Organizational Analysis of Youth Sports

Abstract

Children's sport participation, when organizationally structured, take on two general forms: houseleagues and selective leagues. It is generally assumed that value differences account for these organizational forms; the houseleague empha sizes "non serious" enjoyment, whereas the selective leagues emphasize skill display and athletic achievement. The purpose of this paper is to establish the inter organizational environment within which children sport leagues are institutio nalized. Specifically, selective leagues are able to establish organizational ad vantages, and these derive from both ideological and organizational symmetry with the institutional sector, further legitimating these forms with required or ganizational resources. Houseleague forms are unable to establish these inter organizational linkages, decreasing survival potentials. Legitimacy theory and resource dependency theory were compared to con textualize sport organizations within the broader social structure. Youth soccer programs were compared. A theoretical sample of organizational positions was chosen to establish the implications of each theory.