Book excerpt: This collection of essays is the result of the debate and discussion at the European Sport Development Network’s (ESDN) annual conference in 2014. ESDN’s vision is to help create an environment where sports policies, programmes and practices are positively influenced by innovative, research-informed insight and collaborations between academics and practitioners. The chapters in this book closely reflect the remit and purpose of the ESDN in that they come from a variety of academics and sport practitioners. Under a broad theme of ‘Opportunity through sport’, the chapters reflect the nature and breadth of outcomes which are possible through active participation in sport. The contributions to this book touch upon many of these issues. They are all written from the perspective of either academic researchers or applied practitioners working in sport development in line with the aims of ESDN of providing a common forum to bring together research and practice. Four chapters are written from the applied practitioner perspective, five chapters emerge from academic research and one chapter is a hybrid of PhD research located within a county sports partnership. These contributions will be useful for scholars, students and practitioners alike.