Abstract
Volunteering is a value long entrenched in American life. The very structure of the United States government lends itself to citizens’ self-organization, while the altruistic desire to serve others directs volunteer activity. As a result, one in four Americans volunteer. Americans of all ages volunteer in the sport and recreation sector, with young people and older adults leading the way. Yet, altruism as the core component of volunteer efforts no longer stands alone. Instead, Americans volunteer for a plethora of reasons, some of which blur the traditional expectations that volunteering is both voluntary and uncompensated. The emphasis on commercialization throughout the United States sport system is changing the traditional perceptions of volunteering and impacting on the types of volunteer experiences provided.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aspen Institute. (2018). Project play. https://www.aspenprojectplay.org. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Basten, K. (2018, January, 23). Department of Labor updates internship rules. GovDocs. Retrieved October 29, 2018 from https://www.govdocs.com/department-labor-updates-internship-rules/
Baum, T. C., & Lockstone, L. (2007). Volunteers and mega sporting events: Developing a research framework. International Journal of Event Management Research, 3(1), 29–41.
Benjamin Franklin Historical Society. (2014). Union fire company. http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/union-fire-company/. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Bowers, M., Chalip, L., & Green, B. C. (2011). Beyond the façade: Youth sport development in the United States and the illusion of synergy. In B. Houlihan & M. Green (Eds.), Routledge handbook of sports development (pp. 173–183). London: Routledge.
Breuning, J. E., Madsen, R. M., Evanovich, J. M., & Fuller, R. D. (2010). Discovery, integration, application and teaching: Service learning through sport and physical activity. Sport Management Education Journal, 4(1), 31–48.
Carson, E. D. (1999). Comment: On defining and measuring volunteering in the United States and abroad. Law and Contemporary Problems, 62(4), 67–71.
Corporation for National & Community Service. (n.d.). Volunteering and civic life in America. https://www.nationalservice.gov/vcla. Accessed 30.08.2018.
COSMA. (2015). Home. https://www.cosmaweb.org. Accessed 30.08.2018.
De Toqueville, A. (1835). Democracy in America. George Adlard, New York, NY.
Education Commission of the States. (2018). High school graduation requirement or credit toward graduation – service learning/community service. http://ecs.force.c. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Green, B. C., & Greenberg, M. B. (2016). United States of America. In E. Kristiansen, M. Parent, & B. Houlihan (Eds.), Elite youth sport policy and management: A comparative analysis (pp. 131–147). London: Routledge.
Gregory, S. (2017, September 4). How kids’ sports became a $15 billion industry. Time, 190(9), retreived October 29, 2018 from http://time.com/magazine/us/4913681/september-4th-2017-vol-190-no-9-u-s/
Hunnicutt, B. (2013). Free time: The forgotten American dream. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Lockstone-Binney, L., Holmes, K., Smith, K., & Baum, T. (2010). Volunteers and volunteering in leisure: Social science perspectives. Journal of Leisure Studies, 29(4), 435–455.
National Recreation and Park Association. (2018). COAPRT standards. https://www.nrpa.org/certification/accreditation/coaprt/coaprt-standards/. Accessed 30.08.2018.
NCAA. (n.d.). Personnel management and sports oversight. So you want to be an AD. https://www.ncaa.org/governance/personnel-management-and-sports-oversight. Accessed 30.08.2018.
New York Road Runners. (2018). TCS New York Marathon: Volunteers. https://www.tcsnycmarathon.org/volunteers. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Pedulla, T. (2018, January 28). The price for super bowl volunteers. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/sports/football/use-of-volunteers-questioned-as-nfl-revenue-soars.html.
Rimes, H., Nesbit, R., Christensen, R. K., & Brudney, J. L. (2017). Exploring the dynamics of volunteer and staff interactions. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 28(2), 195–213.
Running U.S.A. (2018). U.S. road race participation numbers hold steady for 2017. https://runningusa.org/RUSA/News/2018/U.S._Road_Race_Participation_Numbers_Hold_Steady_for_2017.aspxSpencer. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Spencer, W. (2014, February 16). Volunteering is a core American value. Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-spencer/volunteering-is-a-core-am_b_4453224.html. Accessed 30.08.2018.
St. George, D. (2015, April 5). High school seniors in mad scramble to finish community service. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/high-school-seniors-in-mad-scramble-to-finish-community-service/2015/04/05/35aa73b8-d943-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.41bd2019463b.
Statista. (2016). Number of running events in the U.S. from 2012 to 2016, by distance of race. https://www.statista.com/statistics/280485/number-of-running-events-united-states/. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Swenson, P. A. (2002). Capitalists against markets: The making of labor markets and welfare states in the United States and Sweden. New York: Oxford University Press.
United States Census Bureau. (2018). Data. https://www.census.gov/data.html. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Volunteerism U.S. (2018). New dictionary of the history of ideas. http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/volunteerism-us. Accessed 30.08.2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Farr, J.R., Green, B.C. (2018). United States. In: Hallmann, K., Fairley, S. (eds) Sports Volunteers Around the Globe. Sports Economics, Management and Policy, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02354-6_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02354-6_25
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02353-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02354-6
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)