The Swedish sports movement has in recent years raised an age related drop-out problematic. Just like their Scandinavian neighbours the Swedish sports movement appeal less adolescent participants as they grow older. This was largely explained by scholars and the Swedish sports movement as a competitive rationale. Therefore The Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet) has introduced a subject of change to become a more inclusive sports movement where people can exercise independently of their competitive commitment. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the national sports associations will manage members’ lifelong commitment to sport. Attitudes to changes was evaluated through the use of interviews with executives and employees in the national sports associations in order to know how the suggested changes will be received. Overall, the participants present elements of a strong competitive culture that tries to prevent the proposed change. Some aspects consisted of time consuming processes, conflicts and differentiated organizing ideas within all organizations. Even though many sports associations argue they have challenging conditions, there are people within the organizations who try to neglect a competitive sports ideal. New forms of ideas might still attract more people to organized sports movement. The main conclusion is that the competitive logic is maintained within the national sports associations. Change of the sports movement’s behaviour patterns will always act in comparison to the historically competitive rationale and therefore also be influenced by it.

This study explores the different perceptions of effectiveness among four constituent groups of stakeholders in Singapore national sports associations. The four groups are athletes, board members, coaches, and secretariat staff. The study applies a qualitative research methodology. It uses a focus group and semi-structured interviews across 25 national sports associations. The qualitative data is analysed using NVivo software to organise the data into general themes and as an aid in breaking the data into sub-themes. The four constituent groups discuss multi-faceted perceptions of effectiveness by providing varying interpretations, meanings, inferences, and relational issues depending on the roles they hold. While confirming multi-dimensional perceptions of effectiveness, the study uncovers three determinants of effectiveness that are not cited directly in the literature: communication, athlete management, and commitment and organisation of the management committee. The study suggests major tensions in terms of organisational and personal athlete outcomes. It also highlights the paramount importance of funding, both for sports development and the organisation's personnel staffing and systems. There is a symbiotic relationship between internal and external perceptions of influences on effective performance. The findings suggest constituent groups' perceptions of the Singapore Sports Council influence their perceptions of effectiveness within their own associations. In turn, SSC's policy making and organisational behaviour are perceived to affect how the effectiveness of constituent groups is evaluated as well as their scope for action within their organisations. The implications for sports administrators and policy makers include the need for better communications between and within constituent groups, quality leadership (with decisions based on sports management and sports science knowledge), a more equitable distribution of funds, an internal environment of trust and empowerment balanced by objectivism, and an external environment of realism balanced by recognition of the need for continual performance improvement.