“Being or becoming physically active”: unpacking conceptions about objectives and methods in partnership-based alternative sports activities

Abstract

Few intervention programmes focussing on increasing physical activity among children have been successful long term. It has also become increasingly common among scholars as well as politicians to advocate for organisations within a field to ‘join up’ to tackle social challenges. Research indicates that collaborative processes may entail challenges in implementing programmes informed by high quality knowledge. The aim of this study was, therefore, to examine partner organisations’ conceptions about objectives of an alternative sports programme, how such objectives are meant to be achieved, and how such conceptions may affect children’s development of a physically active lifestyle. Qualitative content analysis revealed three underlying lines of thought regarding alternative activities for children, as follows: they should increase the member base through modifications; they should awaken the inherent desire to move through targeting motor skills; and they should transform sports clubs by providing an exercise arena. The article discusses how activities fail to consider children’s predisposing factors and what implications this has for the work of promoting children's physical activity. Finally, we suggest that partnerships would benefit from applying a multi-leveled ecological model when designing programmes.

Keywords:

• alternative sports activities
• bioecological theory
• youth physical activity promotion model
• youth sports
• partnership programmes

Introduction

Over the past several decades, practitioners, educators, and scholars have strived to design and implement effective intervention programmes to promote physical activity among children. It is in the practical work of implementing programmes that physical activity behaviour may actually change. Yet few intervention programmes have been successful long term (Flintoff et al., 2011; Love et al., 2019), which may be explained by a lack of understanding of, and implementation strategies targeting, the underlying mechanisms of children’s physical activity behaviour (Zhang & Solmon, 2013). In order for collaborative programmes to succeed in increasing levels of physical activity among children, it is necessary for the pedagogical content to be based on solid knowledge about children’s physical activity behaviour and development from an ecological perspective (Eime et al., 2015). Any claims of such knowledge should include children’s own perspectives, recognising them as social actors capable of influencing their living environments (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Högman et al., 2020).

Although not a new phenomenon, it has become increasingly common among both scholars and politicians to advocate for collaborative solutions (Babiak et al., 2018; Baker et al., 2017; Ibsen & Levinsen, 2019) or for organisations within a field to ‘join up’ to tackle social challenges (Carey & Crammond, 2015). The central idea of such joined-up governance is that problems in modern societies demand collaboration between vertical organisations. For instance, in health promotion, it is now widely accepted that public health problems are not solved using traditional ‘siloed’ work structures where solutions are produced within organisational boundaries. Instead, there is a need for stakeholders from various sectors to ‘join up’ in order to address complex problems (Carey & Crammond, 2015). Collaboration is particularly necessary in efforts to promote youth physical activity, considering that influences on physical activity stem from multiple ecological levels (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Casey et al., 2009; Van Acker et al., 2011; Welk, 1999). However, Bennike and Ottesen (2016) have argued that programme implementation is often aggravated by collaboration as the work becomes more complex and includes multiple stakeholders. Consequently, partnerships need to be governed through clear leadership, and all involved actors have to work towards a common goal and be able to distinguish the benefits that may be gained by collaborating. Casey et al. (2009) pointed to the importance of all stakeholders sharing an interest in collaborating, and this interest aligns with, and creates added value for, the core business of each organisation. In regard to health- promoting intervention programmes, this has been highlighted as a major problem since sports clubs, and particularly individual coaches, are often the ones who become responsible for carrying out the practical work on the ground but do not always see that their efforts correspond to the long-term organisational benefits to be gained. Furthermore, schools as partners in sports programmes are problematic since they prioritise academic achievements over other aims unless interventions are clearly supported by policy and adequate monitoring (Langille & Rodgers, 2010).

Stylianou et al. (2019) found that stakeholders in sports partnership programmes reinterpreted policy in various ways, which resulted in confusion about what was actually to be done. In the absence of specified implementation methods, stakeholders tend to implement programmes in the most convenient way. In line with this, Flintoff et al. (2011) have pointed to a lack of focus on quality in designing programmes. Instead of focussing on quantitative measures, they argued that partners should be more self-critical about the pedagogy provided and, thereby, refrain from making the child the problem. In fact, Flintoff et al. (2011) found that coordinators largely lacked innovative methods for including and stimulating different groups of less physically active children, and this has also been proven to be the case with sports clubs (Karp et al., 2014). Webster et al. (2015) argued that, in order to design appropriate programmes, coordinators need to possess knowledge about behavioural change based on ecological thinking. Consequently, in the absence of such knowledge at higher levels, coaches and teachers undertaking this work are not provided with sufficient preconditions to deliver pedagogical sessions (Flintoff et al., 2011). For instance, Zarrett et al. (2018) discovered that leaders in sports programmes lacked the strategies needed to address participants’ self-efficacy, and Mansfield et al. (2018) found that coaches have limited knowledge about how to work with children to overcome their negative self-perceptions related to sports. Although sports coaches have commonly been used to increase competence levels within the programmes, this has been criticised because many coaches lack pedagogical skills (Flintoff et al., 2011; Stylianou et al., 2019).

