CHALLENGES FOR SPORT PEDAGOGY DUE TO THE INFLUENCE OF MARKETING ON CONTEMPORARY SPORT

DESAFIOS PARA A PEDAGOGIA DO ESPORTE DIANTE DA INFLUÊNCIA DO MARKETING NO ESPORTE CONTEMPORÂNEO

ABSTRACT

The basic motivation of this essay comes from the need to understand some relationships that are established in the teaching environment of sports for kids, from the transformations of contemporary sport. Our goal is to discuss the challenges to the pedagogical practice and the role of the sport educator face of changes in the sport-spectacle and its interface with sports marketing. The methodology was based on literature search in order to substantiate a theoretical discussion and build a discussion around the existing tensions between sport pedagogy and sports marketing. We concluded that it is vital that sport educators, when teaching children, include this theme in classes and educational practices, bearing in mind the importance of this content to the consolidation of cognitive and moral references, thus seeking to stimulate a broader understanding of the social significance of sports.

Keywords:
Sport pedagogy; Sports marketing; Contemporary sport

RESUMO

A motivação básica deste ensaio provém da necessidade compreender algumas relações que se estabelecem no ambiente de ensino do esporte para crianças, a partir das transformações do esporte contemporâneo. O objetivo é discutir os desafios para a prática pedagógica e o papel do pedagogo do esporte frente às mudanças ocorridas no esporte-espetáculo e sua interface com o marketing esportivo. A metodologia baseou-se em pesquisa bibliográfica com a intenção de fundamentar uma discussão teórica e construir um debate em torno das tensões existentes entre a pedagogia do esporte e o marketing esportivo. Conclui-se que é imprescindível que os pedagogos do esporte, ao ensinarem crianças, incluam essa temática nas aulas e práticas educativas, tendo em vista a importância deste conteúdo para a consolidação de referências cognitivas e morais, buscando assim estimular um entendimento mais amplo do significado social do esporte.

Palavras-chave:
Pedagogia do esporte; Marketing esportivo; Esporte contemporâneo

Introduction

Studies on Sport Pedagogy and sports marketing present different "theoretical approaches" and different levels of depth, and a reflection on the bindings between them is timely. It is not new that the relationship between Physical Education and Sport has been surrounded by a lot of polemics. It is undeniable that the current moment of sport in the world is characterized by a dissemination of sports habits in a context of massification at different levels, for different audiences and by different languages, and any analysis of the social significance of sport that do not refer to the processes of commercialization, professionalization, and spectacularization are incomplete¹.

At first glance, one can believe that these themes do not have direct binding with the teaching of sport for children. But it should be noted that the broadcasting of games on television, the sponsorships to top athletes, the sports organization model, and the public investment in sport are elements that make up the contemporary sports universe and shape the social representation of each sport. In addition, children can be seen as potential consumers of the "sports fact," which justifies a particular concern for the critical role of "sport educators" (refers to the Physical Education professionals who work in teaching/training children and young people as teachers, coaches, or physical educators, and that can use the knowledge about Sport Pedagogy to develop their work proposals) when approaching the topic².

It can be said that sports marketing seeks to induce wishes that go beyond the basic needs of people³ and that it is reflected in many environments, in the different manifestations of sport. Its importance can be perceived in the strategies adopted by the sports industry, defined as "markets in which the products offered to buyers are related to sport, fitness, recreation or leisure and may include activities, goods, services, people, places or ideas" ^(4:5). This media and promotional content is present quite intensely on a daily basis in the lives of children and has influence in different ways in their preferences.

Sport pedagogy, in turn, has discussed, in a rather deep way, questions related to the methodological possibilities for sports education, aiming to overcome methods focusing only on technical education and allow the participant to be protagonist in the sports practice, through knowledge of the internal logic, with problem solving and decision making^5-15.

These studies have directed research in the scientific field of Sport Pedagogy, but we believe that this area of knowledge must also observe the external relations and intervene through educational actions to provide more critical conditions and affect the educational process in the teaching of sport. Some studies^16,17 point the need for research on Sport Pedagogy that also consider the conceptual and attitudinal dimensions in teaching sport, and Machado Galatti and Paes¹⁸ highlight the importance of including the historical-cultural background as a possibility of educational action.

