The coming super aged society: Exploring management of community sport clubs

To increase the percentage of citizens engaged in sport, the Japanese government has placed an emphasis on promoting sport activity through developing community sport clubs (CSC) in each community; however, many management problems still remain unsolved. This article firstly introduces the current status of CSC development by analyzing the government’s annual survey, the results of which indicate that older people comprised a majority of the participants. The following analysis focuses on how older people engage in sport activity, with an emphasis on urban-rural differences. Various evaluations of CSC are examined, and overall, indicate that urban participants view interaction with staff as a key factor while rural participants consider access of service as a particularly important factor. In order to better understand how the external environment influences the management of sport resources by the community sport club, related sport policies advocated by the government are also discussed. Since there is no doubt that a super aged society is imminent, suggestions are made as to how the CSC can best prepare to deliver quality sport service for this growing segment of the population.