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 to improve not just our but any system. However, there is not much existing empirical research comparing the American system with other ones. In current empirical literature, sports systems are mostly described in themselves rather than compared. There has been research and discussion on the structural changes within sports models in Germany, France, Great Britain, and elsewhere, chiefly regarding governance aspects, sports clubs and national and European politics, and the organization of sports in several European countries (European Commission 1999; European Commission 2014; Hartmann-Tews 1996; Heinemann and Schubert 1999; Jütting 1999; Scheerder et al. 2011; Wegener 1992). Part of the reason Germany is highlighted in this book is that specific empirical studies concerning the German sports club system are more plentiful and provide a good base of study. The history of German sports clubs has been discussed in several papers, mostly regarding governance aspects and sports development in general (Krüger 1993; Krüger 2013; Kurscheidt and Deitersen-Wieber 2011; Nagel 2006; Miège 2011).
Some sports scholars and sociologists claim that while there are some similarities among sports development systems in the world, there are also some significant differences that are the main focus of this book and inspiration for potential changes. According to Fort (2000), the main differences between the European and American sports development systems are in three areas: the fans, the sports organizations themselves, and the team objectives. European fans are primarily concerned with winning international competitions, while American fans are more concerned with what are essentially regional or national titles, or, in the case of interscholastic sports, city, county, or state championships. Organizationally, the differences in European and American sports governance are dictated essentially by what the fans of the sports want to see “their teams” accomplish. Since European sports are primarily both national and international in scope, different organizations oversee them. This is similar to how American sports governance is structured with regard to different governing organizations for national and international competitions. The teams themselves obviously want to win, but in Europe the major focus is preparing for national and international competitions, whereas in America the main focus is on educationally based sports as a pathway to competing in the professional ranks. Another glaring difference on the team side is that the United States does not have a system of relegation and promotion of teams, in either professional or education-based sports, like the one under which most European club teams play, both in first-level leagues and lower divisions.1 In addition, Fort notes that there is not the same level of funding for teams via sponsorships and television in Europe, albeit with some notable exceptions such as Bundesliga soccer and the English Premier League.
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EUROPEAN SPORTS CLUB
The local sports club is at the core of European sports development. Sports clubs and sports development in Europe are an exercise in social development, longevity, importance, and persistence. Previous research into the historical beginnings of sports clubs in Europe has described them primarily as social clubs organized for “casual exertion and sociability,” along with the development of social networks (Holt and Mason 2000). In many communities in Europe, the local sports club provides a venue for community activities, politics, and events, in addition to being the hub of most local sports activity. Regarding this social context, MacLean (2013) notes that, as with today’s local sports clubs, there were, historically, many clubs that were similarly central to organizing everyday life in villages. This included sponsoring sports like football (soccer), but also offering programs in gardening, sheepdog training, or sewing, or serving as the location of the annual village carnival. These clubs and their development highlighted the social aspect of sports and the blending of various other activities, similar to what you may see in many American recreational and community centers today, although arguably not structured and task organized as their European counterparts. Sports clubs in Europe are essential to sociability, providing an important addition to the bonds based in friendship, family, and common background and language.
Originally, the concept of sports in Europe was focused around discipline and the will to strengthen young people whose fitness would be beneficial in the case of war. While formal games and sports were played, the sports themselves were organized by students
