An exploratory examination of risk-management practices in South Korean community sport clubs*

Abstract Club sport participation in South Korea is increasing at an unprecedented pace. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the risk-management policies and practices of sport clubs in South Korea. Specifically, this study investigated a broad spectrum of issues including the number of injury-related lawsuits, risk-management polices/practices, and legal implications in sport clubs. This study was conducted using a self-developed 36-item questionnaire that was distributed by five trained survey couriers who obtained completed surveys from 304 sport club managers by visiting various sport/recreation facilities in South Korea. Overall, the results of this study revealed that risk-management policies and practices of sport clubs were not conducted in a consistent manner although most managers experienced or observed a significant number of sport-club-related injuries. The vast majority of injuries, however, did not result in lawsuits.