To ensure the development of these skills and values, and to strengthen the understanding of a healthy lifestyle, it is of paramount importance for every member of society to have the ability to participate in sporting activities by way of widespread and ready access to sports facilities and sports participation. For many people, that means being able to play their favorite sports and exercise at the lowest price possible, regardless of their age, skills, and social background (Stiegelmayr 2015). Exploring how different countries use sports and provide access to sports participation, ostensibly to benefit society and the country at large, is a major focus of this book.
SPORTS DELIVERY AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT MODELS AROUND THE WORLD
Throughout modern history and up to the present day, each country and/or culture has had its own systems and organizations for sports and sports development, whether in mass-participation, recreational, or elite sports. Two of the most popular and widespread sports development models are the European sports club model and the American model. Sports in European countries are largely organized through nonprofit, mainly local and grassroots clubs. This is in sharp contrast with most sports development in the United States, as its typical participants are either primary or secondary school athletes, along with those competing in college- and university-based sports.
Comparing and contrasting the European sports club model and the American education-based model, we can begin to ascertain whether other models might be developed in conjunction with or separate from our current way of governing sports. I do not propose in any way saving the almost exclusively education-based system we have in the United States. My argument starts from a baseline belief that the current model does not work and must be changed. Frankly, we should no longer entertain any debate that is grounded in saving the system. It is, I will say again, only a question of how. In other words, we must first recognize and admit that we have a problem; only then can this society finally and fully address the need for reform. I am not here to advocate killing off educationally based sports in America. Educationally housed sports can certainly be part of new approaches toward the evolution of sports governance and sports delivery in America. However, the stress on our education system with regard to sports participation and finance must be relieved, and soon.
As a nation, the United States must address such problems before the situation deteriorates beyond repair. If we want to continue to provide and enhance plentiful opportunities for as many people as possible in a wide variety of organized sports and recreational pursuits, preserving educational primacy along with improving public health, then I believe we simply must change how we do sports in this country. If we want to continue to develop elite athletes at local, regional, and national levels—in many sports, not just football and men’s basketball—who will excel at home and abroad, then we must change. The United States seems to be stuck in the past on this. Meanwhile, for its citizens, opportunities for better health and the personal growth that can be gained from sports are vanishing.
This book examines four potential and dramatic alternatives to the current model, including consideration of adopting portions of the sports club systems prevalent in Western and Eastern European countries, with a focus on Germany and the Netherlands. I spent fifteen months in Europe conducting research for this project as a Fulbright teaching and research scholar at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, in 2014–15. The research consisted of immersing myself in the system via empirical research, site visits, interviews, and focus groups to learn as much as possible about the European sports model and to ascertain if a similar model could be developed in part or in whole in the United States. I also had a front-row seat, figuratively and literally, observing how a local European sports club operates as my son Bradley competed for FSV (Fussball Sport Verband) Bayreuth on its C-level (under-sixteen) soccer team. Since most European sports club systems are similar, I made the choice to focus on Germany and the Netherlands, as they were the two countries I spent the most time in during my research sabbatical. As more fully discussed in chapter 5, most countries in the European Union have a basically similar approach to sports governance, delivery, and development.
This book also focuses on other potential models for elite, mass-participation, and recreational sports development in the United States. As sports choices decrease in a funding-challenged American educational system, and recreational opportunities outside that system become more expensive, it is increasingly apparent that more sports opportunities need to be developed outside the educational system for competitive, mass-participation, and general recreational exercise. The United States is not only suffering from an education funding crisis, made worse by its way of too frequently prioritizing sports over education. It is also suffering under the strain of its citizens becoming primarily sports spectators while maintaining very unhealthy and mostly inactive lifestyles, in turn impacting health care and the federal and state budgets devoted to it.
Where would the money and infrastructure come from for a dramatic shift in sports development in America? It’s a fair question, but one with realistic and measurable answers. This book covers the potential positive impact that an extreme paradigm shift, including a shift to models such as the ones being proposed, can have on public health in the United States. Any reorganization of how we do sports in the United States must take into account the overall health benefits to the population, not just competitive and commercial benefits. Other countries are outdoing America in offering widespread options in sports, whether it be for mass participation or elite development. Many scholars agree that opportunities in the United States are dwindling and that we should learn from countries like Germany, with its “Sports for All” movement, or Canada, where the government is promoting physical activity to enhance all of its citizens’ well-being.1 Sports clubs around the world are supported in several ways, including through government subsidies (via taxes), membership dues, revenue from ticket sales and ancillary businesses, sponsorships, and donations. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, also draw on lottery and gambling proceeds to help fund their sports club systems.2
While proposing any tax increase may seem foolhardy and a nonstarter in the United States, as a country we can actually save money by promoting and achieving better public health through increased access to and participation in sports. This means paying it forward and focusing on prevention, with benefits more on the back end, but it is critical for everyone to have skin in the game, including the government. A tax subsidy could be something the public gets behind, if it can reduce overall health-care costs and save money in the long run. Combining this with entrepreneurial spirit, public and private partnerships, and good old American ingenuity and creativity, we can enable and sustain the funding and infrastructure for newer, more accessible models of sports development and delivery.
THE ORGANIZATION OF SPORTS
Sports have been a part of society for most of the history of human civilization. People all over the world have been engaging in physical exercise for millennia, mostly through work but also through games and athletic events. In the Western tradition, organized competitive sports date back to 776 BCE, when the first Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece. Some twenty-five hundred years later, as the Industrial Revolution took hold in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, games that had been largely unsupervised and unregulated were recognized as being beneficial for members of the working class (Gerdy 2002, xiii–xiv). From their origins in unstructured play and loosely organized events based in communities and schools, increasingly organized sports competitions were gradually established via host organizations, schools, or rudimentary sports clubs in a variety of countries. Throughout this period and into the early twentieth century, several sports spread across the globe, often introduced by young participants who had learned of the games in other countries (especially England) or who made up rules on their own. In general, this type of recreation was viewed as a healthy outlet for students, while being a needed respite from the rigors of academics. It was also a healthy physical and recreational outlet for workers, one that could potentially enable higher productivity in the rigorous and demanding factory jobs that dominated this time period (Gerdy 2002; Coakley 2014; Frei 2015).
AMATEURISM AND PROFESSIONALISM