Den sköra föreningen mellan tävling och medmänsklighet: om ledarskap och lärprocesser i barnfotbollen

The fragile union between competition and human empathy: on leadership and learning processes in childrens football

The thesis is about voluntary leadership in football for children, howthe leadership is manifested, and how the leaders are constituted by thisleadership. The aim is to describe, interpret and gain an understandingof football as an informal learning environment and the shape this leadershiptakes in practical activities. What processes constitute the leadership?How do these processes constitute the leader? The basis of thework is lifeworld phenomenology, but different theoretical perspectiveshave been used to interpret the empirical findings. In order tofind answers to my questions, I have used a case study consisting of afootball team with three leaders and ten-year-old children. I followed afootball team for a whole season with observations and interviews withthe leaders and the children. The result shows three overarching processesin the shaping of the leadership Controlling the community spirit,The strength of competition, and Beyond the conventions. In the two firstmentioned processes, the instrumental element in the encounter betweenthe leaders and the children is prominent, while the third processshows the intersubjective encounters that arise. In the leaders encounterswith these processes, The leaders lived experience, there are feelingsof affinity, importance and inadequacy. This is the leaders identitydevelopment process. In the discussion section I take up and discussleadership and learning in terms of pedagogical tact, being a reflectingpractitioner. I also discuss the frailty of the assignment as leader, wherethe leadership is to a great extent dependent on the situated context.Finally I discuss the leadership as part of a societal process of individualizationand what this implies for the leadership. My conclusion is thatthe voluntary leadership is balancing on a thin line and is to a highdegree dependent on its specific context, the leaders and parents roundthe team, and the basic values that the association stands for.