Despite the challenge of approximating different theoretical frameworks, it is possible and necessary to create a theoretical reflection about the linkages and tensions in the relationship between the pedagogical practice in the field of sport and the influence exerted by the actions of sports marketing on children in different social contexts, from the understanding of contemporary sport phenomena, especially the sport-spectacle. We start from the premise that external elements affect the teaching of sport and that the role of Sport Pedagogy is discussing and contemplating these aspects highlighted in the systemic complexity of the current sport.

Therefore, this article aimed to discuss the challenges for the educational practice in this field and the positioning of the educator face of changes in contemporary sport induced by sports marketing.

Methods

This study was based on literature search for the theoretical basis, which made the delimitation of the topic possible. The survey and careful selection of arguments and information available in books, articles, theses, and dissertations¹⁹ allowed us to gather a set of theoretical framework and identify important concepts to understand the configurations of contemporary sport and its relationships with sports marketing and Sport Pedagogy.

The formulation of the problem was based on the accumulated experience with sport teaching for several groups of children and adolescents, in particular in the city of Campinas. Thus, we sought to ground the discussion with concepts widely used in the national and international literature and, at the same time, to stimulate critical reflections from the knowledge obtained through the professional performance²⁰.

Contemporary sport and its various forms of expression

The modern sport originated in the 19th century as a result of the appropriation of popular games by the English nobility, incorporating moral values from the rationalization and systematization of the practices¹. It underwent profound changes throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II²¹, mainly due to the social and economic transformations and progressive commercialization of culture established in the USA and Europe¹. It can be said that the contemporary sport presents a much broader and complex configuration, when compared to the time when the modern Olympic Games were created. Although the emergence of new sports and the adoption of new models of sports organization have occurred gradually, preserving traditional elements of the sport practice and of its social representations, over time, new forms of expression and symbols begin to prevail, expanding the range of meanings, interests, and objectives^22,23.

The contemporary sport presents itself as a heterogeneous phenomenon, whose practices are manifested simultaneously in the forms of high performance, leisure, and school activity²⁴. In the second half of the 20th century, the sport, in its high performance facet, has acquired great dimensions in the political, diplomatic, and economic scope, starting to be organized based on the spectacle, mainly due to the progressive action of sports marketing, as it extends the disclosure of tournaments by the media in the midst of mass culture, at the same time in which its political use grows, despite the apparent neutrality of the national and international federative system²⁵. Many high performance sport competitions have become valued from the perspective of television and sponsors, even during the cold war period, but this valorization has been potentiated since the end of the 20th century.

In short, the sport has expanded its market potential, attracting numerous audiences interested in events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup. At the same time, it expanded its forms of expression, promoting new possibilities by turning several cultural practices into a sport²⁴. It is observed that the paradigm of political-ideological use of the sport is in the background, while the paradigm based on the commercialization of the spectacle and in the marketing dispute of the agents that make up the sports field started to prevail²⁵.

Some sports, such as basketball and volleyball, which until the 1970s were essentially amateur and sponsored by club associations with elitist profile, went through a process of professionalization and were developed focusing on the valorization of the spectacle. In this configuration, a great challenge arises, evidenced by the need for greater resources to fund and maintain the structures around these sports, while the sport also becomes a more powerful advertising instrument, increasing its market value and allowing itself to reach new dimensions²⁶.

As a result of this development guided by the economic logic, the degree of professionalism increases and the sports organization is transformed^24,23. One can observe a shift of interest in sport, by the propagation of sports habits shaped by mass culture, while the professionalization of administrative structures in the "age of globalization" are accentuated and the most popular competitions become spectacles highly valued by the billionaire entertainment industry¹.

The contemporary sport organized in the form of spectacle has acquired significant importance and presents itself as one of the "communication means" more employed by companies for propagating and disclosing products and services, since the promotion of brands through sport has proven to be very effective, especially in tournaments and competitions broadcast live by the television to the general public. The new configuration of the sports world in contemporary societies brought both breaking and continuity elements, when compared with the guidelines that oriented the modern sport in the first half of the 20th century, and there is no doubt that the main factor of dynamism, responsible for the new setting, was the so-called "sport-spectacle" ⁽²⁷.

