The studies examined: 1) A health promotion program for children that had high dropout rates due to coaches focusing only on performance instead of health. 2) A program for at-risk men ages 18-35 that saw improvements in health measures but also high attrition due to barriers to participation. 3) A personalized health program for older men that led to important lifestyle changes despite limited physiological changes. The conclusion calls for football coaches and practitioners to have a broader skill set focused on behavior change and understanding participants to improve program engagement and effectiveness.

1. Football as a vehicle for social change:
reflections from the field
Dan Parnell, University of Derby &
Kathryn Dunn, Liverpool John Moores University

2. The Journey for today
• Background of Football in the Community
• Setting the Scene: The Partnership
• Overview of Methods
• The Projects
• Reflections
• Ways Forward

3. Background
• Football in Community programmes started in 1986 to
build greater links between clubs and communities (Brown,
Crabbe and Mellor, 2006)
• Initially focused on traditional football coaching with young
children (Mellor, 2008)
• However, FitC schemes have begun to tackle major social
agendas (i.e., social inclusion, obesity, mental health)
(Watson, 2000)

4. The LJMU/EitC Partnership
Vision:
“To motivate, educate
and inspire by harnessing
the power of football and
sport to change lives
within our community”

5. Everton Active Family Centre (EAFC)
In 2008, the joint venture between Everton in the Community and
Liverpool John Moores University, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences,
saw the development of the Everton Active Family Centre (EAFC) which is
a unique fitness facility based within the grounds of Goodison Park.

6. Methods
6 years (2006-2012) of applied research
- ethnographic (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007)
- reflective diaries & field notes (Krane and Baird, 2005)
- observational research (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983)

7. Health Promotion Children
(2006-2007)

8. Health Promotion Children: Intervention

9. Health Promotion Children: Results
• Keeping the active kids active
• Initiative experienced high attrition rates (54%)
• Some negative memories relating to the coaches’ practice
In some cases coaching practice failed to support or create a
positive developmental environment relevant for the age and
(football) ability of the participants.

10. Health Promotion Children: Results
• Coaches tended to adopt a performance oriented approach
to their sessions.
• Coaches were required to possess a minimum of a Football
Association Level 2 Coaching Qualification (which has little or
no health specific content).
UEFA ‘A’
License
Coaching Level 3
UEFA B
Coaching Level 2
Coaching Level 1

11. Health Promotion Children: Conclusion
• The adoption of a performance orientated approach
and the absence of any healthful sentiments or
behaviour change message limited the effectiveness
of the initiative.
• Despite the coaches did (usually) provide a fun and
enjoyable experience. In order, to (explicitly) promote
positive healthful change, coaches require a wider
skill base.
• Specifically, skills that enable them to understand,
translate and encourage positive healthful change
within a variety of populations with varying levels of
ability.

12. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs)
(2008 onwards within EAFC)

13. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Intervention
Fitness sessions per week:
5. Football (Monday PM)
6. Circuit Training (Tuesday PM)
7. Boxing (Thursday PM)
Capacity of 15 participants
per session
On going for duration of the project
VIDEO

14. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Intervention
A series of 12 week interventions with targeted hard-to-
reach populations
- Men living in homeless shelters
- Men recovering from drug misuse
Two, 2 hour, fitness sessions per week:
Tuesday: Football
Thursday: Football & specific fitness training
Testing pre and post the intervention to identify changes in
health and fitness and health screening throughout.

15. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Intervention
• Yo-Yo
• 20m Sprint
• 30m Sprint
• T-agility
• Body Mass Index
• Resting Heart Rate
• Blood Pressure
• LDL & HDL Cholesterol
• Lean Mass
• Fat Mass
• % Fat
• Electrocardiograph (ECG) Screening

16. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Results
• Total % body fat and total fat mass decreased
• Lean mass increased
• Blood pressure decreased
• Resting heart rate decreased
• Developments in social capital
• Improved psychological wellbeing
• High attrition rate

17. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Results
“ I do really enjoy coming. It’s sound, I love it but I can’t always get here.
I’ve got other stuff going on. D’ya know what I mean?” Craig*, 25.
“ I’ve messed up again. Now I have to see my parole officer every Tuesday
and I never feel like coming after that” Rob* 23
“ I can’t afford the bus fare. I want to come like, but just can’t always get
up there” Gary* 31.

