Experiencing the ageing body in aquatic physical activity: Participants’ experiences of the ‘Swim for Health’ aquatic activity programme in the North of England.

The social conceptualisation of ageing as a costly health problem can marginalise older adults from physical activity and health practices (Vertinsky 1991, Elias 1982). ‘Swim for Health’ was a four year aquatic activity (AA) intervention completed in the North of England with the primary aim to reduce health inequalities in four target-groups, three of which included older adults. The present study investigated older adults’ perceptions and lived experiences of AA during ‘Swim for Health.’ 22 older adults (>50years) completed semi-structured individual interviews that focussed upon their perceptions and lived experiences of AA. Participants were recruited during ‘Swim for Health,’ although not all participated in AA. Findings were thematically analysed using a figurational framework. Results suggested that participants’ experiences were linked to their perceived ‘aged’ status. Participation in AA brought participants’ awareness of the ageing body to the fore as an object of display, risk and of stigmatisation. Some perceptions of physical or emotional risk were interdependent with past experiences, such as learning to swim. Others originated in the experience of being stigmatised as old and at risk, such as diagnosis of chronic illness, obesity, or self-monitoring the visible signs of ageing. This study indicates older adults understood their ability to participate in AA in relation to physical decline, increasingly limited physiological capacity, and in terms of their aged appearance being put on public display. Therefore, physical activity interventions should consider the preferences of older adults and shift away from considering older adults as patients, moving instead towards a culture of enablement

Assessing and working to overcome perceived barriers to women’s participation in basketball in Lincolnshire

Basketball is sport where the prevalence of patriarchal power relations gives men more opportunities to participate and to monopolise positions of power(Hargreaves, 1992: Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women’s Sports. London: Routledge.). In the UK, women’s participation in basketball in 2008 was only one third of the rate seen among men (Sport England: Active People Survey, 2008). This suggests a gender divide in accessibility to basketball. Moreover, there is a lack of sociological understanding of the needs and perceived barriers among women who wish to participate. Inclusive policies are needed to reduce ethnic, cultural, religious, political and economic barriers among women. This will help to meet the legacy aims of London 2012 (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd, 2008: Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. LOCOG: London.). The principal aim of the present study is to assess women’s perceptions of the sociological barriers to participation in basketball, with a view to developing further competitive and recreational opportunities in a city in the East of England. In the study location there are few opportunities for community-dwelling women to participate in basketball. The only club offering competitive basketball is 33 miles away, creating large restrictions to those with small income and travel restrictions. The project will seek to i. assess perceived barriers to participation current female basketball participants in the area, and then ii. to set up the first all female Basketball team in the study location by offering a free taster session, followed by a series of training sessions. Quantitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, will be conducted to assess their pre-conceptions about accessibility, opportunities and negative experiences within basketball. These data will inform subsequent actions and deliver basketball sessions. Critical success factors include attendance rates and participant satisfaction. Researchers will work alongside the coaches delivering the sessions, the participants, the Lincolnshire Basketball Association and the Basketball Development Officer to create better access and local opportunities

Can the provision of games equipment at school break time increase the physical activity levels of adolescents?

The promotion of physical activity to young people is currently a public health priority due to growing concerns that this group is not sufficiently physically active. Adolescence in particular is characterised with a decline in physical activity levels (Verstraete, et al 2006, Journal of Public Health, 16: 415-419). There exists an increased concern that Physical Education lessons within the National School Curriculum do not assist with this downward trend in activity levels, thus the notion of using school break time to promote physical activity is being explored (Ridgers, et al 2006, Sports Medicine, 36: 359-371). Whilst research has been completed into the use of break time physical activity interventions within primary schools, there is a distinct shortage of work examining the effectiveness of interventions aimed at the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to hence establish if a physical activity intervention delivered in school break time could increase the physical activity levels of adolescents from one secondary school in Lincoln. Emphasis was placed upon evaluating the intervention in order to establish its effectiveness and not merely reporting statistical findings. The research was situated within the critical realist paradigm adopting a subjective epistemology. Following institutional ethics approval, one secondary school was chosen as the case study location. Observations recording adolescents’ physical activity levels were completed during lunch break twice per week for a period of five weeks using the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY). The first two weeks featured no physical activity intervention, whilst the final three weeks involved the provision of games equipment. Structured interviews were completed with adolescents to gain a deeper understanding of the influence and effect of the intervention on physical activity levels. Both data sets were then incorporated to evaluate the effect of the intervention under the RE-AIM Evaluation Framework (Glasgow, et al 1999, American Journal of Public Health, 89: 1322-1327). Findings illustrated that the intervention had no significant impact on break time physical activity levels and that physical activity was limited due to institutional constraints placed by the school. Restraints related to the time available at break time which reduced activity opportunities, especially when considering the time adolescents required to leave and return to lessons. The study thus suggests that it is the school environment as opposed to the activity available which influences adolescents’ physical activity levels at break time

