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Football projects
Football project part 1: Football and Lifestyle Changes for Women
A greater exercise study of inactive women performed at the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen.
The project examines if leisure football is a health promoting activity for untrained, obese and non experienced ballplayers. The sociological study had a focus on what social network meant for the development and adherence of new sports/physical activity habits and for social capital. In total 50 women participated in the project.
Football project part 2: Football as Health Promotion under the auspice of the Municipality
Open Football Fields in the Daytime
In cooperation with Birgitte Krustrup
Football is a versatile, efficient and network-forming type of exercise that provides significant health promoting effects of untrained and overweight. The setting for this study is an offer of “Open municipal football fields in the daytime,” respectively in the municipalities of Copenhagen and Ballerup. The project has both a sociological and a physiological part. “Open football fields” may prove to be a viable alternative for all those who have trouble motivating themselves to go to gyms or to run long distances.
Purpose
The project aims to test whether the concept of open municipal grass fields in the daytime is a good way to recruit inactive, overweight and socially vulnerable people, and to investigate whether participation causes a significant health beneficial effect and network formation. Furthermore, the purpose is to gather experience and provide validated analyses that can form the basis for recommendations on municipal intervention projects with football.
The sociological part
The sociological part aims to clarify who and how many the offer will attach, whether there are gender and social differences and whether there will be differences in the receipt of the two selected municipalities.
It will also be examined how the social relationships between participants develop and how the football offer develops participants' community and network. It will also be examined if some participants who subsequently establishes links to the more established football offers. What kind of fellowship and network forms that occurs in connection with participation will be studied using questionnaires, focus interviews and observations during the fieldwork.
The physiological part
The physiological part is about providing evidence about the football participations health-enhancing benefits of lower fat, increasing muscle mass and improved cardio-vascular fitness. There will in this connection also be measured heart rate during exercise and video recording for a mapping of activity patterns for the various participants.
Project leader for the sociological part
