Infrastructure, Accessibility and Institutional Support as Determinants of Sports Participation among Youth in Jammu and Kashmir: A Critical Review of Literature

Abstract

Sports participation is shaped not only by personal interest and athletic ability but also by the opportunities available in the places where young people live, study and socialise. This review examines three connected determinants of youth sports participation in Jammu and Kashmir: sports infrastructure, accessibility, and institutional support. It synthesises peer-reviewed reviews on youth physical activity and sport participation with guidance from the World Health Organization and Indian sports-policy documents. The literature consistently points to the relevance of access to facilities, time, cost, social encouragement and opportunities to participate. However, the strength and meaning of these relationships vary by age, gender, socioeconomic position and the setting in which sport is organised. A facility may exist without being affordable, safe, maintained, open at suitable times or supported by trained coaches. Likewise, institutional programmes may create opportunities but have limited reach if transport, equipment or regular local delivery are missing. The review finds that international evidence provides a sound basis for examining these relationships in Jammu and Kashmir, but it does not justify assuming that findings from other contexts apply uniformly across the Union Territory. Publicly accessible evidence specifically measuring how infrastructure, accessibility and institutional support jointly relate to participation among the general youth population of Jammu and Kashmir remains limited within the sources reviewed. The paper proposes a context-sensitive research agenda that distinguishes facility availability from effective access and measures participation through frequency, duration and level of involvement. It concludes that policy assessment should focus not only on infrastructure created or programmes announced, but also on whether young people can use these opportunities consistently and equitably.