Idrott som en demokratisk skola - En studie över fotbollsledarnas syn på sitt ledarskap

Sammanfattning: Almost all children and teenagers are active in sports clubs at some time during their lives. Sports clubs have a significant impact during childhood and adolescence, and they play a key developmental role. Participating in a sports club helps a person gain the kind of social capital that has a substantial positive impact on individuals and consequently on society. The very foundation of sports clubs is moral leadership, which implies that the leaders of these clubs have a great influence and potential to educate children and adolescents. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate football leaders’ views on democratic- versus competitive education. It also discusses the leaders’ views on their own leadership. The analysis is based on eight semi-structured interviews. These interviews are analyzed through the theory of social capital. The results from the interviews show that football leaders are enthusiastic about their leadership, believe that they are doing something meaningful, and are proud to serve as role models for the players. The result also shows that football leaders of adolescents tend to spend more time and put more emphasis on competitive education. The discussion develops the question of how the leader’s take on competitive education can affect the individuals and society in the long run.