Transforming Sport into a Force for Social Justice: Cal State East Bay’s Center for Sport and Social Justice celebrates 15 years

Sport is often described as a universal language. But who gets to participate, who feels welcome, whose stories are heard and who benefits from athletic opportunities are questions shaped by culture, race, gender, immigration status, income and access.

For 15 years, Cal State East Bay's Center for Sport and Social Justice has examined those questions - and worked with community partners to help change the answers.

The Center brings together students, faculty, nonprofit organizations, professional sports leaders and academic researchers to explore how sport can promote belonging and opportunity. Its work extends beyond the playing field, using sport as a lens for understanding some of society's most pressing issues.

Director Matthew Atencio, Professor of Kinesiology, has served as a media expert covering a range of sporting contexts, such as the recent FIFA World Cup hosted here in the Bay Area. Atencio has also worked with CSSJ leaders to cultivate strong partnerships at all levels of sport and community health.

Through working partnerships with organizations such as Soccer Without Borders, Positive Coaching Alliance, Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club, Street Soccer USA, Skate Like a Girl and AthMindset, Cal State East Bay students engage directly with issues affecting young people, immigrant communities, athletes and families throughout the Bay Area.

The partnerships also change what learning looks like for students. Rather than studying social justice or sustainability as academic concepts, students work directly in the field with organizations addressing those issues in real time.

In one course, students partnered with Soccer Without Borders to evaluate how soccer can support the education and health outcomes of immigrant youth. In another, students worked with Green Sports Alliance leaders to study the environmental impact of collegiate and professional sports, from transportation and energy use to waste and equipment. In this way, the CSSJ's community connections impact hundreds of students each year through Kinesiology coursework.

Through those experiences, students begin to see themselves as researchers and professionals whose work can directly impact their communities. Students receive mentorship, internships, and research opportunities by working closely with Bay Area thought leaders.

Robert Marcus, a Cal State East Bay alum and CSSJ board member, is the Chief Strategy and Community Impact Officer of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). In this role, Marcus hires Kinesiology students to support national and local initiatives featuring organizations such as ESPN, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Dodgers. One recent graduate, Kenshin Abad, currently works with PCA and helped produce an October 20 event, "Building Places to Play in Oakland," which featured the Oakland Mayor's Office and local sport leaders creating park spaces for children across the city.

The Center's reach is also international. In addition to making local impacts through connections with faculty and students at San Francisco State and Sonoma State University, the CSSJ has research work being conducted with institutions such as University of Edinburgh, University of Valencia, University of Paris-Saclay, and the University of Toulon.

As the Center begins its 15th anniversary year, it is celebrating more than its accomplishments. It is marking a lasting commitment to engage Cal State East Bay students and our communities, to create a more just and inclusive society through the vehicle of sports.