18. Health Promotion Men (18-35yrs): Conclusion
• Practitioners should gain a greater understanding of the
day-to-day existence of the target populations and
recognise the challenges associated with the population
whom they are engaging prior to programme
implementation
• ‘Bottom up’ rather than ‘top down’ approach
• Broader skill base of practitioners in order to collect
information on the effectiveness of an intervention

19. Health Promotion Older Men
(2010-2011)

20. Health Promotion Older Men: Intervention
• FIT FANS: bespoke 1-2-1 support via a personal holistic
lifestyle practitioner
• Through the development of realistic, simple goal setting
the project aimed to provide a range of lifestyle related
behaviour changes, measured on a 6 week basis
• RHR, BP, BMI
• Lifestyle Changes
• PA & Food Diaries
• Abdominal circumference

21. Health Promotion Older Men: Results
7 older men (aged over 50 years from the local community)
some with a number of disabilities or illnesses (diabetes,
depression, addiction, chronic back pain, cancer, gout,
osteoarthritis) took part in a 6 week ‘rolling’ programme
(between 2010-2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Physical measurements did not significantly change
• Subtle but important lifestyle changes took place:
- personal more important than just losing weight
- completing daily task (i.e., walking to the shops)
• Men stated that the practitioners played a critical role
in their continued participation in the programme

22. Health Promotion Older Men: Conclusion
Whilst there were significant physiological changes, the
psychosocial changes that occurred were powerful
A caring, informed, multi-skilled practitioner (i.e., data
collection, health, exercise, psychology, counselling skill &
knowledge of special populations and behaviour change)
was essential in:
(g) Maintaining engagement
(h) Providing a service in the heart of
an area of multiple deprivation
(j) Deploying evidence based practice
(k) Collating evidence of impact

23. Concluding comment
• FitC coaches are generally good people and provide a fun
service
• However a shift in skill base is required in order to meet the
demands of new social agendas (i.e., obesity)
• A ‘new age’ practitioner is needed in the more recent, more
complex projects – whom possess a broader skill base
• Evident that psychosocial/lifestyle behaviour change is
present across programmes, as opposed to major
physiological health changes
> the foundations are there for greater success!

24. Ways Forward for FitC Schemes
• Develop research skills or partnerships with academia
• Relevant career professional development for practitioners
and coaches alike
• Build bespoke programmes to suit participants with
appropriately skilled practitioners

25. Acknowledgements
Liverpool John Moores University
Dr David Richardson - Director of Studies
Dr Barry Drust - Supervisor
Dr Rebecca Murphy – Supervisor
Professor Gareth Stratton- Supervisor
Mr Dan Bingham- EAFC Practitioner
Everton in the Community
Denise Barrett Baxendale - CEO
Chris Clarke - Head of Business Development
Dean Jones - Premier League Health Coach

26. References
Dunn, K., Drust, B., Flower, D., and Richardson, D. Kicking the habit: a
biopsychosocial account of engaging men recovering from drug misuse in
regular recreational football. Journal of Men’s Health, 2011; 8(3), 233.
Dunn K, Drust B, Richardson D. 2010. I just want to watch the match! A
reflective account of men's health themed match day events at an English
Premier League Football Club. Journal of Men's Health, vol. 7(3), 323.
Parnell D, Stratton, G, Drust B, Richardson D. Football in the Community
Schemes: exploring the Effectiveness of an Intervention in Promoting
Healthful Behaviour Change. Soccer & Society, 2013 vol. 14(1)

27. Thank you for listening.
Any questions?
Dan Parnell
School of Science
University of Derby
t: 07538500348
e: d.parnell@derby.ac.uk
w: www.derby.ac.uk
Kathryn Dunn MSc
Research Institute for Sport & Exercise Sciences
Liverpool John Moores University
t: 0044 151 530 5263
e: k.m.dunn@ljmu.ac.uk
w: www.ljmu.ac.uk

28. Everton Football Club
Goodison Park
Liverpool
L4 4EL
0871 663 1878
0151 286 9112
evertonfc.com