Previous studies have also identified several pedagogical challenges within programmes designed to reach less-active children. First, activities are not modified based on the particular group in focus (Eime et al., 2015; Goh et al., 2009; Högman & Augustsson, 2017; Ooms et al., 2015). Second, activity leaders do not consider stigma or social acceptance or emphasise positive behaviour, instead seeing less-active children as problematic (Goh et al., 2009; Swiss, Akré, & Suris, 2010). Third, appropriate follow-up activities are required rather than relying on children to directly transit to sports clubs or other traditional settings (Carlman & Augustsson, 2016; Morgan et al., 2019; Ooms et al., 2015; Van Acker et al., 2011).

Missing, however, are studies that focus on how the formation of pedagogical content and programme designs are negotiated through collaborative processes in partnership programmes. In this paper, we study alternative sports programmes organised collaboratively between schools, sports clubs, Sports District Federations, and local authorities, with a focus on the underlying conceptions about how physical activity behaviour may be developed and promoted among children. From a bioecological perspective, decisions made by these governing bodies can be said to constitute a part of the child’s exosystem (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). According to bioecological theory, behaviour is influenced by factors at multiple levels, and thus, explanations of children’s participation patterns in alternative sports programmes (and physical activity in general) cannot be found only in relation to their immediate environments; attention must be given to broader and indirect influences of the exosystem and the macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the partners’ underlying conceptions about the objectives of the programme, how these are meant to be achieved, and how such conceptions may affect children’s development of a physically active lifestyle through alternative sports programmes.

An ecological approach to children’s physical activity development

Characteristic for bioecological theory is the reciprocal relationship between a growing child and the multileveled ecological environment conceptualised as interacting systems. The microsystem is the child’s immediate surroundings, such as the family or the sports team, whereas the mesosystem comprises the relationships between microsystems. The exosystem involves contexts that influence the developing child, even though he or she is not situated within it. Overreaching structural and cultural patterns constitute the macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

The idea of increasing children’s physical activity levels implies a developmental process that includes going from being (more or less) inactive to active. Previous research has consistently demonstrated that inactive and active children differ in regard to certain individual characteristics. Bronfenbrenner described this as: ‘directional dispositions interacting synergistically with particular features of the environment to generate successive levels of developmental advance’ (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006, p. 811). The most convincing evidence has been displayed regarding level of self-efficacy (Cortis et al., 2017). Based on a summary of findings regarding correlates with young peoples’ physical activity levels, Welk (1999) developed the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model (YPAPM). This model aims to explain physical activity behaviour among young people by outlining influential factors at various ecological levels. According to Welk (1999), a child must be able to answer yes to two self-evaluating questions, ‘Am I able?’ and ‘Is it worth it?’ when considering engaging in physical activity. These two questions capture a child’s predisposing factors, that is, the most important factors influencing physical activity. These predisposing factors include the need for perceived competence and self-efficacy, as well as the child’s reflection on whether his or her investment will lead to desired consequences, such as enjoyment, social status, or personal or health development, among others (Figure 1).

Thus, in order for children to become physically active in sports clubs or other settings, a socialisation process is inevitably required. This process includes children developing a way of thinking that allows them to consider physical activity and sports, along with all the related aspects of participating in these, a natural part of life. The development of such psychosocial personal characteristics occurs through proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and is established in early childhood, mainly by parents (Welk, 1999). Later, additional significant others, such as peers, teachers, and coaches, emerge as potential reinforcing factors (Welk, 1999). Access to conducive environments and programmes, as well as the development of basic motor skills, is necessary; thus, these are conceptualised as enabling factors for physical activity. The socially constructed enabling factors such as sports programmes are created by individual actors through their decisions made within institutional frameworks (Welk, 1999). Such decisions are based on conceptions of how things (e.g. physical activity behaviour) are constituted. Conceptions, in turn, are socially constructed ideas of the world created based on subjective experience from interacting with the environment (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). In this way, conceptions present in the in exosystem becomes important study objects as they provide the ideational base for how microsystems are arranged. For instance, if organisers imagine that children primarily seek enjoyment in physical activities, they will design activities where joy is the main focus.

