Extracurricular sports activities have been expected to have various educational effects but have reached a major turning point. Now, there is an urgent need to implement innovations in every school. In order to solve the problems related to extracurricular sports activities, innovation in athletic club activities is being studied. The adoption process, promotion factors, and hindrance factors have been verified from cases such as multiple sports events, general athletic clubs, multiple school joint events, and regional collaborations. However, the implementation status of extracurricular sports activities innovation in every school has not been clarified. The purpose of this study was to clarify what kind of extracurricular sports activities innovations are taking place in schools, considering activities that are different from conventional club activities as innovations.
Overall, innovations that were in line with guidelines and the context of work style reforms in schools were relatively easy to be adopted. On the other hand, innovations that fundamentally reshape the conventional nature of extracurricular sports activities, such as collaboration with external organizations and outsourcing, were less likely to be adopted. Moreover, innovations that would change the nature of extracurricular sports activities themselves from being under the control of teachers to being completely student-centered were also found to have not progressed very well. Analysis by school size suggests that it was difficult for small schools to adopt innovations such as the introduction of external instructors and collaboration with outside organizations.
