Background Studies investigating postural orientation in uninjured youth athletes are scarce. Understanding how postural orientation during functional performance tests change with age in uninjured athletes has the potential to enhance awareness of changes in performance after injury and to set realistic goals for injured athletes. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore postural orientation during functional tasks at early adolescence, and changes in postural orientation from early to middle adolescence and relate this to sex, type of sport and right leg lean body mass (RLLBM). Methods In this cohort study 144 (38% female) youth athletes (mean age 13.5 years, SD 0.3) were included at baseline and 86 of these at follow up 2 years later. Four functional performance tests were visually evaluated for Postural Orientation Errors (POEs) with an ordinal scale, ranging from 0 (good) to 2 (poor), yielding a maximum total POE score of 51, and RLLBM by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results Improvements were observed in the total POE score from baseline to follow-up, median difference - 10 and - 7 (p < 0.001) for female and male athletes, respectively. At follow-up, female athletes had lower total POE score (median 18) than males (median 24) (p = 0.01). There were no differences in POE scores between sports type (team, individual, aesthetic) (p = 0.20-0.98) and no relationship between total POE score and RLLBM (r(s) = 0.09, p = 0.42). Conclusions POEs appear to be quite common in young athletic population, but improvements are achieved over time. At mid-adolescence, female athletes seem to have less POEs than males. Neither sport type nor RLLBM seem to influence postural orientation.

The dismantling of the amateur rules of Swedish football in 1967 initiated the professionalization of the game in Sweden. This article analyses the impact and consequences of this development by using a comparative approach based on an examination of two clubs. The expected domination by Malmo FF in the new professionalized era is contrasted with the most unexpected success achieved by Hammarby IF The paradoxical differences in the recent histories of these clubs reveal a differentiated picture of Swedish soccer professionalism.

The last chapter introduces a methodological tool for analyzing social entrepreneurship in a sport policy context, built on a number of steps in relation to the five theses. This tool has become useful in the research process as well as being valuable when communicating the analysis. On the basis of the seven cases, a comparison is conducted in which similarities but also differences between the cases are identified and analyzed.

The aim of this article is to discuss ethical dilemmas that occur in doing research on social entrepreneurial sport ventures. Three cases that highlight ethical dilemmas in research on social entrepreneurship and sport are presented and ethically reflected upon. The data comprise interviews with representatives, field notes from observations and analyses of documents concerning the ventures. Three things make research in this area extra problematic: first, ‘social good’ in social entrepreneurship and sport implies a normative perspective. It is permeated by ideology and ethics. Second, what is considered as ‘social good’ may differ between sectors of society as the entrepreneur crosses boundaries. What is valid as a resource and capital in one sector might not be so in another one, and what is legal within one sector may be illegal in another. Third, social entrepreneurs may have their own intentions with regard to participating in research, which may challenge our credibility as researchers. Therefore, we need, as professionals, to take a step back and be both critical of our work and make this criticism visible, which is to some extent what we are doing by writing this article.

When researching sport and social entrepreneurship, several ethical dilemmas may arise. The authors highlight the importance of being aware of these. By examining four sport-related cases, this chapter explores some of the ethical dilemmas that researchers might face. The authors conclude that the entrepreneurs may prefer not to be anonymous informants in research ventures, that they may become part of the brand and the branding process, and that the researchers, on their part, have to navigate in different sectors of society and thus run the risk of being accused of becoming accomplices in the venture.

This article is about sport and social entrepreneurship as a challenge to the Swedish Sport movement.

Throughout the anthology, a number of cases illustrating the authors’ understanding of social entrepreneurship are used. The reason for choosing these particular cases is that they are heterogeneous, e.g., in terms of location, history, organization, preconditions and size, and that they represent various aspects of social entrepreneurship in sport. In this chapter, a description of the cases introduced in chapter three, except KIOSK, is presented, including Enjoy water, Equestrian ventures, Football for integration, Mapping orienteering, Pre-emptive activity and The sports club on the island.

Skolans verksamhet är ständigt i fokus och föremål för mångas tänkande och tyckande. Alla är eller har på något sätt varit berörda av den. Skolan är en komplex verksamhet, som skall uppfylla både samhällets och individens behov och krav. Verksamheten studeras och utvärderas för att göra den så givande och bra som möjligt för varje enskild individ. I ett skolämne som Idrott och hälsa finns även en tydlig relation till föreningsliv (idrott) och en betydelse för samhället (hälsa). På senare tid har ett ökat antal studier fokuserat på ämnet och dess förutsättningar och effekter. Många av dessa studier har koncentrerat sig på lärares/elevers uppfattning av verksamheten och är inte i första hand studier av de processer som sker i själva verksamheten. Det finns således ett behov av kunskap om de organiserade lärandesituationerna i skolan. Syftet med projektet är att, med den organiserade lärandesituationen i centrum, dvs., lektionen i Idrott och hälsa, studera och beskriva olika faktorer som påverkar skeendet, och en central del är att studera det faktiska skeendet. Lärarnas och elevernas förståelse för och erfarenhet av idrott och ämnet Idrott och hälsa utgör en andra del av studien. En tredje del syftar till att belysa de sociala sammanhang elever och lärare befinner sig i med hänsyn bland annat till kön och social bakgrund.

