PhD T.V. Dolmatova¹
PhD A.V. Zubkova¹
E.A. Selezneva¹
D.N. Pukhov^2
1Federal Science Center for Physical Culture and Sport (FRS VNIIIFK), Moscow
²St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture, St. Petersburg

Keywords: physical education, mass sports, physical activity and mass sports, local governments, elite sports.

Background. Pursuant to the Presidential Decree No. 204 of May 7, 2018 “On the National Goals and Strategic Progress Missions of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2024”, the sporting population committed for habitual physical education and sports service is expected to grow up to 55% of the total by 2024 [2]. This goal sets a progress vector for the national physical education and sports industry for the period and urges the local governments take special efforts to expand and improve the local popular physical activity and mass sports service infrastructure. As far as the relevant foreign experiences are concerned, we would acknowledge the great accomplishments of many nations in their projects to popularize healthy physical activity and mass sports as these initiatives are often ranked among the top priority national policies.
Objective of the study was to analyze the physical activity and mass sports design and management national models with contributions from the local governments.
Methods and structure of the study. We analyzed, for the purposes of the study, the institutional concepts of physical activity and mass sports projects by the local governments in the UK, France, Germany and the USA – supported by analyses of the relevant study reports, case studies and summaries.
Results and discussion. The UK, France, Germany and the USA are deservedly reputed as the leading sport nations since their team standings at the Olympic Games have long been among the top five, and their sport elites hold world records in many sport disciplines. No less attention is paid by the leading nations to the mass sports and new popular physical activity development projects. It should be mentioned that the UK, France, Germany and the US governments pursue different physical activity and mass sports advancement policies due to the historical differences in their national physical education and sports service management traditions.
Thus the local governments in the UK have always been the key actors of the public physical activity and mass sports development projects [1]. In the context of the historical administrative structure of the United Kingdom, these projects are actually initiated and implemented by the local public activists including different partnerships and non-governmental organizations financed by the local governments i.e. the county councils and the Sports Council of England. The first active partnerships were established in England in the 1990s and since then have evolved into a network of 43 active partnerships with the mission to improve the people’s life quality in many aspects including the local physical activity and mass sports projects – with the only exclusion for the elite sports progress issues.
In their efforts to mobilize different population groups to the habitual physical activity, the above partnerships and organizations closely cooperate with the local sports federations in many projects including, e.g. the annual popular team sport events in the counties, with every local resident encouraged to join regardless of the individual social standing, age, gender and physical fitness level. The team sport events are in fact the traditional sport festivals highly appealing for the local communities, with hundreds of the local competitors, supporters and volunteers eager to help organize, run and serve the events. It may be pertinent to mention that the 2018 budget of the partnership network was reported at £418.333 including £380,000 (more than 85% of the total) provided in subsidies and grants by the Sports Council of England [3]. On the whole, the partnerships play a great role as they effectively coordinate activities of the local sports federations and sports clubs to build up the effective local physical activity and mass sports project management system in the UK.
The physical activity and mass sports encouragement traditions are different in Germany and France as leadership in such projects is taken rather by the local governments than the non-governmental corporate activists (as is the case in the UK); and that is why the German and French physical activity and mass sports experiences may be viewed as the classical model of the governmental control and management system in the physical education and sports sector. It should be noted in this context that in Germany the national Ministry of Sports is fully responsible for the progress of both the physical activity and mass sports initiatives and elite sports; whilst in France the local governments are responsible mostly for the mass sports, and it is the Ministry of Sports that exclusively controls the elite sports development process.
Furthermore, the local (land) governments in Germany provide substantial funding for the local sport sector development projects. Thus in 2018 the Baden-Württemberg Land Government assigned about Euro 107 million to the local sport industry support projects via the local Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, including Euro 17 million for the municipal sport infrastructure development and maintenance projects with their beneficiaries including the local schools, sports associations and many other population groups [4].
We would mention as a case in point among the German physical activity and mass sports development initiatives the local After-class Sports Program designed to physically activate the school population. The program offers, in close cooperation with secondary schools and local sports organizations, free sports group trainings after classes. The groups are trained by the coaches from the local sports federations who are expected to lure children in habitual physical activity by means of active games and team sports and at the same time facilitate progress of the potential young prospects for the national sports – with every gifted young athlete offered a special excellence training program by the local sport club. It is important that the After-class Sports Program is fully funded by the local governments.
The French mass sports progress model is close in some aspects to the German one as it implies dominance of the government in the sports industry control and management issues. The state allocates substantial funds for the sports sector progress needs that are reported to average Euro 4.3 billion per year including about Euro 3.5 billion in payroll of the physical education and sports sector service personnel. Due to the traditional administrative structure of the Republic, however, a leading role in the mass sports progress policies and practices is played by the local departments and communes, whilst the national elite sports are controlled by the Republican government agencies albeit a significant portion of the funding for the national sports industry comes from the local government budgets. The local communes and their associations report about Euro 10.8 billion in their annual budgets for the mass sports projects [5]. This funding system puts France among the European Union leaders in terms of the municipal/ local financing of the sports sector.
The US physical activity and mass sports progress policies and practices are totally different from the above. The traditional American model is largely driven by the initiatives of the local non-governmental organizations, sports clubs and societies, with a special role in the MS movements played by the local sports federations. They closely cooperate with the local municipal Parks and Recreation Departments that give a special priority to the most popular and traditional sports including football, golf, rugby, tennis and baseball. The group trainings are offered by the local sports federations on a free basis to facilitate the American sporting school culture, and it is not unusual that many young Americans are engaged in active sports during the summer school vacation time. It should be noted that the municipal Parks and Recreation Departments are well budgeted – for instance the New York Parks and Recreation Department reported above USD 96 million budgeted for the local infrastructure improvement projects in the period of 2010-2016 [6]. As a result, the traditional cooperation model of the local sports federations and the municipal Parks and Recreation Departments has proved highly successful for the popular physical activity and mass sports projects with the project beneficiaries including every population group with a special priority to children and youth.
Conclusion. We believe that above-analyzed physical activity and mass sports models with contributions from the local governments appear effective enough each in its own way. It should be mentioned that German and French sport sector control models prioritize contributions of the regional and local governments, whilst the UK and US models give leadership to the local non-governmental organizations and other group interests that enjoy some support from the local municipal agencies. It should be mentioned that an important role in the all four physical activity and mass sports models is played by the local sports federations. On the whole, since every of these nations demonstrate success and leadership on the global sport arenas, we would recommend the physical activity and mass sports projects and elite sport systems being better supported by the local governments and grass root organizations to facilitate the multiannual sport reserve growth process.

