Perspektiven von Jugendlichen aus sozioökonomisch marginalisierten Lebenslagen auf Sportvereine: Erkenntnisse aus einer Interviewstudie

Sports clubs are not equally open to all young people. In particular, young people from socio-economically marginalised families are less represented there. Although this finding has been known for some time, there are still considerable gaps in knowledge on this subject. There is a paucity of empirical studies that include young people affected by social inequality and poverty themselves, and allow them to describe their own experiences and perspectives in relation to sports clubs. This article addresses this research gap by focusing on young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds and attempting to explore their perspectives on club sport drawing on theories on social inequality and classism. The analysis is based on ten group interviews with young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds who have never been members of a sports club or had quit. In total, the study comprises 38 adolescents aged 14–19. The data analysis adheres to the procedure of thematic coding, with additional elements of the documentary method integrated to analyse the collective orientations of the young people. The findings indicate that the surveyed young people perceive the structures and logics of club sport as rather intimidating, foreign and not part of “their world”. It appears that joining a sports club is a particularly challenging obstacle for young people who are lacking familial relations to club sports. The decision to withdraw from a sports club was influenced by the perception of discriminatory behaviour from coaches and peer team members. It can be concluded that socio-economically marginalised young people tend to perceive sports clubs as institutions for more privileged people. If sport clubs want to reach young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds, they must actively strive to develop a welcoming, inclusive and non-discriminatory culture.