The relationship between birth quarter distribution and physiological characteristics related to athletic skills, in adolescent sport academy students has not been fully investigated. In a cross-sectional study, we recruited 86 boys and 52 girls aged 12-14 years during their first term at a sport academy school. We measured body size, cardiac size, pulmonary function, body composition, lower body power, cardiorespiratory fitness parameters, and running endurance by standard methods and analyzed these estimates in relation to birth quarter by ANOVA. Birth quarter distribution in our cohort was compared with birth quarter distribution in the same ages in the whole of Sweden and analyzed by logistic regression. The academy had an overrepresentation of students born in the first quartile of the year compared to those born in the last quartile (odds ratio 2.3 (95% CI: 1.1-4.7)). When comparing the physiological characteristics between birth quarters, uniformity is prominent since out of 26 performed physiological and anthropometric tests only four showed statistically significant group differences. We thus believe that the selection process to the sport academy favours athletes with higher chronological age, i.e., a so-called relative age effect is present.

The aim of this article is to outline a theoretical framework for how the concept of trust can be used as analytical tool for a study of the aim, design, output and societal legitimacy of a Swedish welfare programme conducted to reduce disparities in health and social inequities and to give newborn a positive start in life. This programme, labelled Grow Safely, implies that home visits will be conducted at six occasions at first-time parents by different professionals: child health care nurses, midwifes, dental hygienists and counsellors from the social services. Prior to when the intervention is carried out, the involved professionals in the programme will be participating in training in order to increase the possibility that the home visits will be carried out in similar ways and be followed the same manual throughout the programme.

The welfare programme will be based on relationships on different levels: between professionals and parents, between different professionals, between professionals and managers, and between organisations. Trust is believed to be of significance for the development of relationships as well as for the social legitimacy of the implantation of welfare programmes. Therefore, our ambition is to embrace a broad perspective on trust, combining insights from a variety of research traditions and analyses on macro, meso and micro levels in the outline a model for how the concept of trust can be used as an analytical tool for studying welfare programmes like Grow Safely. We argue for that the model can capture the significance of trust at different levels: individual, professional, organisational and societal levels as well as interplays between these levels, and consequently be useful in to analyse implementations of welfare programmes.

Idrottslyftet har allt mer blivit en del av förbundens ordinarie verksamhet. Satsningen har öppnat dörrarna för fler, men få har klivit över tröskeln. En stor del av medlen har hamnat i stora idrotter och hos de socioekonomiskt välmående i tätbefolkade kommuner.

The purpose of the chapter is to describe and analyse the development of the Swedish sport model in relation to the development of the Swedish Social Democracy and the welfare state in order to explain the strong position of the Swedish Sport Confederation. The sport model is problematised as several conflicting ideas have and continue to influence the model, including the notion of 'Sport for all', elite sport, voluntarism, amateurism, professionalisation and commercialisation. In addition, societal expectations regarding competencies that children and young people should learn and develop while participating in organised sports will be elucidated and problematised. Finally, the sport model will be discussed in relation to patterns of gender relations.

Physical activity (PA) has been associated with several health benefits in children, while inactivity has been associated with various diseases. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 60 minutes of PA per day for children, but only 20% of 11 to 17‐year‐old children achieve this. A better understanding of the socio‐ecological factors that underlie PA habits may lead to more effective interventions that increase childhood PA.

Teachers in Physical Education and Health explores the subject

This is an anthology on practice-related research in the subject Physical Education and Health in Sweden.

This article discusses knowledge creation in Norwegian football, how and to what extent work is done to externalise and preserve tacit knowledge at association and club level, and the differences in approach to knowledge management at those two levels. It is based on a qualitative research design with fourteen interviews. Five of the interviewees work for the Norwegian Football Association (Norges Fotballforbund, NFF), and nine of them work in two leading clubs. The theoretical starting point for the study is Nonaka’s (1994) Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory. The results of the study show that at both association and club level cultural norms for knowledge creation exist in varying degrees. Tacit knowledge is based on a selection of experiences drawn largely from the world of football in which different career patterns, education and work experience contribute to variation in the process of knowledge creation. There are also organisational cultures at both association and club level which are well suited to this kind of knowledge creation. These cultures manifest themselves in cultural norms and rules for the social contexts in which knowledge is created. These include coaches’ meetings and observation at the training ground. There are a number of challenges for the development of good knowledge creation practices in Norwegian football. The most significant one relates to the ability of the organisational culture to record new knowledge in written form. This ability is either totally lacking or exists in a form which is only effective for the transmission of established knowledge. The way the association and the clubs create written records is critical for further progress. As the association is at the top of the hierarchy and sets the direction for clubs at grass-roots level, the way it records knowledge has consequences which go beyond its own culture.

