Abstract
ABSTRACTPurpose: There is still a lack of knowledge regarding which social processes occur in sport clubs and what factors influence young adults to want to remain in a sport club context. Thus, the purpose of this study was to construct a grounded theory (GT) explaining how sport clubs can retain their young adults. Method: The study uses an intersectional approach. In line with constructivist GT methodology, data from 14 focus-group interviews (27 coaches and 28 young adults) were collected and analysed using a constant comparative method. Results: The core category, “The individual at the centre of a community”, summarizes a process, whereby the generated GT contains three main categories, namely (1) “Participation and influence”, (2) “Social connectedness” and (3) “Good conditions”. Conclusions: The coaches put the individual at the centre of a community and pay attention to the needs and interests of all the young adults, regardless of their background, ambitions, and skills. However, while the idea of a moral imperative to provide for diversity was not directly absent in the discussions with both the coaches and young adults, most of the diversity approaches seemed to be based on ambition and skills, gender, age and sexuality.
Highlights
There is still a lack of knowledge regarding which social processes occur in sport clubs and what factors influence young adults to want to remain in a sport club context
We aim to answer the following research questions: what is the main issue concerning diversity among young adults in order to continue in their sport clubs? What are the main issues for coaches regarding retaining a diverse population of young adults? Through this study, we aim to explore the social processes concerning the methods that sport clubs, the coaches, engage in to encourage young adults to continue participating at sport clubs, regardless of their background
This study offers unique insights into what sport clubs, the coaches, are doing in order to retain young adults at their clubs
Summary
There is still a lack of knowledge regarding which social processes occur in sport clubs and what factors influence young adults to want to remain in a sport club context. Statistics show that youth sports activity levels are lower in socioeconomically weak environments compared to socioeconomically strong areas (Norberg, 2015) These dropout rates have not increased only among young people in Sweden. Studies that focus on what is keeping young adults in sports mention, for example, that the activities need to be fun, among friends, allow participants to learn new things, competitive, and make a contribution to improved health and well-being (i.e., Goncalves, Carvalho, & Light, 2011; Light, Harvey, & Memmert, 2013; Lindgren, 2002; Thedin Jakobsson, 2014; Thedin Jakobsson, Lundvall, & Redelius, 2014; This article was erroneously published in the issue 12(1) of International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. Studies have to some extent addressed the issue and what has emerged is that the social and cultural contexts children and young people are in and which exist in their clubs are important for explaining why they are still involved in sport clubs (Larsson, 2013; Light et al, 2013; Lin, Chalip., & Green, 2016; Trondman, 2005; Wagnsson, 2009)
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