Socially vulnerable young people in Flemish sports clubs

Abstract

Sport appears to present a powerful tool for engaging socially vulnerable youth in an organised context, which offers an opportunity to work with them. However, we have little understanding regarding participation of socially vulnerable young people in the ‘traditional’ sport sector (i.e. sports clubs). Nor do we have sufficient insights into how vulnerable young people experience their participation in sports clubs and how they best feel supported. In order to address this question, we interviewed 50 young people and 13 key witnesses (mostly coaches, but also board members and club coordinators) within 15 Flemish (northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium) traditional sport settings, using semi-structured interviews. Throughout the interviews we noticed that the selected sports clubs offered young people an environment where they could find support, meaning, appreciation, security and caring. The coach played a key role but was not the only factor, since his/her guidance was influenced and steered by the broader organisational and cultural context of the club. From the perspectives and experiences of interviewed youngsters we have identified some aspects that are related to the organisational context, such as first impressions/feelings when joining the sports club, differences between other sports clubs, valued experiences, motives for (non-)participation and dropout. Interviewed young people were, however, rather reserved, perhaps realistic, about popular beliefs in the power of sport to change things for the better.

The “Programa Segundo Tempo” in Brazilian Municipalities: Outcome Indicators in Macrosystem

“…O tempo é uma dimensão fundamental para indicar qualidade, uma vez que ele está associado à sustentabilidade e ao potencial para transferência de capital social. Portanto, a questão que se coloca não é apenas de acesso ao programa 20 , mas da necessidade de avançar sobre fatores socioestruturais 27,28,37 , que estão gerando descontinuidade do programa, tais como a ausência de um sistema nacional de esporte, a dependência de políticas de financiamento e a assistência baseada na transferência de capital econômico. Não significa que uma política de financiamento e assistência não seja importante, o problema é quando o capital econômico não consegue se transformar em capital social, garantindo uma organização social capaz de sustentar os benefícios da participação no esporte.…”

Socially Vulnerable Youth and Volunteering in Sports: Analyzing a Brussels Training Program for Young Soccer Coaches

“…According to Jones (1985), adolescents need to describe their experiences in their own words in order to best understand their meaning. Similar to other researchers that investigated experiences of socially vulnerable youth and sports interventions (e.g., Haudenhuyse, Theeboom, Nols, & Coussée, 2014), an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) was used. This method allowed us to understand the data from the perspective and experience of the interviewees relating to the shared phenomenon (with peers and program organizers) of participating in the volunteer training program.…”

Exploring the Sports Experiences of Socially Vulnerable Youth

“…Policymakers and health professionals more and more aim to increase the sports participation rates of young people because they consider that the sports setting is a place where young people can be engaged in meaningful activities and where they can have positive experiences of support and appreciation (Haudenhuyse, Theeboom, Nols, & Coussée, 2014). In addition, sports participation has often been linked to the development of life skills that can be used in different societal domains (Gould & Carson, 2008;Hayden et al, 2015).…”

“…In order to understand how socially vulnerable youth may benefit from their participation in sport it is important to investigate how they experience playing a sport (Haudenhuyse et al, 2014). Research into sports experiences has often been conducted in athlete samples (Bruner, Hall, & Côté, 2011;Fraser-Thomas & Côté, 2009;Kendellen & Camiré, 2015a).…”

“…As a result of these negative experiences, socially vulnerable youth are often confronted with feelings of incompetence and rejection. For these youths, sports participation is seen as a tool that can alleviate some of the distorted relationships, when they have positive and supporting experiences within the sports domain, in contrast to the negative experiences they have in other societal domains (Haudenhuyse et al, 2014). Yet, the negative experiences of socially vulnerable youth with the societal institutions in their life may also translate to the sports setting and may influence how they experience their participation in sport.…”