Management Strategies for Enhancing Participation and Retention in Community Sport Programs
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Abstract
Community sport programs are often expected to widen participation, strengthen local health outcomes, and sustain active involvement, yet many clubs continue to lose participants after initial registration. This study examined whether a structured management package could improve attendance, satisfaction, sense of community, support for coach autonomy, and 16-week retention among men enrolled in community sport programs. We used a men-only, club-level quasi-experimental design with 312 participants from 12 community sport clubs, allocated to usual management (n = 155) or an enhanced management package (n = 157) consisting of coach briefing, flexible scheduling, buddy contact, rapid participant feedback, and targeted support for practical barriers. We defined retention as continued registration and attendance at least one session during the final month of the program. We set statistical significance at p < 0.05. Baseline characteristics did not differ significantly between groups. Retention was higher under the enhanced management package than under usual management (80.9% vs. 69.0%; χ² = 5.24, p = 0.022), with an 11.9-percentage-point risk difference and an unadjusted odds ratio of 1.90 (95% CI: 1.12-3.21). Linear mixed modelling showed a significant group-by-month interaction for attendance (β = 0.039, p < 0.001), indicating that the intervention slowed the typical decline in attendance over time. Logistic regression, adjusted for age, baseline attendance, sport experience, fee burden, and work-schedule conflict, confirmed that the enhanced management package was associated with higher odds of retention (adjusted OR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.12-3.20, p = 0.018). Satisfaction, sense of community, and coach autonomy support improved more in the enhanced-management condition than in the control condition (all between-group change p < 0.001). The findings indicate that retention in community sport depends not only on participant motivation but also on manageable organizational factors shaped by scheduling, coach communication, social integration, and service responsiveness.
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