The College Recreational Sports Learning Environment

Abstract

To show the need for continued financial support, align with universities' missions of student learning, and improve the lives of participants, college recreational sport (CRS) professionals must demonstrate that CRS programs, facilities, and services cause growth in student learning. This study measured sport club out-of-classroom learning in an effort to begin measuring the impact of all CRS areas on student learning. It was hypothesized that sport club participants make gains in life skills, diversity, social interactions, communication, character, leadership, and self-beliefs as a result of their participation. A proxy-pretest posttest design administered to sport club participants measured this hypothesis. Significance testing showed significant differences between participants' ratings of their skills and abilities before and after participation. The implications of these findings for the justification and expansion of CRS funding, the future measurement of learning outcomes in CRS, and the alignment of CRS with the missions of higher education are discussed.