Image: Andreas Henriksson
Image: Andreas Henriksson
PhD project within the Industrial Doctoral School at Umeå University
The aim of the project is to identify and better understand what key process-, individual-, contextual-, and time factors within a gymnast’s environment that may influence sustained participation and dropout from artistic and rhythmic gymnastics in Sweden.
Industrial Doctoral School, 75 percent
Swedish Gymnastics Federation, 25 percent
Pia Josephson, Swedish Gymnastics Federation, pia.josephson@gymnastik.se
Camilla Knight, Professor, Swansea University, c.j.knight@swansea.ac.uk
Bård Erlend Solstad, Associate Professor, University of Agder, bard.e.solstad@uia.no
Physical activity and sports participation is well known to have several physical, psychological, and social health benefits. Research shows that youth terminate their sporting participation before reaching adolescence, thus not obtaining all health benefits. This is common within most sports, and is shown to be problematic within Swedish artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, especially with high dropout rates after the age of 12.
To better understand why youth choose to terminate their participation from men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, as well as rhythmic gymnastics, this project aims to identify different factors within the gymnast’s environment which might influence their decision to dropout (or continue).
Results from the project will hopefully help the Swedish Gymnastics Federation better understand how to prevent dropout and facilitate sustained participation among male and female artistic and rhythmic gymnasts in the future.
