The \u201cGame Changer Project\u201d (GCP) is an on-going effort to spread disability sports in Japan using the Tokyo 2020 Games as a catalyst for change. The project offers valuable insights into how positive outcomes for sports mega-events (SME) can be realized through strategic leveraging, rather than relying on ambiguous conceptualizations such as \u201clegacy\u201d. Exploring how disability is viewed in Japan, the importance of education and community in creating an inclusive environment, this study contextualizes the GCP\u2019s contents and approaches and details the different interests and factors that have influenced the facility of disability sports in the GCP\u2019s three participating municipalities: Adachi Ward, Edogawa Ward, and Nishitokyo City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ranging from a top-down to a bottom-up approach, policymakers have taken different approaches while considering their local contexts in creating a practical strategy for leveraging disability sports. There are, however, similarities among the steps taken: all municipalities focused on (local) stakeholder integration. Rather than building a whole new infrastructure for disability sports, they focused their efforts on connecting local organizations with existing sports facilities. This report offers insights into how leveraging for positive outcomes of an SME works in practice, and how this is done through a combination of international cooperation and placing responsibility on local stakeholders by using a (municipal) community-based approach. In short, the study shows that strategic leveraging in the host community is more effective than relying on the promise of a general legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n