Lone Friis Thing

The female warrior: meanings of play-aggressive emotions in sport.

Sport is in this article analysed as an antithesis to ordinary life situations, a sphere where the dynamics of symbolic play contrast with the routinization and restraint of emotions in the life of modern society. In an effort to challenge the concept of emotion based on Freud in the figurational thinking of sport, it is argued that the psychology of pleasure in sport is not exhausted by Freud. With a sociological perspective on emotions in female sport such as soccer, ice hockey and basketball, the article reconsiders the knowledge and perspective whereby emotions are seen to involve both cognitive and affective dimensions. Various emotional vocabularies in the face-to-face context of female sport are analysed, as well as the broader interdependence between emotion and the social context. The purpose is to elaborate how emotions are guided and unfolded on court in the ball game itself. The data comes from 26 in-depth interviews with Danish top-level players.

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.

Knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in everyday life with chronic hand eczema: a qualitative study.

Chronic hand eczema is a common disease that may impact quality of life and have occupational and social consequences. Self‐management is pivotal, both in handling acute eruptions and avoiding relapses. However, little is known about how people with hand eczema self‐manage and integrate their disease into everyday life.

Athletes confessions: the sports biography as an interaction ritual.

Commercialization of emotions is not a new phenomenon but in Denmark there is a new general trend to tell and sell personal stories in the media. Personal deprivation and crises are also major topics in sports media. This paper focuses on sports biographies as a book genre that is reviving in popularity. The paper approaches the topic through the biographies of one Danish athlete: the former professional cyclist, Jesper Skibby, who writes about his doping disclosure and shares his personal dilemmas as a former elite sportsman. The thematic text analysis orientates around social interactions, emotions, and personality constructions. Inspired by microsociology with a Durkheimian flavor of Goffman and Hochschild, themes including “face work,” “interaction rituals,” and “emotions management” are discussed. The analysis claims that sharing personal information in the media is not only a means of confession and reclaiming status but is also business and management – on an intimate level. Telling the story of the corrosion of a sporting character has become a hot issue, an entertainment, and not least a commercial commitment.

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.

‘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.

Trying to fit in – Upper secondary school students’ negotiation processes between sports culture and youth culture:

In this paper we present results concerning how students in a Danish upper secondary school negotiate between sports culture and the prevailing norms of youth culture in a local school context. The study shows that it can be rather difficult for young people to combine sports culture with the local youth culture, because living a healthy and physically active life doesn’t fit very well with the prevailing norms of youth culture, which involve a dominant social arena characterized by parties and alcohol. By applying the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, this article shows that being included in a sports figuration can result in exclusion from the youth figuration. Young athletic students are therefore in a constant process of negotiation, where they struggle to fit into both sport and non-sport related contexts, because it is important to belong within both. The study is based on 16 focus group interviews [N=120] conducted over four years in one Danish upper secondary school.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and physical function in children with cancer from diagnosis throughout treatment

Background Children with cancer experience severe reductions in physical fitness and functionality during and following intensive treatment. This may negatively impact their quality of life. Purpose To describe the physical capacity and functionality of children with cancer during and after treatment as well as the feasibility of physical activity intervention in the Rehabilitation including Social and Physical activity and Education in Children and Teenagers with Cancer study. Patients and methods The study included children diagnosed from January 2013 to April 2016 with paediatric cancer or Langerhans cell histiocytosis, all treated with chemotherapy. Seventy-five of 78 consecutively eligible children (96.2%) were included. Median age was 11 years (range 6‒18). The physical capacity and function were assessed based on testing of physical strength, balance and cardiorespiratory fitness. Children were tested at diagnosis, 3 and 6 months after diagnosis and 1 year after cessation of treatment. The feasibility evaluation was inspired by the criteria for reporting the development and evaluation of complex interventions in healthcare. Results All children participated in the physical intervention programme with no dropouts. Strenuous physical exercise and physiological testing during paediatric cancer treatment was safe and feasible, with only five minor adverse events during the intervention. Cardiorespiratory fitness was significantly lower in children with cancer than norms for healthy age-matched children at diagnosis (difference 19.1 mL/kg/min, 95% CI 15.4 to 22.7; p <0.0001), during treatment 3 and 6 months from diagnosis (difference 21.0 mL/kg/min, 95% CI 17.4 to 24.6; p <0.0001 and difference 21.6 mL/kg/min, 95% CI 17.3 to 25.8; p <0.0001, respectively) and 1 year after cessation of treatment (difference 6.9 mL/kg/min, 95% CI 1.1 to 12.7; p <0.0072). Furthermore, children with cancer experienced a pronounced decline in physical function. Conclusion This study shows that it is safe and feasible to perform strenuous physical exercise and testing during paediatric cancer treatment and that children with cancer have significantly lower physical capacity and functionality than healthy age-matched norms. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01772862.