Building Resilience and Equity: An Umbrella Review of Evidence for Crisis Management in Grassroots Sport

Crises such as pandemics, displacement, climate change, and economic downturns disrupt grassroots sport, undermining participation, equity, and resilience. This umbrella review synthesised evidence on strategies that sustain and adapt community sport participation during crises. Following PRISMA 2020, a protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251132267). PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCO were used as sources, and eligible studies were selected: systematic reviews on grassroots or community sport in crisis contexts. Methodological quality and evidence certainty were assessed using established appraisal frameworks (AMSTAR-2, GRADE, and CERQual). Fifteen reviews (2021 to 2025) were included, spanning health, climate, economic, and displacement crises. Overall certainty of evidence was low. Quantitative evidence showed moderate certainty that psychosocial interventions reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms among youth during COVID-19. Qualitative syntheses provided moderate confidence that organisational safeguarding, culturally tailored programmes, instructor role modelling, and collaborative community approaches support participation and resilience. Conceptual and policy reviews offered frameworks for governance, sustainability, and crisis management, although confidence in these syntheses was generally low–moderate. Across evidence types, recurrent strategies included community-driven and culturally tailored programmes, digital or hybrid delivery, infrastructural and environmental adaptations, and integration of sport within broader sustainability and crisis-recovery policies. This umbrella review integrates heterogeneous evidence to identify key organisational and policy strategies capable of strengthening resilience and equitable participation in grassroots sport during periods of societal disruption.