The growing child will find herself in more microsystems and will, thereby, engage in more activities and relationships that influence the socialisation process. The development of certain personal characteristics do not occur only in formal educational settings but continuously within daily activities such as games, play, informal sports, organised sports, and during PE lessons (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). In addition to the inherent personal characteristics needed to become physically active, a child must possess sufficient resource characteristics to be able to engage in activities. Barriers such as fees, material costs, and transportation may prevent children today from entering important developmental settings (Welk, 1999).

Methods

As the researchers have followed the studied programmes over a period of 18 months, they have been able to gain insights into the work being conducted in the programmes. These insights have been used to guide both the research focus (i.e. an empirical problem was identified) and the formation of interview guides, for instance, by adapting questions regarding conceptions of physical activity development to each representative’s specific role and responsibility.

Description of the studied programmes

Data were gathered from the four partnership programmes involved in the so-called Flowsport Project, which began in 2017 and continues to 2020. The Flowsport Project aims to gather knowledge about how schools and voluntary sports clubs can collaborate to create long-term sustainable activities that may increase physical activity levels among Swedish primary-school children. For the project, the District Federations (regional administrations of the Swedish Sports Confederation), local sports clubs, and schools collaborate to initiate programmes (after-school sports and trial sessions or events) with the aim of increasing children’s daily physical activity. Typically, after-school activities have been organised once a week during the spring and autumn semesters. Trial events are larger events organised for a couple of days during school holidays, when a large number of sports clubs gather in a residential area or a larger sports facility complex and demonstrate their respective sports. The programmes have been held at four geographic locations in Sweden, and all the programmes chosen have been located within lower-socioeconomic areas characterised by low income levels and lower education than Sweden’s average. An overview of the programmes including partnership constellations is provided in Table 1.

Figure 1. A conceptual diagram of the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model (Welk, 1999).

The research project underwent an ethical review by the regional ethical board (ref: C2017/546).

Table 1. Overview of partnership characteristics and interviewed partners.

Partnership no.	Partners	Type of activities	Operation area
Partnership 1	LC, SC, SDF, S	After-school sports	Rural area
Partnership 2	SC, SDF, S	After-school sports	Rural area
Partnership 3 (“Fun Games”)	SDF, SC, LC	Trial events on school holidays, open trainings	Suburban area
Partnership 4 (“Your Sport”)	SDF, SC, LC*	After-school sports, trial events on school holidays	Suburban area

LC: Local authority; SC: Sports clubs; SDF: Sports District Federation; S: School. Bold: directing partner. *Not included in data collection.

Data collection

Interviews were conducted with representatives of key organisations in each partnership; in all cases, these represented local sports clubs and Sports District Federations. In two programmes, schools were involved in the partnership and also in two programmes, the local authority played a key role and was included in the study. In one partnership, the local authority had a role as financing partner but was not included, based on the assessment that it would not be able to add any new information. Different kinds of interviews, such as semi-structured individual interviews, paired interviews, and focus group interviews, are commonly used when investigating conceptions and assumptions related to the development of children’s health (Tayabas et al., 2014). The interview guides were specific for each partner, but all included three general themes: activities and goals in the individual organisation, goals and objectives of collaboration, and working methods within the partnership. Interview data have been considered socially constructed products of the social practice characterised by interaction in the interview context (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). Such an approach was motivated by the fact that the researcher (the first author) who conducted the interviews developed a professional relationship with the various actors during the project. Accordingly, respondents were very aware of the context of the interview, for instance, regarding how the findings might affect views of the programmes and, ultimately, perhaps financing as well.

Recruitment and participants

Recognising that data are produced in the contextual situation, different kinds of interviews were conducted in order to produce multifaceted data on the same topic (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). A part of the approach aimed to examine conceptions expressed in different interview situations. Therefore, interviews were conducted as focus groups (n = 3), paired interviews (n = 5), individual (phone) interviews (n = 2), and individual face-to-face interviews (n = 3). In total, 28 representatives of 18 different organisations¹ participated in 13 interviews of various types. Representatives held different positions within the organisations, such as sports coach, project manager, civil servant, executive director, assistant principal, after-school teacher, and business manager. The interviews lasted from 30 to 67 minutes (mean = 47 min).

