Yen-Chun Lin

Email: yc_lin@utexas.edu

I have been doing research projects with a recreational youth swim league for two years. The newly formed swim league sought assistances to build a swim league model that best meets the needs of swimmers and their families in all league swim clubs. Social values of community-based youth sport programs recognized in this research project are key elements to enhance the overall sport participation experiences for the youth and their families.

The focus group research and post-season survey conducted in 2010 had found that parents of swimmers from each club sought a sense-of-community through their club and league participation. Further, they wanted their children to improve swimming skills from their club and league where a unique value was shared. The post-season survey in 2010 revealed that sense-of-community plays a pivotal role in parents’ overall satisfaction and in their decision to remain with the league in future seasons.

Following studies in 2010, interviews with member parents and a review of the relevant research literature were undertaken to identify ways to enhance sense of community among members of the swim league. It was found that the geography of social relations on the league is hierarchical such that league-level friendships are rare and are built on club-level friendships, which are more common. Club-level friendships are made stronger and more salient when grounded in neighborhood-level friendships. In addition, interviews also suggested that the role of volunteer can play a role in community building. The post-season survey in 2011 suggested that in addition to sense-of-community and overall satisfaction, parents’ perception that the volunteer work was meaningful and rewarding is influential to the likelihood that their family would participate the following summer. Thus, further work regarding volunteer system building and management will be conducted in 2012.