Participation in club sports has a positive impact on quality of life, physical and mental health, as well as social integration and involvement in club democracy. However, many members of Danish sports clubs withdraw during their teenage years. This trend is common across all sports, but some sports have a more challenging time retaining young members than others. For example, approximately half of all soccer players between the ages of 13-18 stop playing (equivalent to around 3,000 each year). This dropout is problematic, as it signifies the inability of sports associations to establish teams for youth and senior age groups, and many of these athletes become inactive in their youth and adult lives. Hence there is a need for qualified initiatives to prevent this dropout.
This project aims to identify factors that are crucial for young people's continuation in sports and contribute to the work of sports clubs and associations in reducing dropout among the youth.
This is done through two steps:
- Identifying factors, especially on the team level, that are particularly important for the well-being, motivation, and continuation of young people in club sports.
- Developing research-based recommendations on how club sports can promote the well-being and continuation of young people in sports.
Data will be collected from approximately 175,000 young athletes in about 2,000 clubs across 9 sports associations regarding their well-being and motivation in sports, as well as the team environment. Subsequently, the significance of these factors for continued sports participation in the following year will be examined.
The 9 sports associations participating in the project are Badminton Denmark, the Danish Basketball Federation, the Danish Ball Games Union, the Danish Gymnastics Federation, the Danish Handball Federation, the Danish Equestrian Federation, the Danish Skating Union, the Danish Swimming Union, and the Danish Tennis Federation. In addition to the 9 specialized associations, the project is supported by the Danish Sports Federation and Danish Gymnastics and Sports Associations (DGI).
Timeline
The project was conducted from 2019-2022.
Contact person: Postdoc Peter Elsborg, peter.elsborg@regionh.dk