Laila Ottesen

The development of social capital through football and running: studying an intervention program for inactive women.

This article examines the development of social capital through the use and dynamics of different types of stories (“I,”“we” and “they”) as described by Robert D. Putnam. The data come from a research project in which inactive women participated in a 16‐week intervention program of physical exercise, either in the form of football or running. The study shows a positive development of social capital in the two different types of physical activity. The I‐stories show themselves to be central to bonding within the two groups and bridging outside the groups (developing and/or creating networks). The study also points to the importance of the activity itself for internal bonding illustrated through we‐ and they‐stories. Our data indicate that team sports, such as football, may have an advantage over individual sports in the development of social capital.

Football Fitness – a new version of football? A concept for adult players in Danish football clubs

This article explores a new Danish football‐based activity for health called Football Fitness (FF). Data are from quantitative and qualitative methods, and the theoretical framework for the analysis of the organizational form of FF is the theory of path dependency (Mahoney) and first‐ and second‐order change (Watzlawick et al.). Theories of Pestoff concerning differences between state, market, and the civil society and theories of voluntary associations in a Danish context (Kaspersen & Ottesen; Ibsen & Seippel) are applied. This article indicates how FF is a result of the changing landscape of sport and argues that it can be beneficial to target sports organizations and include the expertise of non‐profit sports clubs if the goal is to raise the physical activity level of the local community and make these long lasting. But the organizations need to consider how this is to be done. FF, established by the Danish Football Association (FA) and managed by the voluntary clubs, is one example in a Danish context. Data indicate that FF is beneficial to the clubs involved in a number of ways. Among other things, it attracts new user groups and improves the club environment, including social activities and parental environment.

The autonomy of sports: negotiating boundaries between sports governance and government policy in the Danish welfare state

The current liberal Danish governments public health programme (2002–2010) specifies a wish for social involvement and cooperation between the public and the voluntary sector. Governmental conception is that health political subjects and social issues are a challenge which the community solidarity based non-governmental sports association should take the responsibility for, for example, by offering comprehensive options for people with no tradition for physical activity. This governance of sports is articulated in Danish sport science as destroying the autonomy of sports. This paper will, in a sociological way, discuss the enabling and constraining possibilities of these political relations. Themes such as the autonomy of sports organizations/associations will be included in order to discuss the possible significance in the future of a partnership between the public and the voluntary sector. The question is whether the governance of sports through partnership formation is a specific strengthening of state control. In line with Foucauldian and Eliasian thinking (Kaspersen 2008) it will be highlighted that sport always has been part of, and always could be seen as, a (body) political scenario. There is a changing figuration and relation between autonomy versus heteronomy of stakeholders in sports governance. Sport political issues are not new phenomena. The new thing is the technology unfolding in political involvement. By doing a comparative analytical historical exemplification, the paper focuses upon the fact that the concept of shared responsibility and interdependence between sports and society/state has a long historical tradition in Denmark.

Young people's perspectives on health, risks and physical activity in a Danish secondary school

In this article, we examine how risk discourses related to health and physical activity are used and understood by the young people in a Danish school setting. We aim to give a detailed account of students’ experiences and to present their views on how they understand and comprehend matters concerning their own health. The study on which this article is based was designed to form the basis of an intervention through action research in the school setting. To undertake such an intervention, we needed to know what kind of meanings the students of upper secondary school impute to health, risk and physical activity and to understand the dominant discourses of health in this setting. The article draws on four focus group interviews with secondary school students (N = 30 students). Groupings were created with equal numbers of boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 17 years, and all of the students are from middle class families. The focus group interviews were developed as group interviews that enabled participants share their views on health, risk and physical activity. We drew on risk sociology to analyse participants’ accounts of the opportunities and challenges provided by sports and physical activity in the upper secondary school setting. For the young people in our study, risk could be both enabling and constraining aspects of risk. Their everyday life was not marked by avoidance of risk and health issues. They pictured an ‘ideal of the civilised body’ – one that was not being fat – and they disciplined their action by doing fitness activities regardless of whether they liked them or not. For these young people, the sports and partying (including alcohol consumption) cultures were not in conflict but were part of the same culture of optimism and components of their prefered lifestyle. Such findings indicate that future health messages about sports/physical activity for young people should focus on positive contributions to life rather than judgement, deprivation and asceticism and that health promotion should be considered in terms of an aesthetic interest in life.

Gender relations in Scandinavian sport organizations – a comparison of the situation and the policies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden

This essay examines the under-representation of females on executive boards in sport in the Scandinavian countries at all levels except the sports club. Hitherto, there has been no comparative research at all in Scandinavia on this subject. The explanations of this under-representation are linked to individual actors as well as organization-centred perspectives. The similarities and differences in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are explained in the light of gender policy in society at large and within the respective sports organizations. This gives plausible explanations for why female Danish sports leaders are less concerned with equality questions than their male counterparts. This is different to the situation in Sweden and Norway where women are more concerned with equality questions than the men. Equal opportunity plans in Sweden and quota schemes in Norway seem to have had an influence on attitudes towards equal opportunities in sports organizations.

