Several other factors differentiate the educational sports model in the United States from the European sports club system and what exists as far as school sports in Europe. One factor is the intensity of the competition itself. In the United States, high school sports involve weekly (or more frequent, in some sports) competition in which school teams play against other schools in regional, state, or even nationwide events. At most schools, these competitions are taken very seriously and the athletes practice numerous times a week, even outside the season. Conversely, interscholastic sports outside the sports club systems in Europe vary, but usually require very little time in comparison, and may range from one to five days per week at various times throughout the year. This comparatively low intensity can be explained by the dominance of club sports, but it is not uncommon for even a very competitive sports club to have a more relaxed competition and practice schedule in comparison to US educationally based sports (Pot and van Hilvoorde 2013).
This is likely the result of the dominance of club sports and the less competitive relationship between the educational and sports club systems found in Europe. As Pot and van Hilvoorde note, in their comparison of school sports in the Netherlands with those in the United States, “one of the main goals of interscholastic school sports in the Netherlands is to increase sports participation rates among children, excluding children by means of selection and competition is not a desired effect. In addition, competitiveness in Dutch interscholastic school sports is not stimulated, as performances in school sports have little or no influence on the status of either the school or the students involved. Therefore, rituals and symbols that provoke (and are provoked by) competitiveness are absent in most schools” (ibid., 1168).
Interscholastic sports in America, by comparison, seem to be clearly more important to the athletes, coaches, and local community. In local newspapers (city or town), school sports can take up pages. Local stations and regional networks report results of what has become a dominant weekend activity not just for local people attending games, but, through the media, for anyone (Miracle and Rees 1994; Stokvis 2009). Schools use this media exposure to distinguish themselves and use the achievements of their student-athletes to promote their institutions. From a marketing perspective, prestige can be gained from interscholastic school sports in the United States. In Europe, schools by and large do not use their interscholastic school sports results in their marketing strategies, because the prevailing wisdom is that people do not associate the school’s athletic performance with the educational value of the school. While interscholastic sports achievements typically do not gain any media coverage, that void is filled by the local sports club or clubs, all the more so due to the different levels of participation in terms of age, gender, and skill. Meanwhile, in the United States, school-based athletes have a higher status and are often viewed as more prominent than other students.12 This higher status influences the connection that student-athletes feel to the school, since their status depends on their relationship to the school community (Fredricks and Eccles 2006; Hintsanen et al. 2010; Marsh and Kleitman 2002). The status of the sports club athlete may not be as pronounced as that of the school athlete in the United States because of the lack of affiliation with an institution, but successes are known and celebrated by members of the club and local residents.
One of the other and arguably most significant differences between US school-based sports participation and the European sports club system is the connection or lack thereof between academic results and athletic eligibility (Barber, Eccles, and Stone 2001; Broh 2002; Marsh and Kleitman 2002). In the United States, essentially, students are not eligible to participate in interscholastic and intercollegiate sports if they do not meet academic eligibility criteria, usually by maintaining a certain grade point average.13 As noted previously with regard to intercollegiate athletics, the tie-in with academic eligibility is both a blessing and a curse. It creates numerous issues that call into question the entire concept or model of educationally based sports. The idea behind these eligibility criteria in the United States is maintaining a balance, even with trade-offs, between academic work and school athletics. Although negative effects are indeed observed by some—including myself, on many points—it can be argued that these eligibility criteria can intensify the interest of athletes in their own academic achievement, since they will be unable to play if they neglect their academic priorities (Coleman 1961; Marsh and Kleitman 2002; Stokvis 2009). On the other hand, eligibility requirements have led to many academic scandals in interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics over the years, when decisions were made to keep top athletes eligible to compete, no matter what damage was done to the value of educational primacy. The constant tension between academics and athletics in sports development in the United States has been an increasing concern, recently illustrated by a massive academic scandal at one of the finest public universities in the United States, the University of North Carolina. This particular scandal involved a curriculum being developed for athletes that involved no-show classes and classes that required very little work, just to ensure athletic eligibility.14
In Europe, participating in a local sports club or even in school sports is open to all students who desire to compete, regardless of their grades. While education is stressed (and study time is even provided for athletes at many local sports clubs in Europe), absolute academic criteria for practice and competition in sports clubs are rarely, if ever, in place or, if in place, enforced. In my time researching in Europe, I found no sports club in Germany or the Netherlands that enforced an academic policy or eligibility standard. However, clubs allowed for study time, many even offered opportunities to study at the club, and students were able to miss practice and/or games to study or attend class. It is primarily left up to the parents to decide if any penalty should be applied for not meeting academic expectations. Given the absence of eligibility criteria and the disconnection of sports and school in Europe, it would be difficult to determine by comparison whether the American interscholastic sports system prepares participants better than the European club sports system does. One could draw inferences from academic performance levels, US-based university college board exam scores of American and European prospective college students, and other criteria, but it is difficult to say one system is better educationally that the other because of a lack of hard data. However, I hypothesize there is a potential correlation between academic performance and the presence or absence of highly competitive sports and elite development within the two systems that needs to be examined via future research.
The differences between the United States and Europe in the competitiveness, intensity, and prestige of interscholastic sports provide an interesting basis for discussion and empirical inquiry as to whether the current US model of educationally based sports development is the best choice going forward. Does the use of eligibility criteria enhance the educational and athletic experience of the young American athlete? Is it better at doing so, when compared to the experience of the young European athlete? While some elements of the American model of interscholastic sports, in its organizational structure and social impact, may work to improve academic performance and self-esteem, it can be argued that the European sports club system promotes many of the same intrinsic values.
3
The European Sports Club and Sports Delivery Systems
THE COMPARISON of other sports development approaches around the world with the current American system is an important exercise, and can be used to examine potential ways