Using basketball as a medium for group work to address social inequality during the pandemic

ABSTRACT

Bien dans mes baskets (BDMB) uses an after-school team sports program as a medium for social work with groups in a high school in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). BDMB is a long-time partner of Centre de recherche de Montréal sur les inégalités sociales, les discriminations et les pratiques alternatives de citoyenneté (CREMIS). This narrative essay stems from a process of collective knowledge-building combining sociology, social work theory, and clinical practice. Using methods inspired by group analysis, we met online with members of BDMB (three social workers and three volunteer coaches) to discuss how they adapted to the pandemic. In this essay, after describing how BDMB uses basketball as a medium for social work with groups, we will see how the program had to adjust in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, we will discuss the social and educational inequalities underscored by the current social and health crisis and analyze how BDMB, at its own scale, is able to address some of these.

KEYWORDS:

• Social intervention through sports
• basketball
• social work with groups
• school setting
• COVID-19 pandemic
• social and educational inequalities