Not a New Idea: SDP, Peace Corps, and PE in the 60's
The Sports for Development and Peace (SDP) 'movement' has exploded in the last 10-20 years,a trend that is sometimes framed as a new invention. There is, however, a long and interesting social history to the use of sports as a tool for development in epochs ranging from the heyday of colonialism to the early days of post-colonial big government. One example that holds a personal interest for me, betraying a bias in my thinking that it also deserves some scholarly attention, is the early days of US Peace Corps. At some point I stumbled across the below brochure in the publicly available 'Peace Corps Digital Library.' As the archive notes, the "copyright date is unknown but it appears to be from the 1960s."
The ambitious, potentially problematic, and potentially true rhetoric, was not all that different: "As a volunteer, you will find your students eager to learn American sports. Your ability in basketball or baseball will make you something of a hero to your students. For you, the barrier of misunderstanding and distrust will be broken by sports, a language all children know. Your road to success will be easier, and your success will be measured every day in the face of your students."