References
1. Abalyan A.G., Dolmatova T.V., Fomichenko T.G. Promotion of physical education and sports among population: analysis of successful foreign practices (case study of the UK. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2018. no. 5. pp. 53-57 [Electronic resource]. DOI: http://www.vniifk.ru/vsn/vsn-5-2018.php (in Russian).
2. Decree of RF President May 7, 2018 No. 204 “On national goals and strategic objectives of development of the Russian Federation for the period until 2024”. [Electronic resource].  Available at: http://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/71837200/#ixzz5QdO9VnnA (date of access: 31.08.2018).
3. Active Partnerships. Governance [Electronic resource]. Available at: http://www.activepartnerships.org/about-us/governance (date of access: 21.04.2019).
4. Baden-Württemberg. Knapp 18 Millionen Euro für kommunale Sportstättenbauprojekte. [Electronic resource].  Available at: https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/service/presse/pressemitteilung/pid... (date of access: 28.04.2019).
5. État [Electronic resource]. Available at: http://www.sports.gouv.fr/organisation/organisation-du-sport-en-france/l... (date of access: 11.05.2019).
6. New York City Comptroller. Audit Report on the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Oversight of Construction Management Consultants [Electronic resource]. Available at: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/audit-report-on-the-department-of-pa... (date of access: 29.05.2019).

Corresponding author: rudra54@yandex.ru

Abstract
The article presents an analysis of the current system of organization of physical activity and mass sports at the local government level in the top sporting countries - the UK, France, Germany and the USA. The following research methods were applied during the study: analysis of literary sources, case study method, generalization. The mechanisms that promote the engagement of various groups of population in physical activities and sports at the local level are presented by the example of the activity of the local government bodies and public organizations. It was found that each of the presented models not only ensures the involvement of the local population in physical activities and mass sports, but also contributes to the sports reserve training in these countries. Thus, in Germany and France, the regional and local government bodies actively participate in the sports industry management. In the UK and USA, the leading role in the organization of mass sports activities is being played by the community-based organizations with the support of municipal authorities. An important role in the organization of physical education and sports activities at the local level in all four countries is played by the local sports federations. The authors emphasize that the organization of physical education and mass sports activities at the local level forms an inseparable framework for the development of the system of long-term training of sports reserve and elite sports promotion, as evidenced by the analyzed foreign experience.