Foundations of Sports Social Work

This course will serve as an introduction to the foundations of sport social work. It will explore how social work and sport have worked in parallel to combat racism, oppression, inequality, and discrimination which has been an integral part of our society's history and development. The course will examine the intersection of the history of social work and the professionalization of athletics. Foundational knowledge of understanding sport social work practice will include identifying the role of sport social workers, defining sport social work practice, and looking at Social Work's Values and Ethics and CSWE competencies through a sport social work lens. With the role of social workers being to serve and advocate for vulnerable populations, athletes will be identified and defined as a vulnerable population and key human development theories will be applied to sport social work. Finally, evidence-based practices will be discussed throughout the course, but specifically, research trends, the current state and future directions of sport social work will be analyzed.

Course created 9/9/2021