Respondents were selected strategically based on their involvement as key actors in the partnership and their ability to provide useful information related to the research interest. These key actors were identified by a coordinator in charge of each programme. Since the programmes involved a large number of sports clubs, a sample was drawn aiming at including at least one sports club from each programme. This selection was made by the coordinator, who was asked to select clubs that could provide relevant information. Accordingly, the data gathered reflects views of more-frequently participating clubs.

Analysis

Interview data have been treated as constructive and meaning-making processes from a subject position, created through the interaction with the interviewer in the interview situation (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014). Ultimately, data have been analysed as containing both information about how things are from the subject position (content) and why something is stated in the given situation (construction) (Silverman, 2015).

All interviews were transcribed by the first author and a project assistant; both used the same transcribing instructions. In order to analyse constructions, an analytical inductive procedure where the latent as well as the manifest content could be analysed was applied (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). By paying attention not only to the manifest content but also the latent, it is possible to reveal hidden assumptions. The analysis began during data collection when tentative themes were sketched as they appeared in the material. After ending data collection, the first author went through the entire body of material in order to refine the tentative themes and look for alternative interpretations. In the last step, themes (i.e. respondents’ conceptions of objectives and methods) was analysed against the YPAPM (Welk, 1999) in order to explore how they related to physical activity promotion.

In order to enhance trustworthiness, tentative themes were presented to a random sample of the respondents, who were asked to review the interpretations made. As respondents felt interpretations was accurate, no changes were made due to these discussions. Finally, three main themes reflecting the partners’ conceptions were established. Three additional strategies were utilised for achieving trustworthiness. First, we made use of the first author’s experience following the programmes for 18 months to set the sample strategy and to avoid anecdotal evidence by uninformed respondents. Second, respondents holding various positions were selected to provide contrasting perspectives. Third, peer debriefing was used to seek agreement among co-researchers (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004).

Findings

Below, the findings are presented under the three main themes reflecting the partnership organisation’s conceptions about objectives and related methods: ‘increasing the member base by promoting access and modifying environments,’ ‘awakening the inherent desire to move by targeting motor skills,’ and ‘transforming sports clubs by providing an exercise arena.’ The names of the sports programmes are fictive.

Increasing the member base by promoting access and modifying environments

Expressed as an explicit goal among all partners was to get more children engaged in organised sports. The assumption made here was that voluntary sports clubs would constitute developmental settings where children would become physically active.

We’re engaged in ‘Fun Games’ to show our sport, cricket, which is totally new to the Swedish culture. Most people don’t know what cricket is. Everyone knows how to play football… The goal is to recruit more people. – Coach (Cricket club, Partnership 3)

The core of this line of thought seemed to be that, in order to get children involved in the sports clubs setting, several enabling factors could be modified, mainly in regard to the way sports are provided. Basically, these were applied to enable children to take the first step towards a new microsystem (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) by sampling a new sport.

First, the programmes aimed at ‘luring’ children to the activities by making them undemanding and instantly fun. This method focussed on the idea that children’s motivation is partly governed by seeking enjoyment (Welk, 1999). Consequently, the sports clubs selected those aspects of their particular sport that they thought children would find to be the most fun, and then invited them to try these elements. However, in a somewhat contradictory response, sports coaches and after-school teachers involved in the activities argued for the importance of children being introduced to how the ‘real’ sport works, including learning formal rules and techniques.

I have argued that it [the activity session; authors’ note] should be true to reality, and when they… if they, will start… that it’s the same feeling. That it was this we did…eh… not that it is the physique that’s most important, but that it should be like in reality. It’s not like… of course it’s going to be fun, but it’ll still be reality. – Coach (Floorball club, Partnership 1)

This way of learning a sport was contrasted with how sports were performed in more playful ways within the school environment. Although they were not professionals, sports coaches were seen as the experts who could demonstrate the correct ways of performing their particular sport, while school staff, even the physical education teacher, were described as less competent in this matter. Consequently, visits from sports clubs were a prerequisite in order for the children to develop a conception of their expanding ecological environment and, subsequently, learn ‘real’ sports.

