Sports and sports idols. A case study with primary school children in Cordoba, Spain

Abstract

Sport has always been an important part of our historical and cultural heritage, as well as a social and economic phenomenon that contributes to many strategic objectives of large business groups. Practicing a particular sport and at the same time admiring an athlete of that same game discipline would be normal. But that does not always happen that way. The objectives of the present study are to know which sports are most liked by Primary Education students of said center; check if there are coincidences or relevant differences between genres and if their practiced sport corresponds to an athlete of the same sport discipline. Using the technique of drawing, we carry out an investigation in which the students (n = 118), from second to fifth grade of a concerted school in Córdoba (Spain) are asked to draw their favorite sport and write what is behind his sports idol and the reason for choosing that sport. The results obtained indicate how the influence of the media and the environment means that the sport practiced does not correspond to the desired one. On the other hand, sports idols do not correspond to the same sports discipline they carry out. We also found great differences between the sexes at the time of the sports election.