The sport configuration at the beginning of the 21st century presents an advanced stage of commodification of practices, in which the sports consumption is manifested in three types of market: sporting spectacles, sporting goods, and sporting services. There is, clearly, a relationship between sport-spectacle and consumption of sporting goods and services. Worldwide dissemination contributes for new habits to spread in different audiences, mainly motivated by the perspective of sports performance, but also by the interest in other benefits: health promotion, educational sport, fitness, social inclusion, leisure, and adapted sport, interests that are strengthened by the marketing and through public policies²⁴.

In recent decades, this trend was intensified by the deepening of globalization. One can observe that the sporting markets acquired global dimension. On the one hand, cultural exchange was facilitated by the increased mobility of people to different regions of the planet; on the other, the ease in transferring money, new channels of private funding for the sport, and marketing strategies adopted by transnational sports organizations have changed the social appropriation of sport around the world. It should be noted that the expansion of the media on a global scale promoted greater connection, influencing the formation of cultural preferences and sporting habits, which cross national boundaries. Thus, various sports are similarly consumed in different locations of the planet²⁸.

The influence of globalization can be seen in the latest editions of the Olympic Games, held in the 21st century, which show not only the magnitude and world coverage of the Olympic sport, but how it is, currently, linked with the strategic interests network of large economic corporations and with the political influence network of the powerful countries, generating countless reflections on contemporary society. This is the essence of the discussions around the political economy of sport and the benefits promised to the cities and countries that host these mega-events²⁹.

Another example of expansion of sport consumption through new technologies can be found in the proliferation of sporting video games, which grow vertiginously and influence children and young people from all over the world³⁰. This is the convergence between professional sports leagues and entertainment industry, which has appropriated the most popular sports for increasing their marketing possibilities. Confirming the importance of the propagation of these new cultural habits, Ferreira and Darido³¹ highlight the influence of video games on the everyday life of children and indicate possible effects of the preference for sports games.

In this context, the development of some areas of knowledge and professional training who work directly or indirectly with the sport phenomenon in its multiple dimensions and possibilities is affected, such as marketing, organization of events, pedagogy and education, training and organic adaptation sciences, applied social sciences and humanities, among others. Nevertheless, this article focuses on sports marketing and Sport Pedagogy, which require deep reflections on the role they develop in the new configuration of contemporary sport, in search of subsidizing the construction of new ways in sport education.

Sports marketing and its functionality for the sports industry

Kotler and Armstrong³² state that marketing determines the set of actions and activities that aim to enhance the relations of exchange between goods or services producer and final consumer. In this configuration, sports marketing was regarded as "all activities designed to meet needs and desires of sport consumers through exchange processes" ^(33:11).

Understanding that the contemporary sport has as pillar of its structural configuration the commodification of sports practices, marketing arises as a decisive strategy to optimize and enhance these relationships, expanding the desire beyond basic needs, making it possible to expand the consumption of the sporting phenomenon.

The concepts of marketing were transported to the sports field and the different applied strategies are appropriated and adapted to the sport environment. Nevertheless, sports marketing has a specific literature, initially produced focusing on the American reality. There is, therefore, a singularity, which required a specialization in the field of sports business³⁴.

In the 1970s, sporting goods manufacturing companies presented as marketing strategy the exclusive supply of their products to federations in exchange for million-dollar contracts, allowing a close relationship with these entities. This fact, along with the pressure from top clubs and athletes, induced the sporting professionalization in some sports and strengthened the organization of mega-events. At the end of that decade, several national federations had already signed partnerships in the quest for improving the preparation of their teams for the great sports tournaments¹.

In the 1980s, the World Cup soccer tournament adopted sports companies as official suppliers of the event³⁵. In the 1990s, other manufacturers of sporting goods started to invest significantly in the sports market and increased the competition in the search for dissemination and propagation of their brands. At the same time, companies began to use sports marketing to promote their products and brands, such as the partnership between McDonalds and National Basketball Association - NBA³⁶ and that between Bank of Brazil and Brazilian Confederation of Volleyball - CBV³⁷.