Further methods included demonstrating as huge a range of activities as possible in order for the children to find ‘their sport.’ A recurring idea expressed and linked to this was that one sport does not fit all, but that there is a sport for everyone.

[…] they should be able to see the whole range of what is available and not just eh… what there is exactly where they live. Rather, that there are many different. ‘Ok, so horse-riding may not be for me, maybe I should try judo instead.’ That is what I mean, to get the opportunity to find your own sport. You can try many different. – Civil Servant (Local authority, Partnership 1)

Related to this is the strategy used to showcase only the sports that are available in the vicinity of the children’s living environments. However, merging these two ideas of presenting a wide range of sports but limiting this range to those available in the geographic area leads to contradictions since, due to macro-level social and economic structures, there was only a small range of sports clubs in the suburban and rural areas where the programmes were held.

Another important modification mentioned by the respondents was to strengthen the enabling factors in terms of minimising objective barriers such as fees, geographic distance, and material requirements. The general guiding principle was that the programme activities should be located within children’s microsystems, such as school environments or residential areas, and that the maximum economic resource requirements for participating should be ordinary sportswear and trainers. However, it was unclear how these modifications would promote transitions into regular activities.

If you are on a ‘Fun Games’ occasion and find an interest, then you should be able to continue without it having to cost anything really, for a period. Well… I don’t know if there is an exact time period expressed but… If you become more interested in that sport later on, of course you have to become a member and so on but … – Executive Director (Sports District Federation, Partnership 3).

Finally, a kind of social transition process was described as an important function of the activities to link children with sports clubs. Most important, according to the respondents, was to build a social relationship between the child and the coaches in the club.

You know, it can be very difficult to get contact; you may not come to a club just like that. If you take ‘Fun Games,’ for instance, it’s very welcoming. It is easier for everyone who may feel insecure, instead of coming in directly to the club. – Coach (Cricket club, Partnership 3)

This final method may be seen as a strategy to promote the interaction between enabling and predisposing factors by making children feel more confident about entering a sports club and thus increasing the accessibility to it.

In summary, conceptions of methods included modifying enabling factors in the introductory phase, mainly in terms of increasing accessibility to existing sports club activities through the programmes. That is, modifications were described only in relation to the alternative sports programmes and not in relation to the sports club’s regular activities. In fact, this line of thinking and the related methods do not imply any change regarding either the individual child’s development or the regular practices of sports clubs. The underlying idea seems to be that the children already have the individual characteristics and predisposing factors required to become members of the sports clubs. Thereby, all that is needed is to configure several enabling factors, primarily in regard to ‘organizing the meeting’ between the child and the sports club.

Awakening the inherent desire to move by targeting motor skills

In this second conception of what the programmes aim to achieve, developing children’s enjoyment of physical activity was central. This broader perspective did not view engagement in sports clubs as the necessary end goal for children participating in the activities. Rather, being physically active may imply engaging in a variety of activities throughout the life course.

Here we have the opportunity to like, lay the foundation of, what to say… a way of living – Project manager (Sports District Federation, Partnership 4)

I think there is another purpose too; it’s not only the sports clubs… It’s actually the fact that these children get to try to be active so that they get, like, this health perspective. – Executive Director (Sports District Federation, Partnership 1)

This conception of the aim being to awaken children’s inherent desire to move was also related to certain methods. A central tenet of this conception was that the activities should offer occasions for children to develop physical competence, which is thus an enabling factor for physical activity (Welk, 1999). In programme guidelines, there were formulations stating that the activities should, for instance, ‘Give children the opportunity to practice mastering the body through motor exercises.’ Thus, it was assumed that children who did not possess a basic level of physical competence would not enjoy physical activity in the long run, which is a more radical standpoint regarding the importance of competence than that expressed by Welk (1999). From this perspective, the activity itself was not as important as the fact that it could create joyful experiences that resulted from some kind of sports-related physical activity. The aim was to provide less-interested children with compatible environments and challenges that would not only increase their possibility for participation but were also capable of providing proximal processes promoting the development of physical competence.

Furthermore, although enjoyment is a core element of this conception, how or why children who might otherwise avoid physical activity would enjoy movement in these particular activities was not stated. The descriptions given by the organisation representatives emphasised reinforcing factors in regard to the importance of conveying the pleasure of movement or helping children to realise this by, in some way, influencing them.

