The sport club is key! Guidelines for sport federations to integrate a light supply in sport clubs

Studies, among which the previous projects of the Flemish Policy Research Centre on Sports, emphasize the importance of differentiation and innovation based on 'light' sport and exercise initiatives in order to retain members in sport clubs (preventing drop-out) and to attract new members (target groups) to club organized sport. The current valorization project aims to develop a practical instrument (step-by-step plan / support plan) for sport federations allowing them to develop sport specific strategies to maintain and, if possible and desirable, to increase participation rates in club organized sport. The instrument is built on the findings of studies regarding sport light(Borgers et al., 2016; Scheerder et al., 2016) and drop out (De Baere etal., 2016a, 2016b; Seghers et al., 2015) that were carried out within the framework of the Flemish Policy Research Centre on Sports, and on 'good practices' for sports federations based on previous research (Scheerder et al., 2014, 2015a, 2015b). These findings will be complemented by results of ongoing international research projects and the available literature. With the integration and valorization of these findings we strive to maximize the transfer of policy-relevant scientific knowledge into practical applications. This valorization project is carried out on behalf of the Flemish government and in cooperation with the Kennis-en Informatiecentrum Sport (KICS) of Sport Vlaanderen.

Keywords:Sport light, Target groups, Drop-out, Sport clubs, Sport federations

Disciplines:Orthopaedics, Human movement and sports sciences, Rehabilitation sciences