviews with individuals from the Botswana sport system. The results show that individuals perceive positive gains related to skill and knowledge development, international relationships and, in some instances, material resources. Conversely, negative outcomes include the lack of opportunities to apply or continue to develop these new skills, strained relationships within the Botswana sport system, and unmet financial expectations. The results further show that these different capacity outcomes do not exist independently, but are rather strongly interrelated. Moreover, the findings reveal that the AYG, though taking place in a developing economy, share many similar capacity outcomes with other MSEs. However, these results may also indicate that NSFs in developing or transition economies face greater relative positive or negative effects.
Authors: Louis Moustakas
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31237/osf.io/n9gje
Publish Year: 2022