What we have chosen to focus on… is actually the age group that we think, or I think, is the easiest to influence. And that is up to 13, 12–13 years. They are in a phase where they have not yet arrived at that stage of development where they think they know more than they actually do know, so to speak. – Project manager (Sports District Federation, Partnership 4)

This kind of argument can be interpreted as reflecting a view that while children are still young, they do not know what is best for them, and therefore, it is possible to make them aware that they actually might enjoy physical activity.

This health-promoting perspective was evident among all partnership organisations, although it was obvious that it was more of a theoretical construct than an actual practice. According to the project managers, sports coaches were free to organise their sessions as they pleased without someone following up to check on how they were conducted. As their work was based on voluntary engagement, it was considered inappropriate to make any strong demands. This resulted in sports clubs implementing sessions in a variety of ways.

A lot of it has been like a PE class where they have organized some exercises and games. Eh… and some have been more at play level. Like, freely maybe. And some have been really well-structured. So it has been a mixture of physical activity and, uh… advertising for them. – After-school teacher (School, Partnership 1)

How the sports clubs chose to design their sport-sampling sessions depended on their objectives and preconditions. Although the notion of awakening children’s inherent desire to be physically active by focussing on the enabling factor of developing their motor skills was strong conceptually among the partners, they also highlighted challenges in regard to putting this into practice.

Transforming sports clubs by providing an exercise arena

The third and final conception about the objective of these alternative sports programmes was found primarily among representatives from Sports District Federations and local authorities, i.e. the partners acting at the exolevel in the children’s ecological environment (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Unlike the previous two conceptions, this one aims at change on the organisational level rather than on the intrapersonal level – and, thereby, on the microenvironments in which children are expected to engage in physical activity.

You have to make the clubs understand that you can do other things than just the competition-oriented sport. We have a huge number of children and young people who think it is great fun with sports but not with participating in the competitions. And who says that the ones who like to compete should be the core of the club? You could actually say… ‘Come on and join freely, one day a week.’ That might as well be the regular business. – Business Manager (Sports District Federation, Partnership 4).

In line with this health-promoting perspective, representatives from Sports District Federations and local authorities expressed that the alternative sports programmes should focus on these aspects as well and, especially, that they should provide children with movement experiences.

You might not just look at what is just in front of your nose –to get more members. Because you might achieve something else. […]. That they understand that just because they did not come to their particular club does not mean that it was a waste of time. On the contrary, they actually contribute to something. The desire to move maybe? – Executive Director (Sports District Federation, Partnership 1)

This conception includes expanding the horizons of recruitment, and it was repeatedly linked to the idea that there was a ‘new way of organizing sports.’ What stakeholders within the sports and physical activity sector should be aiming at, according to this view, is the recruitment of children into the world of physical activity rather than into a specific sport. To do this, clubs must provide environments where the development of a wide range of movements and skills is possible. Moreover, it was argued that these kinds of alternative programmes should function as arenas where such health-promoting strategies can be tested.

One has to start talking about a new way of looking at competition and training. And it has been so fortunate many times that it is exactly what the ‘Fun Games’ and the clubs associated offer, and even what ‘Your sport’ offers, I think. – Executive Director (Sports District Federation, Partnership 4)

Furthermore, the methods applied in these programmes were seen as models to be implemented on a larger scale.

After all, the goal is obviously within our strategy that the Swedish sports movement should become some form of ‘Your sport’ as well. – Project Manager (Sports District Federation, Partnership 4)

Two sets of strategies used to stimulate the work of transforming clubs could be distinguished through the discussions with the partnership organisations. The first one was primarily about educating sports clubs in health promotion and broadening their perspectives by providing courses and good examples, and organising networks for experience-sharing. Second, Sports District Federations and local authorities developed guidelines that were linked to funding opportunities. These guidelines function as tools for governing the direction of the partnership’s activities and, thus, offer an example of how factors in the exosystem influence microsystems related to physical activity development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

[…] we've talked a lot about this with getting the young people active, to get the interest going. But it is not enough when you just do it as a selective measure. I think we should push a little extra on that aspect in the future – the daily activity. – Civil Servant (Local authority, Partnership 4)

When sports coaches discussed this subject, they expressed a somewhat ambivalent attitude. On the one hand, they were clearly engaged in children’s physical and health development; for many of them, this was a core motivation for working as a coach in the first place. On the other hand, as representatives of sports clubs dependent on paying members, they experienced problems with their boards when they argued for participating in these programmes based solely on health-promoting incentives.

