Abstract
Comprehensive sports clubs are designed for residents of urban communities comprising socially independent, unrelated individuals. Therefore, such clubs would not be viable in rural districts where strong relationships among residents still exist. The purpose of this research was to consider the kind of comprehensive sports club that might be viable in the context of a rural community, by analyzing the relationship between the lifestyle and sports practices of the local residents. Taking Oguni Town as a concrete example, the social structure of the district was analyzed along with the relationships between life structure and sports practices. For the former analysis, interviews with representatives of the local residents (N=3) were used, and for the latter a questionnaire survey (N=252) was employed.
Analysis of the social structure of the district revealed a tendency for privacy and fluidity, similar to the situation in an urban area. Conversely, the basic lifestyle of a ‘village’ - or, its rootedness-preserved the life structure of the community. Characteristics of the ‘village’ included a tendency to form local groups through the activities of intermediate groups.
From this analysis of the relationship between life structure and sports practice, it can be concluded that the life structure of a rural district with strong rootedness has a great influence on the quality of sports practices, i.e. the preservation of group events. These results suggest that a comprehensive sports club in a rural district should not be a functional group focused on individuals but rather adapted to the lifestyle of the ‘village’ community. It should also serve the function of building a network between intermediate groups.
