Sports Development and Young People

The structures, activities, and resources of “international organisations” supporting the sports development of young people are variable, depending upon the objectives, character, mandate, and resources of each organisation. Such offers reflect their history, including such roots as German gymnastics and French Olympism, and currently fall into three categories: formal physical education and school sport at school, informal physical activity, and non-formal offer of youth sport in sport and leisure clubs. International sport associations and federations may promote physical activity and sport for young people through their affiliated clubs, organised and operated at the local level, which receive impulses from the international and national level. Across the disciplinary divide of sports, and spanning over national federations and national Olympic committees, a number of thematic umbrella organisations organised at the international or continental level make various aspects of physical education, physical activity, and sport available to young people and also see themselves as stakeholders advocating for recognition and resources vis-à-vis public authorities. Governmental organisations, whether “international” or “supranational,” promote these offers to varying degrees depending on their own mandates, resources, and instruments available. Among these, the European Union (EU) occupies a special place, while among international, private sports organisations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) takes a preeminent role as the global ambassador of so-called Olympic education.