Are young people caught in the time bind? A sociological analysis of how young people in an upper secondary school view the issue of finding time to do sports or exercise in their spare time

New research shows that even young people, who are still undertaking an education, have difficulties with getting school, work, and family and leisure life to form a synthesis. The article reveals that young peoples relationship to sport and physical activity in leisure time is related to the young peoples experience of time pressure in the everyday life. Based on 12 group interviews with secondary school students (N = 120; taken over four years), the topic of how young people relate to and manage the time pressure between school, work and leisure life is analysed. The analysis establishes a link with the time strategies outlined by Hochschild. The young peoples understanding of everyday life and their experiences of the requirements for their involvement in the three spheres of their lives (school, work and leisure time) is creating varied new knowledge on young peoples leisure.

‘FIFA 11 for Health’ for Europe. 1: effect on health knowledge and well-being of 10- to 12-year-old Danish school children

Aim To modify the ‘FIFA 11 for Health’ programme to the European situation, and to assess its effects on health knowledge and well-being in Danish school children. Method A two-cohort study with seven intervention and two control schools. Of the 546 Danish children (boys 269; girls 277) of mean age 11.1 (±0.4) years from five city and four country-side schools, 402 undertook the ‘FIFA 11 for Health’ programme and 144 acted as controls. As part of each schools PE curriculum, seven intervention schools received a 45 min Play Football period (football skills and 3 vs 3 games) and a 45 min Play Fair period (health issues and football drills) on a weekly-basis for 11 weeks. Control participants continued with their regular school PE activities. Participants completed preintervention and postintervention health knowledge and well-being questionnaires. Results Overall, health knowledge increase was significantly (p<0.05) greater for the intervention group (11.9%) than the control group (2.6%). Significant (p<0.05) between-group differences were obtained for 8 of 10 health topics (6.1–20.2%) related to physical activity, nutrition, hygiene and well-being. The social dimension of the well-being questionnaire was significantly (p<0.05) improved in the intervention group compared to the control group, but there were no significant between-group effects for the physical, emotional and school dimensions. Positive reporting about the programme was given by 72.4% of the children and only 4.8% reported negatively. Conclusions The ‘FIFA 11 for Health’ programme modified for Europe demonstrated positive effects on childrens health knowledge and social dimension of well-being, thereby providing evidence that the football-based health education programme can be used effectively within a European schools curriculum to increase physical activity, well-being and health knowledge.

Evaluating a Nationwide Recreational Football Intervention: Recruitment, Attendance, Adherence, Exercise Intensity, and Health Effects

The present study evaluated a nationwide exercise intervention with Football Fitness in a small-scale society. In all, 741 adult participants (20–72 yrs) were successfully recruited for Football Fitness training in local football clubs, corresponding to 2.1% of the adult population. A preintervention test battery including resting heart rate (RHR), blood pressure, and body mass measurements along with performance tests (Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance level 1 (Yo-Yo IE1), the Arrowhead Agility Test, and the Flamingo Balance Test) were performed (n = 502). Training attendance (n = 310) was 1.6 ± 0.2 sessions per week (range: 0.6–2.9), corresponding to 28.8 ± 1.0 sessions during the 18 wk intervention period. After 18 wks mean arterial pressure (MAP) was −2.7 ± 0.7 mmHg lower (P < 0.05; n = 151) with even greater (P < 0.05) reductions for those with baseline MAP values >99 mmHg (−5.6 ± 1.5 mmHg; n = 50). RHR was lowered (P < 0.05) by 6 bpm after intervention (77 ± 1 to 71 ± 1 bpm). Yo-Yo IE1 performance increased by 41% (540 ± 27 to 752 ± 45 m), while agility and postural balance were improved (P < 0.05) by ~6 and ~45%, respectively. In conclusion, Football Fitness was shown to be a successful health-promoting nationwide training intervention for adult participants with an extraordinary recruitment, a high attendance rate, moderate adherence, high exercise intensity, and marked benefits in cardiovascular health profile and fitness.

‘Football Fitness’: constraining and enabling possibilities for the management of leisure time for women

ABSTRACT The aim of the article is to identify constraining and enabling aspects for the management of leisure time for women participating in ‘Football Fitness’, a new ‘sport for all programme’ carried out in associative sport clubs in Denmark. The article is based on six focus group interviews with white, middle-class female participants (N = 32, aged 27–56). An analysis combining Hochschild’s conceptualization of the second and third shift [1989. The Second Shift. New York: Avon] with Elias and Dunning’s perspective on leisure as part of the spare-time spectrum and leisure sport as a quest for excitement [1986. Quest for Excitement. Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. New York: Basil Blackwell] demonstrates that leisure sport participation must be understood in relation to both spare time, family life, and work life, as these spheres are interrelated. According to the women, both doing and planning housework are constraining for their leisure sport participation. On the other hand, Football Fitness is enabling in the sense that the women experience it as something pleasurable and a ‘free space’.

No structure without culture? A survey study of 15-19 year olds’ practices, preferences and perceptions of physical activity in a Danish upper secondary school

This article presents the results of a questionnaire survey conducted in a Danish upper secondary school where alternative options of physical activity have been provided to the students. The purpose of the study is to gain knowledge about the perspectives of the students concerning physical education (PE), sport and exercise. The study illustrates young people’s practices, preferences and perceptions when physical activity is a gender-integrated activity as is the case in Denmark. The results are discussed in a figurational perspective viewing PE, sport and exercise as interdependent dimensions influencing young people’s participation in and views on physical activity. The study shows that even though we have a long tradition of gender-integrated PE in Denmark, very traditional gender differences similar to countries with gender-segregated PE prevails. The article, therefore, discusses the significance of cultural rather than structural circumstances while studying practices, preferences and perceptions of physical activity among young people.