In this perspective, sports marketing became an essential alternative to federations, which sought to conquer the public preference and increase their revenue by television contracts, sponsors, and sale or licensing of their products, and also to companies that sponsor national and international sporting events to reach new audiences and expand their market. In this sense, Mullin, Hardy, and Sutton³³ maintain that sports marketing has become a key to growth and greater economic representativeness of the sports industry.

There are different methods of measuring the "sports industry": some are based on the optics of expenses, looking for adding up the consumer spending, while others are based on the income obtained by businessmen and workers in the sector, and there are those who consider the value added based on the companies' annual revenue, discounting the value of intermediate goods³⁸. In the United States, the measurement of the sports industry tends to be based on the perspective of final demand (Gross Domestic Product), including: sports consumption (sporting fun and recreation, sporting products and services, advertising expenditures of non-sporting companies), sports investment from the private sector (construction, renovation, and maintenance of sports facilities), public spending with sports policy (federal, state, and municipal programs), and net balance of the external trade of sporting goods (exports minus imports).

We must understand that, if there is a sports industry that conducts a significant portion of the world economy⁴, this was possible because of the intervention strategies that stimulate people to "want" and "need" sports. The role of marketing is evaluating the environments and target markets, making diagnoses based on opinion polls and on a refined information system, building products and services in conjunction with these indicators, planning new actions, promotions, and sponsorships, segmenting markets, analyzing costs and opportunities, among other marketing functions. Analogously, the sports marketing should fulfill the same role³.

Despite the numerous ways of sporting manifestation, marketing focuses on high performance sport, whose popularity helps strengthening brands, extending the life cycle of products and services (tangible and intangible), remaining in the minds of customers. Sponsors, when linking their brands, also need to adapt their products and reorient their production in order to obtain competitive advantage, taking the opportunity of expanding their business³⁹. Therefore, sport has become an excellent channel or means of communication, with limitless and inexhaustible forms and marketing tools, presenting irrefutable results.

Athletes are the protagonists of the spectacle, turned into "actors" with great gestural and communicative capacity, displaying their art or skill to a mass of people spread around the world, touched directly by the drama of unpredictable confrontations. And the private initiative, detecting these features, has transformed the sport in an important economic activity, through the action of several industries, media, sports agents, behavior diffusers⁴⁰.

This is not a Manichean approach, nor do we intend to propose a discussion based on positive and negative effects of sports marketing. What is important is apprehending the crucial elements to understand the economic transformations of the sport, the (sensitive) aspects perceived in the language established by sportsmen and other social actors, the relation between spectacle and business.

Nevertheless, it should be recognized that the role of the professionals who manage sports companies is, as in other sectors, generating profits and seeking mechanisms to strengthen the participation on a specific market, in extremely competitive times. However, a deeper discussion is necessary in relation to the current management model of the sport-spectacle, since there is an ongoing dispute about who controls this field, who sets the rules, and who benefits from the profitability achieved. In several cases, teams, athletes, and federations become "hostages" of sponsors and television stations, in a system in which the sports participation is conditioned by higher or lower financial dependence²⁶.

In short, the contemporary sport, increasingly focused on the organization of sport as business, in its transformation into a consumer product powered by the sports marketing, has been a subject of research and reflection. In particular, one should examine the analyses that focus on the influences of this marketing phenomenon over the entire pyramid of sports practices, since the sports initiation of children, through the amateur athletes training system, until reaching the level of professional tournaments. The measurement of the sports industry shows some linkages, from the point of view of market logic, between high performance sport, informal sport, and even school sport. But the interfaces between Sport Pedagogy and sports marketing generate tensions, which will be explained below.

Tensions between Sport Pedagogy and sports marketing

The educational action is characterized by the act of teaching, through relationships that transmit and share knowledge, and is a field of study of the theory and practice of education, addressing what was produced by people during their historical process⁴¹.

According to some studies^15,42,43, the Sport Pedagogy aims to intervene in the processes of teaching, experience, learning, and training in the sport, and thus must analyze, interpret, and understand the problems related to the educational process, guiding this systematized and culturally organized action in such a way that it is able to perform human formation from thoughts that lead to knowledge.

