Physical activity of Sport Sciences students during COVID-19 home confinement

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to better understand the experience of Physical Activity and Sports sciences students from the University of A Coruña (Spain), during the COVID-19 confinement in terms of exercising and physical activity at home. The sample is made up of 65 students (55 men and 10 women) with an average age of 20.8 years. The research is qualitative and a diary was used as an information gathering technique. An inductive content analysis was carried out, based on thematic analysis procedures. Four analysis categories were used, including sport practice at home and sports habits. The results show that there was initial discouragement, since sport is considered as a vital necessity and they were unable to practice it. However, the students looked for solutions and designed exercise routines they could use during the confinement. These exercise routines reflected their sports habits and training knowledge, which enabled them to better cope with confinement.

Keywords:

• physical activity
• physical exercise
• sport
• physical education
• students
• COVID-19
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Table 1. Analysis categories.

Notes

1 Physical education is the name of the corresponding subject in schools in Spain.