Inger Eliasson

Resisting self-regulation: an analysis of sport policy programme making and implementation in Sweden

Political programming of sport has become the new orthodoxy in many countries where the strive for a more healthy and civically engaged population is intertwined with an ambition to encourage and make responsible individuals and organizations for meeting societal goals. Although much effort has been put into studying this phenomenon, there is still a shortage of understanding of how, why and with what results sport policy programmes are made and implemented. To address this shortage this article reports on a study of the largest government intervention in sport in Sweden with the purpose of exploring processes of responsibilization and self-regulation at play in the relationship between the government and sport as well as between sport organizations on different levels. Results show how sport has received a more salient position on the government agenda, where more instrumental goals have been accompanied by increased resources to aid in their attainment. This process has assisted in the ambitions to modernize sports organizations by encouraging development through self-regulation. The sports organizations involved have embraced the new goals and resources. However, instead of self-regulating in the desired direction, each organizational level in the sports system has forwarded the responsibility for development to the next level below. This process has left the sports clubs with the full responsibility of meeting the government goals, a responsibility they have not accepted. Understandings of these phenomena and processes are discussed by pointing to the specific institutional landscape and tradition of Swedish sport.

Gendered socialization among girls and boys in children’s football teams in Sweden

This article examines the process of gender socialization in girls’ and boys’ football teams in Swedish children’s football. The article draws on data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork over two years which involved observations of the daily life of children’s football, and interviews with 11–12-year-old girls and boys, their coaches and parents in two sex-segregated football teams. The study is inspired by Connell’s gender theory (Connell, Gender, 2002), which provides support for the view that gender is a process of social construction in which children actively participate. An analysis of the ways the girls and boys talk about football and gender demonstrates how girls and boys produce a certain gender performance in the social interaction and how they relate to a male standard that exists in children’s football. Overall, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationships between girls and boys and how children contribute to gendered socialization in sport. This article also discusses the relevance of gender equality work in child sport.

The gap between formalised children’s rights and children’s real lives in sport

The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical standpoint of sociology of childhood to enhance understanding about how children’s rights, as outlined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, are experienced by child athletes and adult coaches in the context of sport clubs in Sweden. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with children and coaches in floorball and equestrian sports during the years 2011 and 2012. The results showed that neither child athletes nor adult coaches were aware that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into Swedish sport policy; they also lack knowledge of the convention’s content. After interviews about selected rights were conducted, it was evident that children and adults both considered the themes of those rights to be of utmost importance. However, they did not find the convention meaningful as a policy document, and no systematic, deliberate or preventive work with regard to the rights of the child was experienced in the sport clubs. This paper discusses some challenges in the children’s sport context, including children’s rights, the social ordering of children and adults and the goal of making children’s sport a safe activity for children.

“In different sports worlds”: Socialisation among children, coaches, and parents in girls’ and boys’ football teams

Abstract Taking the sporting triangle as its point of departure, this study aims to investigate the process of socialisation among the children, coaches, and parents who are involved with club-organised girls’ and boys’ football teams. The study was inspired by a sociocultural perspective and by the new sociology of childhood, which views children as actively participating in the construction of childhood. This article draws on data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork conducted during eight months over a two-year period, which included 60 observations of children’s football and interviews with 38 girls and boys (11–12 years old), seven coaches, and eight parents involved with football teams in a Swedish sports club. One overall conclusion about the process of socialisation was that the children, coaches, and parents had different views on what was most valuable in children’s football, and these affected what they expected of each other, as well as how they interacted and behaved. It is concluded that children, coaches, and parents operate in what is referred to as different sports worlds based on different predominating behavioural patterns. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the process of socialisations in the sporting triangle and of how children, coaches, and parents contribute to socialisation in sports.

Child-rearing in public spaces: the challenging dual-role relationships of parent–coaches and child–athletes of coaches in Swedish team sports

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine the challenges of being either a parent–coach or a child–athlete of a coach within the context of Swedish youth sport. Conceptually, this paper draws on educational and sociological theories regarding changing perspectives in child-rearing. The results are based on data gathered from interviews with parent–coaches and child–athletes (age 13–15) of coaches involved in team sports. The results indicate that a range of meanings emerged through these unique sets of interactions, resulting in both positive and negative experiences for both children and their parents. To manage the perceived challenges, four behavioural strategies were used including fairness, distancing, defence and quitting. Overall, this study provides a deeper understanding of the challenges of these unique dual roles in relation to contemporary child-rearing perspectives.

Developing sports with a children’s rights perspective? Intentions, methods, and priorities of development projects in local Swedish sports clubs

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the planned development of sport practice regarding children’s rights through project applications from Swedish sports clubs within the Lift for Sport programme. The study on which this paper reports uses data from a large-scale research project that evaluated this sport-for-all programme and is based on an analysis of 2563 applications within five different national sports organizations. Theoretically, the evaluation study draws on programme theories and analyses financially funded development applications made by the sports clubs. The proportion of applications concerning aspects of children’s rights was 2.4% within the following categories: children’s safety in sports, young people’s views, ethics of children’s sports, and prevention of exclusion and dropout from sport. Those applications were further examined regarding which intentions, methods, and priorities sports clubs were aiming to develop children’s sport to be in line with a children’s rights perspective. The methods used to reach the goals were sometimes the same regardless of intention, and, despite the good intentions and some creative methods used for development, applicants seemed to be uncertain about and searching for which relevant methods to use. The findings can be used to inform the discussion on the design of development programmes, policies, and practices to change children’s sport in the framework of children’s rights.