Sport Pedagogy, as a discipline in the field of sports science, emerged by the need and interest of society for body practices and sports⁴¹, from the transformations of sport and of the multiple possibilities offered by this great cultural phenomenon in the contemporary world⁴⁴. Its role is observing and focusing its attention on the majority, and not only on a minority with talents for competitive practices, though it recognizes the value of all elements included in the sporting environment. The contemporary sport, with its diversity, growth, and articulations, brought significant aspects to be explored by sport educators, and although a critical analysis on the relationship between sport "consumer product x Sport Pedagogy" is possible, there are still aspects not perceived and that certainly should be more deepened in understanding the phenomenon⁹.

Castellani Filho⁴⁵ have shown concern about the importance of the Physical Education professional in the development of body culture, understanding the need for allowing our students to interact with sport in the condition of critical subjects, builders, participants, and knowledgeable of a culture historically produced, and not simply as "passive consumers of goods produced by the cultural and body sports industry" ^(45:60).

Sport Pedagogy must consider the meanings that the marketing relations establish with the current sport, in its different forms of manifestation, since students have intensive contact with the meanings turned into a spectacle, with their structure and interests, and experience it daily, directly or indirectly. They understand the "language" of the sport-spectacle, handle its contents, and print in it their own meanings².

On the basis of these theoretical backgrounds, it is no longer the role of Sport Pedagogy to "stuff" the student only with tactical and technical knowledge, without a corresponding reflection, focused on skills performance without allowing the development of critical capacity on the contents taught, also without creating connections with their everyday life. Children should not be alienated from the sports context in which they develop its practice, and they need to understand, from the pedagogical action, their possibilities, relations, and limits.

Barroso and Darido¹⁷ point to the need for researches that think about sport and society, about the interference of the media in the rules of the game, the emergence of new sports from the needs of contemporary sport, and highlight the linking of these topics to the conceptual dimension, i.e., the pedagogical action must incorporate such content to enable the practitioner to understand the relationships that are established in the context of sport. Machado, Galatti, and Paes⁴⁶ reinforce the need for a process of education that focuses on the teaching of values and behaviors, on ethics, influence of the media, respect, considering the sporting context of the practitioners.

If the polls show that imitation is a form of learning for children⁴⁷, the sport educator should understand this process of imitation to a systematic and elaborate exploration of the phenomenon. If the rules change, it is important to notice these constructs and the possibility of application in the sporting environment, especially for beginners. It is even more important identifying why these changes take place and what are their implications in Sport Pedagogy. One must avoid the insertion in sports from the principle that "a rule's a rule" and should not be questioned. Although the institutional bodies use the rules to enforce their interests, not always their application may be the most appropriate in sports education.

Constant thoughts and notes are required around the rule changes that occur in sports, aiming a new formatting of the game to fit television. The rules of volleyball stand out as an example, radically modified mainly to shorten the playing time. It is undeniable that these changes affect the teaching of the sport and guide the interventions carried out by sport educators.

One can see that the sport-spectacle started to be based on the consumption of goods and on the entertainment industry, affecting the preferences and behaviors of several segments of the population. The commodified nature of the professional sport increasingly reaches children, and the idol construction represents a way to sell services, in addition to publicize products and spread concepts³³. This fact interferes in the actions and intentions of the children in seeking sports and also in the consumption of objects or services that symbolize the incorporation of this sports idol.

From these characteristics, it is possible for children to be influenced in their daily lives by the appropriate or inappropriate behavior of the idol. We present the hypothesis that the current macro social organization is reached with greater magnitude by the "sport-spectacle" in different ways, despite the "educational sport" or other events, and it is not possible to know well the effects of this phenomenon. For example, Proni⁴⁸ argues that there is a contradiction between the humanist ethics exalted in school sports and the utilitarian ethics prevalent in professional sports, which produces an "ethical dilemma" both for children and adults, and even for educators.

