During the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish School Sports Association was started with the goal of developing sports for students in Swedish schools. The association arose as part of the sports movement in Sweden and is a committee of the National Sports Confederation. During the first half of the 20th century, the Swedish Sports Association functioned like any other sports association, but with students as the focus group. In connection with their 50th anniversary, 1966, the Swedish School Sports Association invited students to their association's board. This became a turning point for the Swedish School Sports Association and what kind of association they have become in today. In modern times, the Swedish School Sports Association is an organization that works to teach young people to lead and take responsibility through democratic leadership, an organization for young people, led by young people.In this essay, the aim is to examine how the Swedish School Sports Association's development into a association led by students and young people began and developed. To analyze this development, this essay uses a qualitative text analysis as its method to analyze the Swedish School Sports Association's own archive material in the form of the member magazine Final, Activity Reports and campaign protocols between the years 1966–1981. Robert Putnam's theory of social capital which defines how an organization's social capital can be valued through "civic virtue" is used to value and develop a functioning democracy within a group. Putnam's theory will be used to visualize how this development of the Swedish School Sports Association has changed the organization's social capital with a focus on the students' integration. The essay asks three questions that aim to answer how students are engaged and involved in the organization of the Swedish School Sports Association and how this has developed democratic values ​​within the association. With the aim of investigating students involvment within the organization, these questions will shape the structure of the inquiry and focus the reading of the archival material.The essay comes to the conclusion of how the development of the Swedish School Sports Association has gone over 15 years, from an organization with a low social capital where the students were only participants in the physical activities, to an organization with high social capital where the students are involved in everything from the physical activities to participation on the board. The survey also shows how unique this development has been during the latter half of the 20th century when placed in a larger societal and international perspective. A unique development for Swedish sports where the Swedish School Sports Association is one of the earliest to let students participate and lead. At the same time as it is an opposite development from American sports that is developing.

Fysisk aktivitet är en determinant för en god folkhälsa. Till följd av detta vill idrottsrörelsen bidra till en utvecklig inom idrotten för att öka deltagarantalet och motivera människor att vara fysiskt aktiva livet ut. Ett dilemma som dock är förekommande inom elitidrotten är att många slutar idrottsutövandet innan de nått sin topp nivå. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka föräldrars uppfattningar om deras barns tillvaro efter avslutad elitsatsning. En kvalitativ metod tillämpades och vid datainsamlingen genomfördes fem semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med hjälp av en manifest innehållsanalys. I resultatet framkommer det att flera av barnen som tidigare varit en del av en elitsatsning gått från en fysiskt aktiv livsstil till en friare livsstil där det upplevs finnas utrymme för spontanitet och lekfullhet. Vardagen inkluderas numer av nyfunna vänner och ett större fokus förkommer på studier alternativt jobb. Den tidigare sociala miljön som bestod av idrottsarenan har i stort bytts ut till andra miljöer. Den identitet de tidigare haft med idrotten har förlorats och i samband med elitsatsningens upphörande drabbades barnen av psykisk ohälsa, med de upplevs idag må bättre. Slutsatsen för denna studie är att tillvaron har förändrats hos samtliga barn efter avslutad elitsatsning. / Physical activity is a determinant of public health. Hence the Swedish sports movement wish to contribute to the development of sporting activities as a way to increase the number of participants and motivate people to stay physically active throughout life. A common issue in elite level sports is that many end their career before reaching their final potential. The purpose of this study was to investigate the parent’s perspective regarding their children’s being after ending their elite effort. A qualitative method was applied and data was collected in five semi-structured interviews. The collected material was analyzed with a manifest content analysis. The result indicated that several of the children, who previously had been a part of an elite investment, had changed their lifestyle from a physically active lifestyle to a freer way of life where it is perceived to be room for spontaneity and playfulness. Everyday life nowadays includes new friends and greater focus on studies or job. Former social context focused around the sports arena are now taking place in other environments. Their previous identification with their sport has been lost and by ending their elite efforts the children's mental health declaimed, however they have later recovered to some extent. The conclusion of this study is that life has changed for the children after ending their elite effort.