Is gender a learned performance or a performance based on previous sporting experiences? A comparative case study of female university football and rugby athletes in the east midlands

Gender inequality still exists and participation rates within different sports which are adjudged to be masculine or feminine. Previous studies have outlined how gender in sport is contested. However, few studies have attempted to draw a comparison between two sports. Using a Bourdieusian framework, the principal aim of the present study was to explore how playing a masculine sport informs an agent’s construction of femininity in University level football and rugby. An understanding of how participants negotiated the gendered sporting practices and gendering of their bodies was sought. Participants were recruited based on a purposive sampling method where in total, 30 athletes (15 footballers and 15 rugby players) completed a questionnaire. Of this initial sample, 5 participants from each group took part in an unstructured group interview. Both questionnaires and interviews were analysed using the three stage qualitative analysis procedure: data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing; interviews were transcribed and coded using axial thematic analysis. Both rugby and football players faced similar gendered discriminatory experiences from schools, peers and in some cases strong sexist ideologies from teachers. However, due to the hyper masculinity associated within rugby, players faced considerable resistance from external sources - particularly from peers. The development of a specific embodied and gendered habitus within the field of rugby, in particular, and football was described. The findings increases current knowledge regarding female participation within the sports and offers insight into why participation differs between the two sports thus highlight ways to engage more females in these sports

Bowling Boccia on to the map at the University of Lincoln

People who have a disability have traditionally been excluded from different aspects of society like work, education and sports (DePauw and Gavron, 2005: Disability Sports, 15). In recent decades there has been a dramatic change in the extent of this exclusion, as legislation, interventions and programmes have increased the amount of opportunities available to those with a disability (DePauw and Gavron, 2005: Disability Sports, 16). However, even with these changes in recent years the University of Lincoln still provide little sports provision for disability sports and its followers. Therefore the principal aim of this project was to develop and complete a programme evaluation of additional provision of Boccia in the short term, with a view to ensuring long-term provision at the University. The project aimed to increase the awareness of the sport amongst students creating the conditions necessary to start up a club. The project took on a reverse integration approach as reverse integration can serve to promote a better understanding of the actual abilities of people with disability and create an equitable platform for socialisation and competition (Spencer-Cavaliere and Peers, 2011: Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 28, 291-309). As Boccia was a new sport to the university, the project focused on the short term goal of increasing the awareness of the sport amongst the university students but also to increase the interest of starting up a club. This was done by organising, promoting and running an event in which the sport was showcased to the students. A programme theory was developed which enabled us to complete a programme evaluation of the project (Evans and Sleap, 2012: International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 6, 24-38). A re-aim framework contoured outcome measures of this programme evaluation to ensure the validity and effectiveness of the project. Questionnaires were administered to participants in the programme and results suggested the project met initial targets, including; the increased awareness of Boccia, a number of qualified officials and also an interest in a Boccia specific club at the University. The project highlighted that the students at the University of Lincoln are in need of disability sports provision, beyond Boccia. In conclusion the project was able to increase the awareness of Boccia and this was achieved more so by the reverse integration approach that was taken

The disability football player pathway: aiming to improve participation rates at the University of Lincoln

The Lincolnshire FA aims to support players with disabilities play football either as a part of a structured club, a team that plays in the school games, within the Lincolnshire Ability Counts League or more recreationally learning how to play. However, despite the FA’s best efforts and their disability football strategy 2010-2012, only 141,000 disabled players are involved in the game, from a total population of 11 million disabled people in the UK. (The Football Association, 2012, p.12). Indeed, although football is arguably the most popular sport in the country, the participation rates with Lincoln are relatively low. This project presents data from a programme evaluation (Rossi et al 2004, Evaluation: A systematic approach) of a project delivered in partnership with the Lincolnshire county F.A which aimed to investigate the barriers which prevent students which are partially sighted, blind, or those that suffer cerebral palsy, from participating in football. Furthermore, the study aimed to evaluate the impact of football taster sessions designed to increase participation among disabled children through the use of the ‘Mars play’ scheme. This scheme provides qualified coaches, who set up a football session for an hour, with no commitments for the players. However, the intention is that, if players were talented enough, they could be directed into of the disability player pathway in local player development centres. The primary aim of this research was to complete a programme evaluation of the scheme in order to investigate whether it met disabled students’ expectations of disability football during the ‘Mars Play’ scheme at the University of Lincoln. Participants completed questionnaires which aimed to discover why participants’ perceived barriers to participation in disability football, what is preventing them from playing, whether they were aware of how they can begin to participate and is whether they perceived disability football to be an appropriate activity for them. Once the results from the questionnaires had been analysed, interviews were completed with participants in the scheme in order to assess their perceptions of disability football, and to examine whether their perceived barriers had been addressed by our actions. With regards to the programme evaluation, the data will take both quantitative and qualitative forms with the intention of discovering whether or not the project met the intended aims. The implications of study findings were discussed in relation to the FA’s strategy for inclusion in disability football