We denote the existence of various forms of manifestation around the goals and interests of contemporary sport, which seek to strengthen and establish relationships that guide the conduction of pedagogical action due to the need to interpret the configuration of current sport. On one side, we highlight sports marketing, which affects and enhances the sport consumption in different ways, and, on the other, the area of Sport Pedagogy, worried about the sports action as an educational possibility. Chart 1, prepared by Montagner^49:51), illustrates some of these dichotomous aspects and interests.

Figure 1
Duality of interest: Sport Pedagogy x Sports Marketing

Perhaps the difference between these two visions on sport is obvious, one being worried about the inclusion, acquisition, autonomy, cultural gain and the other about the objectives of consumption sport, seeing the sport in terms of spectacularization of income, as a business system, powered by sports marketing with products and values assigned and exchanged. But it is necessary to point out such differences, since both integrate and coexist from the phenomenon of contemporary sport and its facets, and the professionals working in sports education must understand this relationship to intervene in the educational process, and also in the knowledge and attitudes of practitioners.

With such characteristics, the issue of terms and interests is clear. While the education through Sport Pedagogy seeks a continuity, a lasting effect, reflections on conscious consumption, aiming education, the sport as consumption worries about the immediate, temporary, aiming at obtaining profits, increasing the brands during a period, establishing the product life cycle, and boosting consumption. Without wishing to exhaust the reflections about these elements, it is necessary to deepen the understanding of the role played by the sport educator.

Challenges of Sport Pedagogy and the educator role in contemporary sport

The purpose of Sport Pedagogy is not the mere transmission of knowledge or the teaching of correct gestures, seeing the student just as passive receiver, uncritical, innocent, and helpless. We highlight some challenges in the field of Sport Pedagogy that need to be overcome, as the reductionism^50-52, the gap between theory and practice in the pedagogical action of teachers⁴², and the immediate and innatist idea in conducting the teaching of sport¹⁰.

Santana⁵⁰ proposes a pedagogy oriented from complexity, i.e., permeated by units, unforeseen events, uncertainty, and that rejects the reductionist thinking that, according to the author, creates some aggravations as the reduction of practice to actions limited on what is rational, ignoring sensitive human dimensions, disregarding coexisting and generator units of complexity, and prioritizing the objective in the athlete formation. The author believes that Sport Pedagogy should be based on the paradigm of complexity (complexity, instability, and subjectivity), which co-exists and interface with other units, interferes in the process of human development of the sports children seeking autonomy, discovery, and understanding of themselves, of sensitivity, thus rejecting a simplistic thinking (simplicity, stability, and objectivity).

Seeking to overcome these challenges presented earlier regarding the objectives of Sport Pedagogy, we rescue the study of Freire¹⁰, which discusses the role of sport educators and presents four basic principles that should guide their activities: (1) teaching sports, (2) teaching well sports for all, (3) teaching more than sports for all, and (4) teaching the love of sports. These principles are quite relevant, but to expand and advance the reach of Sport Pedagogy, we suggest a fifth guiding principle of the pedagogical action in sport, face of the contemporary sports context: (5) teaching students to critically understand the sport in the current society, i.e., qualifying them to perceive each sports manifestation as a historically situated knowledge, to understand this phenomenon as a significant element of culture.

The purpose of Sport Pedagogy, in addition to form and inform, must also be to interpret the phenomenon to benefit from studies on the evolution and transformation of contemporary sport and explore new possibilities on pedagogical action, promoting the knowledge and criticality of the practitioners of sport. In this context, we propose not only teaching the internal logic of sports, but also the incorporation of the external logic, i.e., aspects that influence the teaching of sport and that need to be articulated in the pedagogical actions.

We suggest the expansion of the size and scope of Sport Pedagogy, that its area of expertise do not be limited to the simple role of the educator teaching sports gestures at formal schools, clubs, gyms, sports schools (procedural dimension), but also intervening in the behavior of these participants of sport, allowing a greater understanding around this phenomenon (conceptual and attitudinal dimensions). On this issue, Galatti et al¹⁵ show the importance of the traditional science, which had great importance in the scientificization of Sport Pedagogy, but point to new possibilities and new looks for this area of concentration in teaching sports.

