Diversity Research Laboratory

Sport Participation Among Ethnic and Racial Minority Groups
in the Greater Chicago Area

In the Summer and Fall of 2002, Drs. Monika Stodolska and Kostas Alexandris conducted a study of sport participation patterns among ethnic and racial groups in the greater Chicago area. In particular, the frequency of participation in sporting activities, attitudes and barriers to sport participation and the role of recreational sport participation as a factor promoting assimilation or retention of ethnic identity among Korean, Mexican and Polish immigrants were investigated. The study was set in Pilsen and Little Village, Chicago's two largest Mexican communities, as well as in other neighborhoods with large concentrations of Korean and Polish immigrants in the greater Chicago area (Schamburg / Elk Grove Village, Dunning, Montclare, Belmont-Cragin, Skokie, Morton Grove, and Northbrook.)

Findings

The study consisted of two phases - qualitative and quantiative. The results of the qualitative phase suggest that recreational sport participation acts as a factor promoting assimilation of immigrants. People who were engaged in sports in their former countries or those who desired to participate, but who were unable to do so due to certain constraining factors, significantly increased their sport participation after settling in the United States. Sport participation in integrated settings facilitated their contacts with mainstream Americans and with members of other ethnic groups, it exposed them to the new culture, thus facilitating their assimilation. Our interviewees attributed this increase in participation to several factors. First, they stressed the superior quality of sport facilities in the United States, the availability of equipment and general opportunities for quality sport participation. Interviewees also mentioned that their general lifestyle has changed after settlement in the United States. Moreover, after settling in the United States immigrants started to engage in expensive sports that were unavailable to them in their former countries. For them engagement in recreational sport became a sign of the economic and social success. Results of our study also show that many adult immigrants assimilate faster due to their children's involvement in recreational sport activities. As children of immigrants attend school-sponsored sporting events, become members of sport clubs and travel to games, many of their parents develop an interest and become involved in their children's sporting careers. Our interviews also clearly showed that adolescent immigrants not only assimilate through the involvement in school-sponsored sports, but also consciously use sport to become accepted by their mainstream peers. Interestingly, high interest of teenagers in American sport and the strong influence that the recreational sport participation had on their assimilation, constituted a cause for concern among some of the less assimilated parents and lead to many conflicts within immigrant families.

Results of our study also point out that while for some people sport may facilitate their assimilation into the American society, for others it serves as a factor facilitating retention of their ethnic identity, it helps them to solidify ties with their ethnic communities and to build and maintain ethnic boundaries. Our study showed that recreational sport participation may constitute one of the ethnically enclosed pastimes in which significant numbers of immigrants participate. As such, involvement in traditional sports strengthens community bonds, allows immigrants to participate in their favorite leisure activities within the "safe" and friendly environment of other co-ethnics and allows them to socialize with people with whom they share the bond of the same culture and experience. As the results of our study showed, there seem to exist sport disciplines particularly popular among certain immigrant groups. It is a well know phenomenon that newly arriving immigrants assimilate not only to the mainstream American culture, but also to the sub-culture of their respective ethnic community. Since recreational sport participation seems to be one of the defining traits of these specific subcultures, acquiring new sport disciplines constitutes a sign of this sub-cultural assimilation. Findings of our study also clearly show that recreational sport participation allows immigrants to establish and maintain ethnic boundaries of their respective communities. Lastly, recreational sport participation and spectatorship was found to play a particularly important role as a way of displaying patriotism and allegiance to immigrants' former countries.

	Sport Participation Among Ethnic and Racial Minority Groups in the Greater Chicago Area In the Summer and Fall of 2002, Drs. Monika Stodolska and Kostas Alexandris conducted a study of sport participation patterns among ethnic and racial groups in the greater Chicago area. In particular, the frequency of participation in sporting activities, attitudes and barriers to sport participation and the role of recreational sport participation as a factor promoting assimilation or retention of ethnic identity among Korean, Mexican and Polish immigrants were investigated. The study was set in Pilsen and Little Village, Chicago's two largest Mexican communities, as well as in other neighborhoods with large concentrations of Korean and Polish immigrants in the greater Chicago area (Schamburg / Elk Grove Village, Dunning, Montclare, Belmont-Cragin, Skokie, Morton Grove, and Northbrook.) Findings The study consisted of two phases - qualitative and quantiative. The results of the qualitative phase suggest that recreational sport participation acts as a factor promoting assimilation of immigrants. People who were engaged in sports in their former countries or those who desired to participate, but who were unable to do so due to certain constraining factors, significantly increased their sport participation after settling in the United States. Sport participation in integrated settings facilitated their contacts with mainstream Americans and with members of other ethnic groups, it exposed them to the new culture, thus facilitating their assimilation. Our interviewees attributed this increase in participation to several factors. First, they stressed the superior quality of sport facilities in the United States, the availability of equipment and general opportunities for quality sport participation. Interviewees also mentioned that their general lifestyle has changed after settlement in the United States. Moreover, after settling in the United States immigrants started to engage in expensive sports that were unavailable to them in their former countries. For them engagement in recreational sport became a sign of the economic and social success. Results of our study also show that many adult immigrants assimilate faster due to their children's involvement in recreational sport activities. As children of immigrants attend school-sponsored sporting events, become members of sport clubs and travel to games, many of their parents develop an interest and become involved in their children's sporting careers. Our interviews also clearly showed that adolescent immigrants not only assimilate through the involvement in school-sponsored sports, but also consciously use sport to become accepted by their mainstream peers. Interestingly, high interest of teenagers in American sport and the strong influence that the recreational sport participation had on their assimilation, constituted a cause for concern among some of the less assimilated parents and lead to many conflicts within immigrant families. Results of our study also point out that while for some people sport may facilitate their assimilation into the American society, for others it serves as a factor facilitating retention of their ethnic identity, it helps them to solidify ties with their ethnic communities and to build and maintain ethnic boundaries. Our study showed that recreational sport participation may constitute one of the ethnically enclosed pastimes in which significant numbers of immigrants participate. As such, involvement in traditional sports strengthens community bonds, allows immigrants to participate in their favorite leisure activities within the "safe" and friendly environment of other co-ethnics and allows them to socialize with people with whom they share the bond of the same culture and experience. As the results of our study showed, there seem to exist sport disciplines particularly popular among certain immigrant groups. It is a well know phenomenon that newly arriving immigrants assimilate not only to the mainstream American culture, but also to the sub-culture of their respective ethnic community. Since recreational sport participation seems to be one of the defining traits of these specific subcultures, acquiring new sport disciplines constitutes a sign of this sub-cultural assimilation. Findings of our study also clearly show that recreational sport participation allows immigrants to establish and maintain ethnic boundaries of their respective communities. Lastly, recreational sport participation and spectatorship was found to play a particularly important role as a way of displaying patriotism and allegiance to immigrants' former countries.

	©Diversity Research Laboratory Department of Recreation, Sport & Tourism University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign webmaster@www.diversitylab.uiuc.edu