Sport organizations with youth soccer teams

Abstract

Traditionally individuals are involved in sport through sport organizations, as the case of the clubs. The organization culture has the potential to influence the way athletes perceive their participation in sport. Due the specific contexts of the clubs it’s necessary to obtain data about how they organize and act. Organizational analysis of three soccer clubs was performed, through the observation method, documental analysis and semistructured interviews to club managers. The data collected through the interviews were transcribed and content analysis was made. Different organizations were compared in the emerging categories. The professional club differs of the amateur clubs because it has a bigger size and capacity to involve professional and voluntary collaborators, showing more complexity, specialization and decentralization. The amateur clubs are more similar between them, characterized by a lower complexity and specialization, and based on volunteer work. The professional club managers perceive their intervention as oriented to optimize efficiency and performance. The amateur clubs managers see themselves as community based volunteers with a social and educational mission.