The Reality of Strategic Planning in the Sports Federations of Palestine

The aim of this study was to identify the reality of strategic planning in the sports federations of Palestine. To achiaeve this, The study was conducted on a sample consisted of (204) presidents and members of the sport federations of Palestine and it represented (74%) of the study population. To collect data, the researcher designed a new questionnaire which consisted of (35) items distributed into five domains as follow: Domain of vision and mission; the internal environment; the external environment, goals; plans and policies . To analyze data spss program was used. The study findings showed that the reality of the sports federations average was (70.8%) of the total score of strategic planning according to Likert scale Quintet. As well as the area of the external environment got the highest percentage of (75%). The field of strategic plans and policies scored the lowest percentage of (65.4%). Respectively, the field of mission, message objectives and internal environment scored the following percentages of (69.2%), (68.8%) and (68.4%).The study also showed that there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α = 0.05) in the reality of strategic planning in the sports federations in Palestine due to the variable of Qualification. Whereas, there were differences in the evaluations among the study population and these differences are attributed to the variable of years of experience ( less than 5 years) , ( over 10 years) in favour of over (10 years members). Among the members whose experience was rated ( 5-10 years) and ( over 10 years), the results came in favour of the latter in the fields of objectives, plans and strategic policies and the union type variable. The collective sports unions had an advantage over the field of message and vision and the sport category in all spheres. In light of these findings, the study recommended the following. It is very important to enhance the use of strategic planning in the Palestinian sports federations as a new administrative way which helps sports federations to cope with internal and external environment variables, particularly, in light of the intense competition at all levels, and in the light of the limited human and material resources. Also, it is important to hold strategic planning training course in order to help the administrative personnel in sports federations. For the process of strategic planning to pay off, financial allocations are significant. Palestinian sports federations are urged to consider the results of research, exchange expertise and information in all administrative fields. Moreover, it is very vital to conduct more researchs in strategic planning, and to introduce the course of strategic planning to the students of physical education at the Palestinian universities.