Understanding Transitions and Access to Self-Organised Physical Activity

Participation in organised sport declines markedly as young people grow older, particularly during the transition from lower to upper secondary school. This trend is often framed as “drop-out” and interpreted as a loss of engagement in sport, in particular, as well as physical activity more broadly. However, recent research has highlighted important distinctions between drop-out, drop-off and modification, indicating that many young people remain physically active by shifting towards more informal and self-organised forms of participation. Despite this reframing, we still know relatively little about how young people with different activity biographies navigate physical activity beyond organised sport, and how such differences shape access to self-organised physical activity.

This study draws on 15 qualitative interviews with young people aged 16–30 years from diverse geographical contexts. The sample consisted of nine men and six women. Participants were recruited from a nationally representative survey conducted by Norstat as part of a research project led by University of Inland Norway in collaboration with Tverga. Informants were strategically selected based on their survey responses to reflect different activity biographies. The sample included young people with (1) broad and continuous sporting and physically active backgrounds, (2) more limited but coherent experiences, and (3) weak or disrupted participation histories.

Across the material, clear differences emerged in terms of sporting repertoires, bodily confidence and competence in navigating self-organised practices. Young people with broad and continuous activity backgrounds typically modified their participatory patterns and styles through flexible and autonomous self-organised activities. Those with more limited but coherent experiences occupied a more ambivalent position: while they often expressed interest in remaining active, their engagement in self-organised practices appeared highly contingent on social support, low-threshold entry points and clearly framed opportunities. By contrast, young people with weak or disrupted activity backgrounds tended to face more persistent barriers related to uncertainty, lack of knowledge and limited confidence, even when they expressed a desire to be physically active.

Taken together, the findings challenge simplified drop-out narratives and highlight a central paradox: while self-organised physical activity is often presented as broadly accessible, participation depends on earlier participation experiences and on how opportunities are framed and facilitated. Understanding organised and self-organised activity as interconnected across the life course is therefore crucial for addressing inequalities in access to sport and physical activity.