I can only speak for the clubs… and we have to fill the sports hall. After all, we have to get children there. It is not free; we rent the hall for 25,000 SEK per year from the municipality. […] So, it is about survival for sports to exist. […] Although we are now talking about children enjoying movement… this must be our foundation also, of course. – Coach (Badminton club, Partnership 2)

Later in the focus group, based on a question about recruitment from another actor in the partnership, the same coach argued:

Coach:

But movement and sport are not just about them [the children; authors’ note] being in the clubs subsequently. Rather, it is the side effect that they want to be active. It is not important whether they are in clubs; they may be more active generally.

Assistant Principal:

Well, so it may be. But I’m thinking because it’s your goal…

Coach:

I will not be disappointed if you find out, at least in our case, that there are very few coming. But you might get other effects.

Although coaches may be willing to act in ways that aim to promote the development of children as physically active individuals, their formal position within the partnership does not permit them to engage fully in this task since they have to justify their participation in the programmes from a financial perspective.

Taken together, this final conception of the objective of alternative sports programmes is, first and foremost, prevalent among the partners operating at the exolevel and, moreover, a question of changing sports club environments at the microlevel in order to advance public health goals regarding physical activity. In this vein, the contradiction between the two previously described conceptions becomes evident as, in the end, it becomes a question of how sports clubs choose to design the developmental settings that the activities constitute.

Discussion

Three main objectives were expressed by the partnership organisations as valid for the alternative sports programmes. Each of these objectives represents different components of the multileveled developmental process towards becoming a physically active person and, subsequently, being able to participate in organised sports (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Welk, 1999). The idea of organising demonstration events or special days that allow children to sample sports in order to bring clubs and children together constitutes an important function for promoting enabling factors, primarily in terms of increased accessibility and supportive environments (Welk, 1999). However, the way the partnerships are constructed and their activities carried out fails to take into consideration the full scope of the developmental process, in particular, to consider the significance of children’s predisposing factors in a practical manner (Welk, 1999). Using the language of the YPAPM, the question of why children do not answer yes when asking themselves ‘Am I able?’ and ‘Is it worth it?’ are never raised by the organisations involved. As these programmes, in fact, aim at reaching less-active children, they function as compensation for reinforcing factors in these children’s home environments (Evans & Davies, 2010; Welk, 1999). The reinforcing factors lay the foundation for predisposing factors such as belief systems and perceived competence. Thus, programmes need to target predisposing factors by enabling children to engage in proximal processes that make the development of these factors possible (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). This seems even more important as previous studies have shown that less physically active children report that they rarely find themselves in learning environments that enable proximal processes related to physical activity (Högman et al., 2020).

Rather, the explicitly prevailing conception is that all that is needed for children to become members of sports clubs is to open their eyes, either to the wide range of sports available or to the world of physical activity and movement. If the assumption made is that children already have the predisposing factors required, the method of ‘luring’ children into sports through modified activities becomes rational. However, this notion occasionally breaks down as representatives reflect on programmes’ actual opportunities to reach inactive children, especially, and, subsequently, to get them into sports clubs. Clearly and in line with previous studies (Carlman & Augustsson, 2016; Eime et al., 2015), sports clubs have realised that the transition from programmes to clubs does not occur in any large number. Instead, they are hoping that children will be influenced in other ways, such as gaining a desire to be physically active through the development of skills (enabling factor), and that this resource will later be generalised to other micro settings (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Welk, 1999).

The idea of providing an arena for the transformation of sports clubs was, first and foremost, a conception present at the exolevel. However, if such a change occurs only under the label of alternative sports programmes, the risk is that the focus is shifted from real change within the sports movement in general. Regardless of the extent to which the activities are adjusted in order to include children, they will not be able or willing to transfer to sports clubs as long as the same barriers continue to exist (Carlman & Augustsson, 2016; Eime et al., 2015). It simply does not matter whether the environment for the alternative sports activities makes a child feel capable enough to participate if the sports club environment they would transfer to does not. The observation made by the partners that few children transfer from programmes to sports clubs provides support for the YPAPM that enabling factors alone do not lead to sports participation and that, in addition, targeting predisposing factors is necessary. As inactive children may never reach the same physical standards as active children, environments in which competence is self-evaluated need to be adjusted in a way that maintains their enjoyment (Welk, 1999).

