'Freiwurf Hamburg': Qualitative Evaluation of an Inclusive Sports Project

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Introduction: Freiwurf Hamburg is an association of 7 handball teams within a league structure in which teams are formed of able and disabled players. The league endeavors to act inclusively in line with its mission statement: All participants are supposed to experience “freedom of movement” to take part in the game and to enjoy their time together. Players are therefore not seen as impaired, but as handball players with specific needs. This fundamental principle of inclusion is in line with the position required in the current sports education-based discussion. Here diversity is recognized and valued as a quality that enriches life (Tiemann, 2013). Method: Based on the question of how participants perceive Freiwurf, a utilization-focused evaluation (Patton, 2008) of the project is being conducted momentarily. The 1st step in the ongoing process was to reconstruct stakeholder perspectives by interviewing able and disabled players, their parents, and their trainers and by interpreting these interviews using the methods of grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). In a 2nd step, a workshop with the participants of Freiwurf will be conducted in July 2016 where the results of the interviews will be addressed and discussed. Additionally, the next steps for the Freiwurf movement will be contrived. Discussion: Intermediate results of the qualitative evaluation will be presented during the talk at the conference by tying data to a theoretical approach to inclusion. Additionally, I will provide insight into the specific use and significance of terms such as “attitude,”“performance,”anh "behavior within the group” within the community of Freiwurf players.
Original languageGerman
JournalResearch Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
Issue number87, Supplement 1
Pages (from-to)S37
Number of pages1
ISSN0270-1367
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016