* Equity affects nearly all aspects of our lives none less than sports such as beach volleyball. Sport is an integral part of today’s society and as such, sport should be organised, participated in and distributed in an equitable manner.The aim of equity in sports is to encourage all people, regardless of age, gender, disability or ethnic origin to participate in and develop their potential within sport. Disputes over equity have been apparent in our society for hundreds of years, over such things as gender, religion or race. A framework developed by Figueroa deals with equity. It consists of five levels that link together – individual, interpersonal, institutional, structural and cultural. The following paragraphs demonstrate the use of
Society’s values, beliefs and attitudes shape and infl uence equity in and access to sport. For example, consider the cultural attitudes to masculinity, femininity and sport. Traditionally, sport has been seen as a male domain; women have been seen as supporters or as people without interest in sport. Sports that are appropriate for men and those that are appropriate for women have been clearly differentiated. As these cultural barriers are slowly removed, women are gaining greater access and opportunities in sport.
A society’s history and culture also affect sporting culture in other ways. Cultural factors can infl uence the type of sports that individuals within that society participate in. For example, consider the sports that are regularly watched or played in Queensland. Are they different from the sports preferred in Western Australia or somewhere further away, such as Canada? Such differences are the results of different sporting cultures.

The structural level
The structural level of Figueroa’s framework includes the infl uence of government, business and the media. Applying this level of Figueroa’s framework to sport means investigating the relationship between the media and sports promotion, the allocation of government funding for sports programs, and how the corporate sector affects sport and sports participation through sponsorship and other funding.
For example, the Australian government funds and operates several organisations—such as