Research articles

What happens when street sports are organized away from the street? Consequences of the greater organization for street sports as movement and culture phenomenon

December 13, 2021

Magnus Kolind & Lars Domino Østergaard
Sport and Social Sciences, Department of Health Science and Technology,
Aalborg University

In Demark, lifestyle sports as parkour, skateboarding and street basketball are as street sports characterized as self-organized activities with an alternative movement practice, which are performed in city spaces at street level, and often is related with a specific cultural practice. Due to an enhanced interest in street sports during the last decades, these types of activities are becoming more organized and have been moved from the city spaces into more formalized in-door facilities. To gain insight in the development of street sports and what impact this development have had for the sport, this qualitative multi case study investigates the consequences of the greater organization for street sports as movement and culture phenomenon.

With inspiration in a narrative approach, the data is collected through individual semi-structured interviews with six street sports organizations: Concrete Culture, GAME, House of Concrete, Street Movement, The Boss and The National Platform for Street Sports. Based on the development in organization of street sports, this study has identified determinants, which have consequences for street sports as movement and culture phenomenon, including consequences for the original culture and values of street sports. Despite the greater organization, street sports in Denmark are not necessarily in a locked and stagnated position. Therefore, based upon discussion of our findings, street sports have not been organized away from the street, but are still a dynamic and developing phenomenon, which from a street perspective can influence the development and help create innovation in greater organized communities and organizations.

Click here to read this peer reviewed article in Danish, in Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum Vol. 12, 2021

MAGNUS KOLIND has a master’s degree in Sports Science from Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University. Researching lifestyle and street sports, and cultural analysis of sports, his primarily research interest includes new tendencies in street sports and sports clubs, including how a sports culture can create and develop social communities. He has experiences of street sports as street basketball player and volunteer, instructor, team leader and project coordinator in sports clubs, DGI and GAME.

LARS DOMINO ØSTERGAARD, ph.d., is an Associate Professor at the Department for Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University. Researching joy of movement, motivation, and mental well-being due to sports and other forms of physical activity, his primary research interest is how it is possible to motivate children and adolescent to be more physical active, and how joy of movement can affect engagement and learning in for example physical education and in lifestyle sports. He has recently evaluated Street Attack Tour, which was a Danish lifestyle project hosted by DGI, where especially students’ interest and engagement in lifestyle sport as a part of their physical education were investigated. As a researcher at Aalborg University, he is a senior member of the research group Sport and Social Issues.