By Dr. Lynn M. Jamieson, Professor Emerita, Indiana University
The topic I am addressing concerns how sport programs are influenced by and regulated as a result of standards that are imposed by laws, regulations, and policies. Governance, or the way in which regulatory efforts are developed and implemented, is an important part of the sport system. Almost every sport in the world is affected by the way in which policies are generated from an organization involved with a single sport, such as USA Badminton, multiple sports, such as the National Alliance on Youth Sport, or a profession inclusive of sport, such as the National Recreation and Park Association. Further, governance organizations exist at a local, regional, national, and international level. Such organizations may or may not be directly affiliated with governments. For example, the Australian Sport Institute and the Australian Sport Commission is directly affiliated with the Australian national government out of Canberra. These have great influence on the organizations that exist at the state level, which then provides support for governmental, school, and club operations at the local level. In the United States, international and national sport organizations operate independent of national governmental organizations. Policies that generate from Australian national government directly affect the national, regional, state, and local levels; however, in the United States, such policies generated at the governmental level have no direct effect on national, regional, state, and local organizations. One recent and potential exception in the United States model is the recent development of a national youth sport policy out of the Department of Health and Human Services. This policy is gaining traction as the first sport policy developed at a national level. The policy will have a positive effect on all youth organizations as enabling, but not mandatory, legislation. To date, since the development of the policy, approximately 70 organizations have become Champions of the National Youth Sport Strategy. We are proud to be considered Champions in this effort.
Notwithstanding, problems arise in sport when there appears to be limited policy direction. In looking at many sport organizational documents, it appears that policies and attendant consequences are often poorly stated or absent. Recent issues with USA Gymnastics points to years of failure to face sexual assault of participants. It took the gymnasts themselves to face their nemesis in order to secure resolution. Since this widely reported issue, many sport organizations are writing stronger policies about safety of athletes. And the USA Gymnastics case is the main point – failures to establish strong sport policy can often be the root cause of why violent episodes occur.
Since 1984, I have been interested in studying how other countries respond to sport development. My initial experience with this occurred at an international sport symposium sponsored during the Los Angeles Olympics. Representatives from 17 countries participated in this event and shared various aspects of sport development in their respective countries. This particular event emphasized “Sport for All”, a concept initiated by Pierre de Coubertin in 1909. As the first leader of the modern Olympics, he indicated that sports should not only be for the elite, but it also is a responsibility of every country to make sport experiences accessible to all individuals. As such, sport governance extended to the full range of sport participation, and all countries were encouraged to develop sport programs at the national level that encourage mass participation and supported efforts to offer sport at the local level to all. Through an international study of sport policy conducted by Pan and Jamieson (2000), 84 countries responded to share the nature of policy development in their respective countries. From 2000 to 2016, an intensive on-site interview process yielded information from 13 countries and online viewing of country policy directions gleaned many documents developed by an additional 20 countries with respect to sport policy. It was found that many countries have current sport policies that govern the general participation in sport, and these were gained by conducting research on the needs of the populace, designing sport strategies to influence sport development at the local level, and to establish national policies that governed these activities. In some cases, such as in Sweden, local sports occurred as the result of a massive volunteer effort to engage people in being active in local sport clubs. In other countries, multi-level national, state or provincial, and local entities delivered program support at schools, governments, and club systems. Support came in the form of regulatory and organizational information, facility development, and training efforts.
Policies that have been developed include several categories of regulatory information such as methods to reduce sport injury and unhealthy practice; organizational guidelines for sport programs; standards associated with those who coach, officiate, play, volunteer, and administer sport; eligibility to engage in sport; acceptable sport behavior and consequences for those who violate policies; mechanisms for addressing due process for those involved in a sport conflict; financial support mechanisms; training guidelines for those engaged in sport leadership; the role of volunteers and other constituents; special needs of target populations; facility standards; risk management, and many other factors. If such policies are not clearly stated, chances are that issues involving sport-related violence will be more prevalent.
The United States does not have a comprehensive sport policy that provides direct governance according to the aforementioned policy list; however, the influence of international, national, state, and local sport organizations are rich resources for adhering to sound policies at the community level. Further, the National Youth Sport Strategy is establishing an admirable grass roots approach that will allow for greater governmental influence and support for sound policies affecting youth sport development in the United States. This is an auspicious start for improving sport in the lives of all youth who choose to participate. Stronger governance of sport means safer and more effective sport programs. Rich resources exist from many countries, and the more individuals who pay attention to effective policy directions the greater the improvement will be in the future.
We, at the Center for Sport Policy and Conduct are proud to be considered Champions of the National Youth Sport Strategy and will be working to help ensure that this national direction influences an improvement of sport program nationwide.
References:
Jamieson, L. M. & Pan, Z. (2000). Government policy on Sport for All: Developed and Developing Countries. Journal of the International Council for Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance, 32(4), 16-20.