Considered in light of the trend towards joined-up governance (Carey & Crammond, 2015), where public health issues such as children’s physical inactivity are meant to be addressed collaboratively with civil society as a central actor, it is reasonable to expect that organisations dependent on public funds (local authorities, of course, but Sports District Federations also rely heavily on public funds) use their available means to reach objectives linked to the funds – in this case, aiming to transform the way physical activity is provided at the microlevel. Beneficial for the idea of joined-up working, it is obvious that there is a general willingness among all the partnership organisations to focus on developing children’s predisposing factors and not only on providing an imagined stepping stone into organised sports. However, problematic is the fact that macrosystem structures do not facilitate such work in practice, primarily in terms of the working conditions of unpaid sports coaches. As long as their incentive is to increase the paying member base of the sports club, short-term recruitment strategies will be the primary focus at the microlevel (Harris & Houlihan, 2016; Skille & Stenling, 2018). Being able to create environments that address children’s predisposing factors requires not only long-term perspectives but also salaried staff who are relieved of the pressure from their boards and who can, thereby, focus on children and their individual development. Thus, in order for authentic joined-up working to succeed, institutional change is a must. Considering the interdependency of sports clubs, local authorities, and Sports District Federations, this is a change that needs to happen across organisations (Carey & Crammond, 2015).

Methodological limitations also apply to this study. Although a holistic theoretical frame was utilised, data reported here are only based on the organisations’ perspectives, that is, one part of the theoretical model. Consequently, within this single study, we have not been able to capture interactions between the developing children and their environment in terms of the conceptual base of alternative sports programmes. A further limitation is that the studied programmes are relatively newly established (2–4 years) which means that the respondents’ conceptions might not be fully consolidated as they have not been completely implemented and evaluated. Statements are therefore based on relatively limited experiences from these specific programmes.

Conclusions

Applying an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and the YPAPM (Welk, 1999), this study has contributed with knowledge of how targeting children’s predisposing factors is not included in the partner organisations’ conceptions of what should be achieved in alternative sports programmes. Thus, programmes fail to provide appropriate environments in which children are likely to develop from being physically inactive to active. The underlying problem is the fact that the executors’ (the coaches in the sports clubs) involvement in the programmes is institutionally based on increased inflow to the associations and not on physical development of children. The implication of this is that programmes will keep being arranged and will continue striving to reach and include non-associated children without actually providing them with sufficient resources to transition to a physically active lifestyle. This will affect children from low SES areas the most since it is this group, to a higher degree, that lacks reinforcing factors such as parental support, which heavily influences predisposing factors (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Welk, 1999).

Furthermore, while actors on the exolevel argue that sports clubs need to change their ways of working, sports clubs themselves do not consider health promotion as their core business and are, therefore, taking part in programmes as an additional effort that will bring economic benefits to the core business (Harris & Houlihan, 2016; Skille & Stenling, 2018). As long as this change does not occur and programmes continue without focussing on developing physically active children, the situation of few children transitioning to sports clubs will continue. In worst case, organising alternative programmes continues to function as compensation for not being able to address barriers to regular activities in clubs and thus risks only moving the focus away from real change.

The practical implication of this is that partnerships of this kind that are publicly funded should take greater responsibility for addressing children’s predisposing factors. At a time when an increasing amount of the work of making children ‘appropriately embodied’ is done outside of school (Evans & Davies, 2010, p. 771) and welfare challenges are expected to be tackled through joined-up working, there is a need for partnerships like these to seriously consider how they can contribute to equality in the development of physically active children. The way forward, as we see it, is to link these programmes to the late pre-school and primary school years and to design them as regular activities distinct from direct recruitment by sports clubs that, instead, promote additional enjoyment-oriented physical education.

In line with the notion of joined-up working (Carey & Crammond, 2015) and through the collaborative nature where schools, civil society (sports), and local authorities cooperate, these partnership programmes provide good conditions for making more efforts based on an ecological model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Welk, 1999). At school, there is the opportunity to work with children’s self-evaluation processes and also belief systems such as knowledge about the importance of physical activity among both children (predisposing factors) and their parents (reinforcing factors). Enabling factors may be enhanced by civil society/sports associations and local authorities. The former may focus on opening up pathways for those children who are interested in physical activity in the form of sports. Local authorities, in turn, should work towards multi-faceted and inclusive facilities and outdoor landscapes. Such efforts have the potential to lead to children both being and becoming physically active in partnership programmes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Some of these were, juridically, the same organization, but the representatives worked in separate departments with different programs.