Participation in street sports - a national study of participation patterns among youth and adults

Abstract

During the last 10–20 years, attention towards street sports has been growing internationally and in Denmark. This includes increasing attention from the main bodies for organised sports in Denmark and the development of initiatives and organisations within the field. Parallel to this, it has become more apparent that there is a general lack of knowledge regarding the participation pattern in street sports and lifestyle sports. This study examines the participation patterns and predictors of participation within seven activities collectively characterised as street sports. The data are drawn from a 2020 cross-sectional survey conducted among people 15 years and older living in Denmark. Results show that street sports activities are popular among youth and young adults, with half of all people aged 15–24 years having practised one of the seven activities. Logistic regression analysis reveals that immigrants of Western and non-western origin show higher odds ratios of practising street sports than ethnic Danes. Another important finding is that a higher level of education shows lower odds ratios of participation opposite the trends found in general research on sports participation patterns. This article reveals how street sports might have the potential to activate people who have been found to be less physically active and thereby contribute to ‘sport for all’. It provides a knowledge base for initiatives regarding the use of street sports as a vehicle for social inclusion in sports.

Keywords:

• Sports participation
• lifestyle sports
• informal sports
• urban
• parkour
• skateboarding
• street dance
• streetball
• street soccer
• street basket
• street sports

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank our colleagues in the ‘Moving Denmark’ project: Bjarne Ibsen, Jens Høyer-Kruse, Lars Breum Christiansen, Thomas V. G. Bredahl, Birgitte W. Dalgas, Eva Berthelsen Schmidt, Anne Faber Hansen, Mette Brandt Eriksen and Henriette Bondo Andersen.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The data utilised in this article was collected as part of the ‘Moving Denmark’ project, which is co-funded by the Nordea-foundation (award number 02-2019-00025). The Nordea-foundation did not influence the collection, analyses or interpretation of data.