Idrott som mötesplats : En kvalitativ studie om invandrarungdomars möte med svensk föreningsidrott

Sammanfattning: Youth with foreign background is a group left out in the Swedish sports associations. The aim of the study is to understand what is often happening in the meeting of the youth with foreign background and the Swedish sports associations. Nine interviews have been carried out with boys and girls participating in the same sports team. The results have shown that there are some gender differences due to how their surrounding sees them. It is also shown that girls with foreign background have much lower representation in their team compared to boys. The conclusion is that it is very important for the youth to participate in the Swedish sports associations, with special emphasis on the significance of the relation between them and their leaders. However, barriers due to the cultural and language differences make the integration complicated. Nevertheless, sports activities themselves are very important for the youth with foreign background and play an important role in their social and cultural life and support their learning skills. Of vital importance is also the possibility of social getting together that sports activities offers youth with foreign background, such as sports camps and team building. Such activities outside the sports arenas have received very positive comments from those interviewed. Vital research in the field of integration through sports activities is rather scarce. The study indicates that additional research on integration through sports activities is called for.