The relationship between community sport clubs and social capital in Japan: A comparative study between the comprehensive community sport clubs and the traditional community sports clubs

Abstract

Social capital has been emphasized as a way to solve various community problems, and sports are considered one way to build social capital as a catalyst for that purpose. Comprehensive community sport clubs offer not only various sports but also opportunities for communication among club members. However, most traditional community sports clubs are designed for only one type of sport, and their scope is limited in terms of gender, age, and technique. This study compares the varieties of community sport clubs, which can be separated into two types in terms of social capital. To accomplish this, we investigate the relationship between the location of sport clubs and social capital. Data obtained from written questionnaires were analysed using a t-test to determine the different types of sport clubs according to degrees of social capital. This study also examines the effects of the relationship between the type and location of community sport clubs as far as social capital is concerned. One-way ANOVA was chosen for this analysis. The results show that some differences exist in the relationship between types of sport clubs and social capital. The findings also show that the location of community sport clubs is critical to the production of social capital.