which in the United States are typically more diverse. Due to this homogeneity, students and parents felt no need or obligation to further associate with the same people from their schools in extracurricular clubs or in interscholastic athletics, but certainly there was a desire to associate, through sports and other activities, with others in their central community whom children might not interact with during the school day (Stokvis 2009).
Like university sports, virtually all youth sports in the United States were integrated within the educational system and have remained, with few exceptions, embedded in this system ever since. Primary and secondary schools in the United States are similar to their university counterparts in that they often have both elite and mass sports facilities on campus and numerous teams that participate in interscholastic competition and tournaments locally, regionally, and even nationally. These interscholastic events are frequently characterized, through their strong emphasis on competition, as effective enhancements to education, and are often very selective in nature. As with colleges and universities, achievements in these interscholastic events are viewed as important for the status and brand identity of both students and schools, even though the effect of this connection is often disputed by empirical research (R. Mandell 1984; Frank 2004; Orszag and Orszag 2005; Orszag and Israel 2009).
Another main reason why competitive sports morphed into the club system rather than being based in schools in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Sweden, specifically, was a heavy resistance against sports within the educational system by academic officials for its un-pedagogical elements such as competition, selection of athletes, and a strong focus on winning. Many authorities considered competitive sports to be dangerous, unhealthy, or even immoral (van Hilvoorde, Vorstenbosch, and Devisch 2010; Pot and van Hilvoorde 2013). However, this does not mean that some form of school-based sports programming does not exist in Europe. As in the United States, having at least some form of physical education in schools in Europe was intended to compensate for sedentary behavior and promote a healthy lifestyle for students, apart from the pressure of competition sometimes found at certain levels in the sports club system (Stokvis 2009).
In the United States, interscholastic sports are organized in a way similar to colleges and universities in which the best athletes from schools compete against each other. These interscholastic school sports are mostly selective in nature and highly competitive (Park 2007). The competitive characteristic of interscholastic sports is considered important for the social functioning of American schools. For instance, being selected as part of a school team is deemed important for the status of athletes within the school and local community. Conversely, it can be socially and psychologically devastating when one does not make a team or is demoted to a lower level of competition, but this can also provide a teachable moment on how to deal with adversity and challenging situations (Miller 2009). The competitiveness of US educationally based school sports is further illustrated by the rituals and symbols that surround interscholastic matches. As in intercollegiate athletics, these rituals and traditions run deep. Things like intense rivalries, mascots, bonfires, and championship playoffs, while smaller in scale, are just as intense and popular. These rituals, traditions, and symbols at both the high school and intercollegiate level can serve to enhance competitiveness and the importance of beating the opponent, not just for the competitors, but also for the students and other stakeholders such as parents and alumni (Stokvis 2009).
While sports competitiveness is important in almost any culture, it is often amplified in the United States because sports within the education system form a separate social sphere in which competition and rivalry are more accepted (Pot and Van Hilvoorde 2013; Curry and Weiss 1989). The social network that interscholastic and intercollegiate sports can provide in the United States is present instead in the European club system, and is perhaps even farther-ranging. In Europe, the desire for competitiveness and socialization is mainly fulfilled in the sports club system, while what rudimentary forms of interscholastic competition as exist are characterized by a focus on physical wellness. Taks (2011) notes that community-based sports clubs are primarily voluntary, led by boards of directors and requiring cooperation among all of the stakeholders. Sports clubs in Europe were further solidified by the Sports for All movement, which began in 1966 and was designed to promote participation in sporting and fitness activities by children, teens, and adults. The Sports for All movement opened the doors for greater development of the sports club system as national, regional, and local governments started to provide direct and indirect support to the voluntary infrastructure and keep the physical activity and social aspects of the clubs going (Pot and van Hilvoorde 2013; Curry and Weiss 1989; Taks 2011). This European sports-for-all ideology is partly related to the nonselective nature of interscholastic school sports that initially existed in America, but which has mostly given way to an emphasis on competitive excellence rather than non-elite participation and wellness.
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