The study of Galvão, Rodrigues, and Silva⁵³ warns about the need for reflection in relation to the messages transmitted by the television during sporting events, discusses the attitude of these individuals as consumers of the sporting spectacle, and suggests the need to stimulate them to have a critical stance.

We highlight the study of Rodrigues², which observed the experience of 8th graders of elementary school in relation to media content on the sports phenomenon. It identified great involvement, with interactions and criticality in relation to the exposed media facts, reinforcing their positioning as active subjects in the process of receiving information. The author concluded that sport education must consider the sports "baggage" of practitioners and act more incisively.

Converging with such approach, Ferreira and Darido³¹ present a reflection on the ways of using information and communication technologies (ICTs), with a view to the possibility of establishing a meaningful and contextualized learning, from the awareness and appropriation of these technological resources by sport educators. In this sense, focusing on the "conceptual (what is the game about; appropriate ways of playing), procedural (the experience of real and virtual) and attitudinal dimensions (appreciate, criticize, respect, cooperate during and after the game)" becomes possible (and essential), providing greater criticality to children and minimizing the commercial and alienating focus of the entertainment industry^(31:607).

Thus, a major challenge arises for the professionals working in the field of Sport Pedagogy. If, on the one hand, the contemporary sport provides, through its multiple forms of manifestation, several possibilities of contact with some sports and/or sports practices, influencing the social dynamics of its practitioners, on the other, the pedagogical action must stimulate these practitioners to think about the meaning of their gestures, even taking a critical stance before attitudes, behaviors, and consequences of the sports phenomenon in the current society.

Machado, Galatti, and Paes⁴⁶ point to the need for a didactic-pedagogic treatment on the part of the sport educator, in an intentional, systematic, and organized way and aiming to encourage the full development of its participants, rather than just keep them busy.

Once they understand the interests inherent to the process of spectacularization of the contemporary sport, sport educators can intervene with more quality in the educational process, allowing the understanding of facts and contents around the phenomenon, not allowing the alienation of practitioners, paying attention to the pedagogical aspects linked to sports specialization, evasion of the sport, growth of passive consumption, and the need to search for a teaching linked to greater autonomy in sports. At the same time, in the same proportion, they should not underestimate the knowledge and cultural experiences of the children involved in sports practice from the diverse influences exerted by the mainstream media and the relationships established with sport-spectacle.

Final considerations

The sport changes observed in the last decades of the 20th century and their unfoldings in the early 21st century have enabled the expansion of the manifestations of sports culture to different environments and the opening of the range of options for different audiences. However, these changes also affect the relationship established between this multiple phenomenon and children in their daily life. Given this scenario, the Sport Pedagogy must consider these structural changes when defining the contents covered in teaching, because it is also the role of the sport educator to interpret and understand the problems related to the educational process, stimulating reflections in the students that can lead to the formation of a critical thinking and conscious positioning regarding the events around them^42,43.

It is essential for sport educators to understand the conflicts that may arise when the purposes and guidelines of Sport Pedagogy oppose the interests and influences of sports marketing. In order to make progress in overcoming the challenges of teaching in the context of Sport Pedagogy, we must include a fifth principle: overcoming uncritical understanding. By making individuals more aware of themselves and others around, the education must make them capable of understanding the meanings assigned to each intentional gesture or action, and, from this personal experience, able to formulate a consistent understanding about what the sport represents or causes, in its different manifestations.

From the understanding of the ambiguities of the hegemonic discourse on the social significance of sport and of the spontaneous questioning of examples of conduct provided by athletes and coaches of prestige in the media, one can build a framework of cognitive and moral references, which will be tested and improved over time.

We can conclude, therefore, that it is vital that sport educators, when teaching children of all social classes, include this topic in classes and educational practices, emphasizing the importance of this content. Certainly, it is up to educators working in the sports field to plan lessons according to the existing facilities and resources, taking into account the students' interests and background. But one must have a more ambitious purpose: providing knowledge and stimulating reflection on the sport today, generating the critical capacity required to form not only athletes, but more aware citizens.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  2016

History

• Received
  23 Mar 2016
• Reviewed
  15 June 2016
• Accepted
  02 Oct 2016