Socio-economic and demographic characteristics of national sport administrators

Data gathered from a larger study of policy making in selected national sport organizations afforded an opportunity to examine certain key characteristics that sport administrators bring to their jobs. These people were characterized as male anglophones in their mid- to late thirties, who had six years of full-time job experience. Almost 40% came from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. About half stated they were bilingual; most of the rest spoke only English. About half of these sport administrators had completed their secondary school education in Ontario; they typically held a university degree in physical education or a related field. These data are discussed in light of their implications for policy making in national sport organizations related to three current issues in sport, namely, the under-representation of females, francophones, and people from low-SES backgrounds.