‘Changing it up’: the lived experiences of a wheelchair sport intervention amongst secondary school pupils aged 11-12 in Lincolnshire

Despite recent developments, related to adapted physical activity programs, much is still needed to enhance the contributions these programs make toward rearticulating conceptions of disability (Fitzgerald, 2005). Research often suggests that a superficial belief in traditional, ‘normalised’ physical education habiti is held within schools and is rarely questioned. Sport integration typically focuses on either the inclusion of disabled individuals within traditionally able-bodied sports, or the inclusion of disability sports as separate events within mainstream sport (Nixon, 2007). Based on this, a call to look beyond typical strategies of adaption and integration has been made, with an aim to identifying innovative methods to question dominant conceptions regarding disability and disability sport (Fitzgerald, 2005). The key aim of this study was to investigate changes in secondary school pupils’ perceptions of disability sport during a Lincolnshire County Sports Partnership intervention entitled ‘The LSP Wheelchair Sports Project.’ The intervention utilised a reverse-integration method of delivery, incorporating wheelchair basketball into pupils PE lessons for a 12 week period. Bourdieu’s theoretical standpoint was used to provide theoretical foundation for the study while Chris Shillings work (2003) provided context specific, theoretical foundation to explain potential perceptions of participants prior to the intervention. 50 pupils aged between 1 and 12 took part in this research. All pupils, regardless of physical status, took part in the intervention. Semi-embedded ethnographic observations were made over the 12 week intervention period at one school in the city of Lincoln. This highlighted key behaviour themes among pupils which were then discussed in guided group interviews. Guided group interviews with 40 of participants highlighted pupils perceptions of disability and disability sport prior to the intervention. They also provided pupils with an opportunity to discuss their experiences of the intervention and thus any potential perceptual changes

The importance of parents and teachers as stakeholders in school-based healthy eating programs

Schools have a crucial role for promoting and establishing healthy behaviors early in the life-course. In recent years, a substantial effort and resources have been invested in attempts to change the 'food culture' in schools in westernized societies. Large school-based programs which promote healthy eating often utilize an ecological model for instigating behavior change amongst school children. An ecological model is a set of comprehensive intervention strategies that target a multitude of factors which influence the eating practices of children in the school setting. The cultural issues that necessitate these healthy eating programs mean that interventions are not without challenges to their application and effectiveness particularly as they rely on collaboration between stakeholders: teachers, parents, public health practitioners, policy makers and more. The stakeholder input and relations are key parts of planning, implementing and evaluating complex health promotion and education programs in schools. This commentary will outline the importance of considering both teachers and parents as influencing agents or 'enablers' in the process of creating change in this context. Parental perceptions and teachers’ insights are critical for underpinning intervention feasibility, acceptability and performance. Their perceptions and understandings can provide ground-level and highly applicable expertise and importantly motivate children in the school environment. The philosophical principles behind parent and teacher integration into formal program evaluation are discussed, providing a theoretical basis for program evaluation. Recommendations are made for policy makers, researchers and professional evaluation experts’ to consider and integrate these stakeholders in future programs

Bowled out for a duck before picking up a bat: identifying women’s perceived barriers and lived experiences of cricket within the City of Lincoln

Gender inequality in sport has received significant attention from sports development initiatives and sociologists of sport. Gender inequality describes the structuring of aspects of society that favours one gender over another. Feminist academic literature is heavily focused around how the inequality is perpetuated in society (Hargreaves, J. (2000) Heroines of Sport: ‘The politics of difference and identity’. London: Routledge.). The prevalence of gender inequality is reflected in women’s participation levels in typically masculine sports such as cricket. Approximately 0.08% of the female population take part in cricket in the UK, which suggests there are inherent barriers to women’s participation (Sport England, 2011, Active People Survey 2011). This problem is something that has been highlighted as a substantial aim that the legacy of the 2012 London Olympics can help overcome (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympics games Ltd (2008) Diversity and Inclusion strategy). The present study builds on previous work to increase opportunities for women to participate in cricket (Hibberd et al 2011; ‘Not Just a Boys Game’: Programme evaluation of a multi-agency cricket intervention designed to reduce gender inequity in a city in the East of England.’Paper presented at the student BASES 2011 conference). The principal aim of this study is to investigate the perceived barriers that active women feel prevent or inhibit their participation in cricket. A case study approach will be adopted, focusing on six women’s community and University sports clubs in Lincoln, in conjunction with Lincolnshire Cricket board (LCB). Women will be recruited from an array of social backgrounds, with different abilities, ages and experiences of sport. A mixed method approach utilising both questionnaires and semi-structured group interviews will be employed (Bryman, A. (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London: Routledge). A theory driven approach to understanding women’s perceived barriers to participation in cricket will be adopted. The project will enable researchers to gain a better understanding of the reasons why women find access to certain sports easier than others. This information will allow researchers to make recommendations for widening participation in women’s cricket, with a view to increasing the viability of women’s participation in cricket locally