LAUSR

Athletics sport, particularly long distance running, has made Ethiopia well known in the World history. Despite the long-standing successes and the increase in the number of youth participants in athletics sports, the number of clubs and their distribution across the regional states of the country is limited. In addition, it is often commented that most of the existing clubs are poorly managed and do not have organizational strength. The purpose of this study was to identify the organizational structure, management challenges and to examine the association between organizational structure and management challenges of athletics clubs in Ethiopia. Survey design with mixed-method approach was used to conduct the study. Questionnaires, interview, observation and document analysis were employed to collect the data. The participants of the study were coaches and managers (n=129) who were selected from 25 sample athletics clubs through stratified sampling and purposive sampling. The researcher employed descriptive statistical method and chi-square test to analyze the quantitative and narration to analyze qualitative data. The organizational structure of the athletic clubs was pyramidal and the clubs’ activities were affected by some management challenges including resource provision. In addition to this, association was found between organizational structure and management challenges of athletics clubs in Ethiopia. For the strength of the athletics clubs, managers need to design an organizational structure based on the clubs strategy, availability of resources which were found as management challenges.