生涯スポーツの推進に関する一考察

―競争の形式およびクラブ間の顧客をめぐる競争に着目して―

抄録

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was launched in an effort to address recent global issues in the context of building sustainable ties between humans and nature and individuals and society. Lifetime sport play a vital role in creating and fostering sustainable connections among individuals with varying physical abilities. The present study therefore explores the types of competition that bring together individuals of varying physical abilities. Aiming to make inquiry into promotion of lifetime sport, the study also examines competition among sport clubs for members desirous of competition from members of other clubs.
In the study, competitions in masters swimming and wheelchair basketball were examined based on Georg Simmel’s theory of conflict. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of gaining social capital, competitions held among sport clubs were examined with regard to members desire to compete with members of other clubs.
The findings were as follows. First, competition among individuals of different ages requires setting rules that reduce the range of age variation with regard to their physical abilities, thereby establishing a competition framework that demonstrates excellence in performance within the same range of ages. In contrast, competition among individuals with disabilities requires setting rules that differentiate the varying physical abilities of the differently abled as well as rules for teaming differentiated individuals, thereby establishing a competition framework that demonstrates excellence of a team in its ability to both score and defend. Second, competition among athletes of different sport clubs is vital in promoting lifetime sport. In particular, competition among sport clubs to satisfy individuals’ desire to “engage in competition with people outside of the sport club in regional games” is essential since the services generated as the result of such inter-club competitions not only benefit the clubs but also contribute to achieving social value, which implies promotion of lifetime sport.