semmelweis university - Faculty of Physical Education and Sport ...

Mihály Zsiros
Semmelweis University, Faculty of P. E. and Sport Sciences (TF), Budapest, Hungary
Supervisor: Dr. Zsuzsanna Gősi, assistant professor
Consultant: Anikó Stupián Tóth, coach
Operational Challenges and Possible Solutions of the Hungarian Athletic Clubs in the
XXI. Century
Introduction Hungarian athletics and the whole Hungarian sport are in a crisis now. In my
presentation I would like to present the current state of the Hungarian athletic clubs, including the
operational problems they face and some possible solutions. I chose this subject because I‘ve been an
active member of athletics for more than 10 years and I also feel the problems of my sport from
experience. For this purpose, I would like to describe a few different athletic clubs and by right of the
results give recommendations for a more effective functioning.
In my opinion the global financial crisis makes this type of research very timely and there isn‘t any
other measurement like this. On the part of the Hungarian Athletics Association (HAA) there are only
ideas, but no plans.
Hypothesis I suppose that the Hungarian athletic clubs have got a lot of operational difficulties. Most
of them originate in the lack of financial support. Even though there are many positive signs, it still
takes a great courage to make any change which only comes at a cost of breaking with older traditions.
Analysing methods, - persons, - conditions My research is aggregate from more segments. The first
step was to collect the data from and about the Hungarian athletic clubs. As the part of the secondary
research I systematized the related data which was available in the Hungarian Athletic Association‘s
database. The other main part of the research was the primary, questionnaire research. The
questionnaires were sent to the leaders of sport organizations. At some clubs I combined the
questionnaires with structured interviews. I made sure to make detailed interviews in order to better
specify the results and conclusions.
Results/Findings The result of the research is that Hungarian athletic clubs are fighting with
problems:
- The athletes usually can only be financed posteriorly. Outstanding results can become much harder
to achieve in the case of an athlete having to raise the money in advance for the preparation itself.
- There are too few well educated coaches and the number of athletes within a coaching group is way
too high. Additionally, their proper (financial) honour is missing.
- The number and quality of related facilities is also a concern.
- The present economic situation and the funding problems can force top athletic clubs give up their
fight for survival.
- There is a lack of a long-term and a short-term concept as well.
- There are many operational uncertainties at the club level.
Conclusions It isn‘t disputed that the Hungarian athletics is in a critical period right now. The
financial, constitutional and personal conditions needed to reach the world top quality are undermined.
Possible solutions:
- The Hungarian athletics‘ future can be provided by section functioning based on a stable base.
- The membership fee and the sponsoring income are only negligible parts of the clubs‘ income,
these should be increased. This can be explained partly with the lack of educated managers.
- Stand on one (internationally successful) discipline and invest money only on that.
- There are some tracks used by more clubs at the same time, these clubs could be merged so the
administration costs would decrease.
- The initiation of more amateur sportsmen into the athletic clubs.
- Harmonize the HAA‘s race calendar with the prize money awarded street competitions.
- Having the athletic facilities‘ reconstruction as priority would pay in the long run.
The football academies may serve as a model to the continuous youth education in athletics.
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