ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF SPORTS DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA
Ohio University Sport Management Series
Dr. Norm O’Reilly, Series Editor
20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes Who Won’t Go Pro, by Rick Burton, Jake Hirshman, Norm O’Reilly, Andy Dolich, and Heather Lawrence
Alternative Models of Sports Development in America: Solutions to a Crisis in Education and Public Health, by B. David Ridpath
Alternative Models of Sports Development in America
SOLUTIONS TO A CRISIS IN EDUCATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH
B. David Ridpath
Foreword by Tom Farrey
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2018 by Ohio University Press
All rights reserved
To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax).
Printed in the United States of America
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ridpath, B. David, author.
Title: Alternative models of sports development in America : solutions to a crisis in education and public health / B. David Ridpath ; foreword by Tom Farrey.
Description: Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, 2017. | Series: Ohio University sport management series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017053673| ISBN 9780821422908 (hardback) | ISBN 9780821422915 (pb) | ISBN 9780821446140 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Physical education and training—United States. | College sports—United States. | School sports—United States. | Sports—Health aspects—United States. | College athletes—Education—United States. | Athletes—Education—United States. | Public health—United States. | BISAC: SPORTS & RECREATION / General. | EDUCATION / Physical Education. | MEDICAL / Public Health.
Classification: LCC GV223 .R54 2014 | DDC 613.70973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053673
This book is dedicated to Jacqueline, Chiara, and Bradley II
Contents
Foreword by Tom Farrey
Chapter 1. Why America Needs Alternative Models of Sports Development and Delivery
Chapter 2. Interscholastic and Intercollegiate Athletics Development in the United States
Chapter 3. The European Sports Club and Sports Delivery Systems
Chapter 4. The Positive Gain for Public Health and the Citizenry of the United States
Chapter 6. Potential Alternative Sports Development and Sports Delivery Models for the United States
Chapter 7. Model 1—A Realignment and Reform of the Current Education-Based Sports Development Model
Chapter 8. Model 2—An Academic/Athletic Commercialized Solution
Chapter 9. Model 3—A “European-Type” Club Sports Development Model or Hybrid Model
Chapter 10. Model 4—A Complete Separation of Competitive Sports from Schools
Chapter 12. The Potential Future of Sports Development in America
Foreword
Let’s start with the end in mind, with a vision of the communities that we as Americans want to live in, based on human needs and shared values. Imagine, if you will, towns and municipalities where people want to get out of their homes because life is richer out there, full of parks and balls, dogs and laughter, old friends and new. Imagine places that offer a rich array of recreational options, where citizens and schools and industry demand those options because they appreciate the myriad benefits that flow to those whose bodies are in motion.
How do we get there?
It’s a question that has guided much of my work at The Aspen Institute, where we convene leaders around the important challenges of our time, help them find common ground, and inspire solutions that aim to deliver the greatest good for the greatest number. My focus is on how sport, broadly defined, can serve the public interest, starting with the building of healthy communities.
This book makes a great contribution to that dialogue. David Ridpath recognizes the essential role that sport plays in the vitality of the nation and its people, then asks whether the sport system we have in place, drawn up more than a hundred years ago as a tool of nation-building, is serving the needs of Americans in the twenty-first century. Better yet, with research and courage, he identifies several potential paths forward.
We should not be afraid to explore systems-level change in the development and delivery of sport programs in the United States, but rather understand it as an opportunity to respond to the marketplace.
Consider: More than four out of five parents of youth under age eighteen say it’s “very important”