Samhällets förhoppningar på idrottens förmåga att integrera är högt ställda och rimliga - om utsatta grupper har möjlighet att delta. Men nedskurna bidrag har både förstärkt elitiseringen och minskat tillgängligheten.

In 2003, the Swedish government made a “handshake” (Handslaget) with the The Swedish Sports Confederation, offering one billion Swedish crowns over a period of four years to local sport clubs in order to create projects that would engage more children in organised sport. One way of doing this was by way of sport clubs collaborating with schools, so that within the school day pupils would be exposed to club sports – either through club instructors coming to the school or the pupils coming to the club facilities. But what happens when an activity constructed on one social field, in Bourdieu’s sense, and according to the specific conditions of that field, is simply lifted over to another social field? The basic aim of school sport is to enable each individual take the responsibility for his or her body in a lifetime perspective, whereas club sport is based on competition and strives towards selection, ranking and elitism. This article is based on an evaluation of all projects taking place within school hours in Malmö during 2005-2006. In relation to the basic goal, formulated unilaterally by the State and the Sports Confederation, that these projects should lead to the activation of children that are not yet physically active, the article argues that the result may be the opposite: the weakening of both the school subject Physical Education and the normal activity of sport clubs.

This chapter is on the consequences of selection and ranking systems within Swedish Childrens- and Youth Sport

Ar svensk idrott kommersialiserad? Det är svårt att entydigt svara vare sig ja eller nej på den frågan. Vissa delar av svensk idrott är idag starkt kommersialiserad, i andra delar lever verksamheten kvar på i stort sett samma villkor som rådde för hela idrottsrörelsen fram till dess att amatörbestämmelserna avskaffades 1967. Går det att besvara frågan genom att göra en bedömning av hur stor del av svensk idrott som är kommersialiserad?

Questions on the relation between sport and society

Forskningsprojektet "De avgörande åren'" studerar idrotten som uppfostringsmiljö. Utgångspunkten är föreningsidrottens utformning och innehåll, samt konsekvenserna härav för att uppnå idrottsrörelsens programmatiska målsättningar samt samhällets mål med stödet till idrotten. Jag skall presentera några resultat från studien, som behandlar selektions- och rangordningsmekanismer.

Behandlar hur dagens behov av utbildningar i sport management har vuxit fram under efterkrigstiden. Syftet är att visa att en förståelse av relationen mellan idrott och samhälle är nödvändig för all utbildning i sport management. Man kan tänka sig ett samhälle utan idrott, men inte idrott utan ett samhälle.

Yksel Osmanovski är en av de första svenska andragenerationsinvandrare som har blivit fotbollsproffs (i italienska Bari). Från Rosengård i Malmö till Bari i Italien är det en lång väg - både geografiskt, socialt och kulturellt.

Detta ser jag som den viktigaste frågan inför framtiden: hur formas ett professionellt handhavande av idrottslig verksamhet utifrån de mål som idrottsrörelsen har och de förutsättningar som idrottens plats i samhället ger?

Idrotten präglades under 1900-talets första del av den principiella amatörism som gav de nordiska ländernas idrottsrörelser deras speciella identitet och karaktär. När Riksidrottsförbundet avskaffade amatörreglerna 1967 öppnade sig den gamla folkrörelseorganisationen mot det moderna samhällets två centrala aktörer - staten och marknaden.

Idrottens framtid i Sverige avgörs i spänningsfältet mellan den traditionella amatöridrotten och arenaidrotten på elitnivå. Leken blir allvar när idrotten professionaliseras. Marknaden ställer krav på regler, sändningstider i TV och idrottarnas dräkter, och idrotten smälter in i den globala underhållningsindustrin.

For several reasons, Landskrona BoIS is a suitable sports association to use as an example to discuss sport as a system for nurturing and education. Today, Landskrona BoIS belongs to the elite of Swedish football. At the same time the organization is largely based on voluntary work, especially within the youth training programme. Thus it constitutes an interesting area of research in order to study the increasing professionalization, capitalization and commercialization of a non‐profit organization, and in particular the role of education, its design and function in this process. This paper tests the supposition that the more professionalized a sports organization becomes, the more their youth training will resemble the public school system. The basis for this supposition is that every professional organization (inside as well as outside sport) strives for a formal, uniform and equivalent education with systematic knowledge of the subjects, a uniform pedagogy and professional teachers, as well as a uniform and consequent grading system.