be adapted to deliver specific educational messages,as in a number of HIV-AIDS education games. Sport can play an important role in establishingrelationships with adultsThe informal nature of sportcan produce open and democratic relationshipsbetween young people and the adults who work withthem, making it easier for young people to ask for theinformation they need to protect and manage their lives.Young people also give more credibility to what theylearn from teachers with whom they had established aclose relationship through sport, than to formalclassroom where teachers are more authoritarian. Sport has an extended 'reach'Sport can reach someyoung people 'on the margins' who do not respond tomainstream provision and institutions, and can beespecially - but not only - successful in engagingyoung men. Research in Zambia and Brazil has shownthat young people who do not pay attention to HIV/AIDSeducation in a school setting, do however engagethrough sport. Sport can also 'reach' beyond those whoparticipate directly themselves: for example, youngwomen participating in an empowerment programme inDelhi shared their new educational knowledge withfriends, mothers and other family members. Positive experiences from sport can transfer to othercontextsLearning that occurs through sport cantransfer - for example, experience of mastering sportskills can lead to higher self-belief and confidencelevels and improved communication skills, which canhelp young people assert themselves in educational,family and community settings. Sport, especially teamsports, also builds decision-making skills that are of useat home and in school; developing relationship skillsincluding encouraging collective action; and buildingdiscipline and self control which transfer as a life skill.Research into sport's contribution to internationaldevelopment is still evolving. By giving fuller attention tohow individuals' experiences of sport are affected bytheir wider social, cultural, economic and politicalcontexts, researchers are building greater understandingof the potential long-term impacts of sport. ?OLYMPIC REVIEW67Dr. Tess Kay is Professor of Sport andSocial Sciences at Brunel University,London, UK. She has researchedwidely in youth sport, with particularfocuses on diversity and inclusion,international development, and sport,family and talent development.

68OLYMPIC REVIEWLONDON 2012Powell's win atBurghley (GBR)markedher as amedal contenderfor LondonEYESON THEPRIZETHREE MORE MEDAL HOPEFULS LOOK AHEAD TO THE LONDON OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE LATESTINSTALMENT OF OUR 2012 COUNTDOWN