The University of British Columbia has launched a centre that will help future host regions learn from Canada’s experience hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Building on UBC’s research expertise in sustainability, social development and health, the new UBC Centre for Sport and Sustainability will study the opportunities and impacts of sport and mega sporting events.
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Editors: Global experts on mega-event impacts and sports business are at UBC today for a symposium co-hosted by the centre. Download program and speakers here: http://bit.ly/UBCSports. To attend or schedule interviews, contact UBC Public Affairs at 604.822.6397.
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The centre’s mandate will be to make findings available to event organizers, sponsors and host communities around the globe to help maximize the social, economic and environmental benefits of large sporting events and to reduce negative impacts.
“There is a growing need to better understand how these major global events can provide lasting benefits,” says Prof. Robert Sparks, Director of the UBC Centre for Sports and Sustainability and Director of the School of Human Kinetics in UBC’s Faculty of Education.
“The Centre for Sport and Sustainability will serve as a global resource to capture and transfer knowledge on how sport can help achieve sustainable benefits including economic and social development, urban renewal, cultural identity, and ecological and community well-being,” Sparks says.
“The IOC is particularly pleased that the University of British Columbia has established the Centre for Sport and Sustainability, so that the experience and legacy of the Vancouver Games can be made available to a national and world audience and thereby be a useful source of information for organizers of future mass gathering events,” stated Gilbert Felli, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director.
Researchers at the centre are already engaged in a number of projects. These include the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study project, a comprehensive study of the 2010 Games’ social, economic and environmental impacts, based on 126 indicators and methodology provided by the IOC. Led by UBC’s Rob VanWynsberghe, the OGI team produced a pre-Games report in Dec. 2009 and will release follow-up studies in 2010 and 2012. OGI website: www.ogi-ubc.ca/about.asp
Today, Feb. 19, the centre will co-host the third annual International Symposium on Sports Business with global impacts-assessment experts to analyze lessons learned so far from the 2010 Games, best practices for large scale sport event business and sustainability the use of sustainability indicators in planning future Olympic bids. More information: http://bit.ly/UBCSports. On Feb. 18, the centre hosted its inaugural invitational think tank, Sports Mega-Events, Sustainability & Impact Assessment.
BACKGROUNDER
Centre Projects
In addition to the UBC Olympic Games Impact study project, current UBC Centre for Sport and Sustainability projects include: the UBC Paralympic Games Impact Survey, which will measure the effects of the 2010 Paralympic Games on perceptions of persons with disabilities, and the UBC Coaching and Youth Leadership Sustainability Initiative, which will support leadership development and physical activity among secondary school students in Vancouver, including the Downtown Eastside, in partnership with the UBC Learning Exchange, the Vancouver School Board and Vancouver non-profit MoreSports.
UBC students participating in the Coaching and Youth Leadership Sustainability Initiative will be among the 1,000 UBC Learning Exchange volunteers and community service learners in Downtown Eastside schools and other Vancouver non-profits during and around the 2010 Games.
Researchers and advisory members
The virtual centre brings together a multidisciplinary network of UBC faculty, students and community members engaged in sport and sustainability research and instruction. More than 50 individuals are engaged in projects being conducted under the auspices of the centre at this time.
Its six-person advisory board includes: Dave Parker, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Teck Resources; Linda Coady, Vice-President of Sustainability, VANOC; Olympian Ian Bird, Senior Leader of the Sport Matters Group; Olympian Doug Clement, founding member of UBC’s Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre; Patrick Kelly, First Nations Consultant and Member of the Sto:lo Nation; Marion Lay, Olympian and President, Think Sport Ltd.
A UBC legacy of the 2010 Games
The Centre is a UBC academic legacy of the 2010 Games. Others include: the $47.8 million Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre, an upgraded UBC Robson Square, which is being revamped by the B.C. Government to become the 2010 B.C. International Media Centre, and the UBC 2010 education program, which provides a broad forum for dialogue and learning around the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
For information on UBC’s 2010 education programs, including the Globe and Mail-sponsored UBC Sport and Society Speaker Series, visit http://bit.ly/UBC2010.
For UBC 2010 experts and story ideas, visit the UBC 2010 Online Media Centre: www.ubc.ca/2010media
UBC Olympic Games Impact Project: www.ogi-ubc.ca/about.asp
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CONTACT
UBC Public Affairs
Tel: 604.822.6397
Email: basil.waugh@ubc.ca, 2010.media@ubc.ca
Robert Sparks
UBC Centre for Sport and Sustainability
Tel: 604.822.6397
Email: robert.sparks@ubc.ca, 2010.media@ubc.ca
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