“Football- It’s in Your Blood”—Lived Experiences of Undertaking Recreational Football for Health in Older Adults
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- (1)
- What stopped older adults from playing football?
- (2)
- Why are older adults playing football now?
- (3)
- How can football continue to be in older adults’ lives in the future?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Procedure
- When it came to playing football regularly, what do you think it needed for you to take part in it?
- Why did you choose to take part in the project?
- How did you find the experience of this project?
- What has changed as a result of the intervention?
- If we were to offer this again for other people of your age, what changes do you think we need to make to the programme?
- When it comes to continuing to play football, what do you think it would take for you to continue to play?
2.3. Collection of Responses
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. What Stopped Older Adults from Playing Football?
‘Recovery was taking a lot longer. Particularly if you got injured.’(Participant 3)
“‘Really? You can’t play football!’ And it’s the disbelief that a 60/70-year-old man can go out and play football every week. And then it’s ‘Is it walking football?’ Well, sometimes. But we do the proper game as well.”(Participant 3)
‘I did that a few years ago. It started off as an old bloke’s football, then they started to introduce their 20-odd-year-old sons, and suddenly it became ridiculous.’(Participant 14)
“I’ve been trying for a few years to try to find ‘walking football’ or some sort of 5-a-side and I couldn’t find it at all.”(Participant 4)
‘I played quite a bit of football until I was probably late 20s, early 30s. Then married. Then sort of kids come along and then we moved around the place a little bit, moved abroad for a while. And then when I came back, I was still travelling a bit in the job. So I couldn’t actually commit to any team.’(Participant 4)
3.2. Why Are Older Adults Playing Now?
‘Errr, well, yes. The kids have now, well they’ve been gone for a long time. And you kind of think, well, this might be the last chance of doing something like this so grab it.’(Participant 3)
‘I said when I retired, I wouldn’t mind doing walking football or whatever. The trouble was trying to find it.’(Participant 9)
‘Yes, we are getting physically fitter, but, it’s the camaraderie, the humour, it’s the banter. It’s the sort of fun aspect. It’s going away and thinking that’s been a really enjoyable morning.’(Participant 19)
‘It’s become the highlight of my week.’(Participant 14)
‘It’s been very enjoyable, incredibly enjoyable.’(Participant 2)
‘Football—it’s in your blood.’(Participant 16)
‘It’s the mention of football that got me here ‘cause I just love playing.’(Participant 6)
“It’s the first thing that kind of went in my diary.”(Participant 11)
‘When these youngsters go past you and you just realise you haven’t got it anymore and just sort of pride says: “I need to quit now. I’m not up to it anymore.”’(Participant 19)
‘I’m not as fit as I thought I was though. I was sort of surprised that I couldn’t react very well and my balance and things weren’t as good as I thought I would be.’(Participant 10)
‘So, a bit more of an easing in would have been better. That’s my only negative really. Instead of just saying ‘right we’ll blow the whistle’. Because the brain hasn’t caught up with the body yet.’(Participant 19)
‘You make a decision it doesn’t always come off as quick at our age, you see.’(Participant 14)
‘You’re looking for the trajectory of the ball, you’re anticipating whether you’re the receiver, or the kick, how far to run. Alright we might not be as good at it as we used to be but those elements are still going through your mind. You know, to curve the ball, well trying to I should say. All those things, but they’re still there.’(Participant 14)
‘[the advert] said “walking football” and I thought that’s great. I thought to myself, I can’t run because I’ve got dodgy ankles. So, I thought at least I can do walking football.’(Participant 11)
‘But you also learn to pass near your feet and not 2 or 3 m in front because we haven’t got the ability to sprint off after it.’(Participant 19)
‘I can’t run full stop. But I thought I’d give that [recreational football] a go.’(Participant 11)
‘You also thought you could do more than you could do as well.’(Participant 9)
‘The first thing advertised of its kind.’(Participant 10)
3.3. How Can Football Continue to Be in Older Adults’ Lives in the Future?
‘No, I don’t think it’s necessary about it being organised. But it’s finding like-minded people who want to do it.’(Participant 9)
‘It is quite a small, friendly group, which helps.’(Participant 1)
‘Originally it was about physical fitness, but I hadn’t appreciated until I got into it [the intervention] about the mental side of it as well.’(Participant 19)
‘To me, exercise has always been a big escape valve.’(Participant 16)
‘We’ve got better fitness levels.’(Participant 9)
‘I think its enhanced fitness actually. I think I’ve actually lost a bit around the waist as well you know I’ve had to use extra of my belt. But I don’t think I’ve lost weight, but I’ve certainly lost a bit around my midriff, I’m certain of that.’(Participant 14)
‘I get lost in the game.’(Participant 19)
‘I’ve had years of organizing things, thanks to the children. And you do you get to a point where you think, yeah, yeah I’ll go along I’ll take part but I’m not going to get involved.’(Participant 1)
‘I wouldn’t volunteer for anything like that. But to have somebody sort it all out and we just have to turn up and play, that makes a big, big difference.’(Participant 16)
‘Because I know at one point you were going to move weren’t you? I think you would have lost everybody then.’(Participant 23)
‘It being local for me.’(Participant 14)
‘I think it’s the atmosphere. You’ve got the goals there, you’ve got the grass, you’ve got the pitch.’(Participant 10)
‘If it [the advert] has said “fitness training” I wouldn’t have turned up. “Football” was the keyword there.’(Participant 14)
4. Discussion
4.1. Barriers
4.2. Facilitators
4.3. Sustaining Behaviour Change through Recreational Football
4.4. Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
6. Application
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Mowle, S.; Eyre, E.; Noon, M.; Tallis, J.; Duncan, M.J. “Football- It’s in Your Blood”—Lived Experiences of Undertaking Recreational Football for Health in Older Adults. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14816. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214816
Mowle S, Eyre E, Noon M, Tallis J, Duncan MJ. “Football- It’s in Your Blood”—Lived Experiences of Undertaking Recreational Football for Health in Older Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(22):14816. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214816
Chicago/Turabian StyleMowle, Sophie, Emma Eyre, Mark Noon, Jason Tallis, and Michael J. Duncan. 2022. "“Football- It’s in Your Blood”—Lived Experiences of Undertaking Recreational Football for Health in Older Adults" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 22: 14816. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214816