Towards More Sustainable Sports: Analyzing the Travel Behavior of Adolescent Soccer Players in Southern Norway

Aron Laxdal, Bjørn Tore Johansen, Elling Bere and Bård Erlend Solstad
Additional contact information
Aron Laxdal: Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Bjørn Tore Johansen: Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Elling Bere: Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Bård Erlend Solstad: Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-7

Abstract: Mitigating climate change is a global challenge demanding effort from all sectors, and sports are no exception. While transportation is one of the key issues regarding sustainable sports, the methods by which children and adolescents get to practice have not received much attention. The objectives of this study were, therefore, to present how adolescents in Southern Norway travel to soccer practice and assess how the mode of transportation is related to sex, socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, and distance from home to practice. Cross-sectional data were collected from 558 adolescent soccer players (398 boys and 190 girls) representing 30 different clubs from settlements of varying rurality. While most of the participants lived within cycling distance from the field of practice, the majority opted for passive modes of transportation (55% passive vs. 45% active). A logistic regression analysis found that traveling distance and age were associated with active transportation habits, while sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status were not. Further research is needed to examine the main barriers to active travel for this already active population, as active transport represents an opportunity for sports to become more sustainable.

Keywords: active travel; cycling; e-bike; football; sustainability; walking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9373/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9373/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9373-:d:876678

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().