The governance of the board of national governing bodies in high performance sport

Abstract

The growing number of stakeholders and organisations involved in managing high performance (HP) sport has resulted in a greater need for coordination, strategic management and transparency. As the expectations on national governing bodies (NGBs) to deliver improved elite sport performances grow, boards of directors, in collaboration with the sport clubs, steer, coordinate and control the athlete pathway development. This chapter draws on the results of a large-scale project that compared elite sport policies in 15 countries. The results revealed some strengths and weaknesses of volunteer-based NGB boards that influence decision making and create tensions between the elite and grassroots levels of sport. Furthermore, directors who are elected by community/grassroots sport clubs tend to be unfamiliar with the high demands of managing HP sport. The chapter discusses board composition directions as they relate both to existing trends on one hand and to requirements for dealing with HP environments on the other.