Countercultural sports and local policies : an approach from the theory of public policy networks

The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of institutionalization of the so-called lifestyle sports in the city of Zaragoza, with the aim of establishing approach strategies between administration and users to improve both the practice of these sports modalities and the adequacy and management of their spaces of practice, from the theoretical framework of public policy networks. Through a qualitative methodology (semistructured interviews, participant observation, and content analysis), 27 sports modalities were analyzed and allocated in a continuum based on their degree of institutionalization, communication channels between members, as well as the use of more or less fixed facilities or places for their practice. In the discussion of the results we reflect on the desired and undesired consequences of public policies implemented with respect to these sports modalities, as well as on the complex dialectic between institutional support and «domestication». Finally, action strategies are proposed based on the analysis performed.


Introduction
Lifestyle sports involve all those modalities in which the important thing is not competition from a traditional sense, but, on the one hand, the spectacle of action, and, on the other, the lifestyle understood as a way of being and living in the one that the sport identity acquires a great meaning (Thorpe, 2016).
Due to this spectacular nature and a certain culture of seeking to be within the limits of the normative (when not clearly outside of them), the practitioners of these modalities have achieved, like no other sport, to attract masses through social networks, viralizing contents, languages and lifestyles, especially among the young urban population, setting communities with common interests, which share experiences and knowledge, which certainly has a high social and cultural value (Pop, 2015).The high-speed Internet connection, advanced technology (devices and mobile applications) and a high level of adrenaline are three main factors that define the spirit of the physical activities of the younger generations.It involves a positive use of the Internet (Golpe, Isorna, Gomez & Rial, 2017).
Athletes of lifestyle sports are a very heterogeneous population, both in their motivations and in their preferences.The commercialization and institutionalization of some of these modalities is erasing the frontier between these sports and traditional sports, although a large gap still exists; this fact can be the point of support that the public administration uses as a lever for a rapprochement not without contradictions between the desire for improvements in its facilities and social consideration and the need to feel «outside the system» (sports outsiders).In this sense Salome and Van Bottengurg (2012) define three types of practitioners based on the predominance of three types of motivations: a) the director b) the experimenter; and c) the excessive one.
The built environment can positively influence people to acquire healthy lifestyles, at a time when obesity and inactivity have become a public health problem, linked to a increase in screen time (Fialho, Gaspar & Alvar, 2017;Martins, Marques and Carreiro da Costa, 2015;Ramos, Jimenez-Iglesias, Rivera & Moreno, 2016).The existence of sports facilities of proximity can inspire the population to «get hooked» to physical activity and stimulate the appropriation of space (the lived city).However, the mere existence of parks or the construction of facilities is not enough to attract young people (Roult, Adjizian, Lefebvre & Lapierre, 2014), but should be complemented with programs to revitalize them (Lamoneda & Huerta, 2017).
The ignorance of these sports, along with people's perception as transgressors and even undesirable by the use and appropriation of urban environments so disparate and non-traditional, often entails discomfort and complaints from citizens who do not understand this way of life, besides considering them dangerous and harmful.However, the law can be used not only to impose and sanction, but also to support and defend the «extension of space» in relation to these alternative sports (Gilchrist & Osborn, 2017).Dumas et al. (2009) have shown how the injuries that occur in skateparks are not serious and their practice is a escape for young people, since they provide diverse social, psychological and physical resources (Nathanson et al., 2016) and are relevant to learn risk management and risk behaviour prevention (Zubiaur & Del Riego, 2015;Herrador, Osorio & La Torre, 2002;Ortiz & Ortiz-Marquez, 2018).They increase their physical, social and symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1980).As the degree of institutionalization and standardization increases (as in the case of skateboarding, which will be an Olympic sport in 2020), safety regulations are increased (O'Connor, 2016); although regulations such as the mandatory use of helmets are perceived as a element of social control rather than security by many of its practitioners, evidencing its origin of resistance, and its internal contradictions and tensions between its countercultural aspects and the claims of social and cultural openness (Ranikko et al., 2016).
As a consequence of the aforementioned heterogeneity, the structure of these sports makes them highly inclusive, highly involved and nondiscriminatory (Segrave, 2016) reducing stereotypes and increasing the level of confidence of women, although it has been criticized that even if they are considered as egalitarian, reality shows that the typical practitioner reflects hegemonic masculinity, muscular strength and agility, symbolized in sports skill (Cohen, 2014;Ranniko et al., 2016).
Space, far from being an immobile element, is a lived space, practiced (De Certau, 1984), which combines a series of more or less static elements, and the social relations that are established in them (Lefebvre, 1974), which it leads to a continuous appropriation and negotiation of urban spaces among practitioners of sports in which the appropriation and creative use of spaces are part of their idiosyncrasies.In this sense, the urban public space is capable of assuming the uses for which it was designed and built, but also of suggesting and encouraging new uses and social constructions.
Sometimes these sports infrastructures are located in newly constructed neighborhoods of the city.But, on other occasions, they are located in areas that have undergone gentrification processes in recent decades, which means that the remodeling of these sports facilities can generate (or degenerate into) a change in users and uses.New regulations such as the closure of facilities, their concession to private management or the payment of annual or access fees, can replace a free and sometimes spontaneous use for a regulated and institutionalized use.In short, a gentrified sports space, where the population of origin has been displaced by new sports practitioners, with greater purchasing power, with values more oriented to hedonistic consumption than to countercultural practice, more submissive to the acceptance of the rules and control social, but less creative and disruptive (Low, 2005;Ortiz, 2004;Sorando & Ardura, 2016).
The elementary sports facilities (IDEs) consist of those sports areas of public ownership that are located outdoors (streets, squares, parks, etc.), free and free use, with a basic regulation for proper functioning and coexistence (for example, practice schedules).Zaragoza Deporte Municipal (ZDM) identifies on its website 137 IDEs in the city, for a total of 416 tracks that include sports such as gyms, basketball courts, indoor soccer courts, table tennis facilities, traditional sports and petanque, among others; but also skating, biketrial or skateboarding places.
Since 2012, by means of a Government Agreement, the management and revitalization of the IDEs of the city of Zaragoza is assigned to the Zaragoza municipal sports company-ZDM (Pelegrín, 2015).Since then, the main lines of action have been: -To promote greater adaptation of non-conventional urban spaces for the practice of physical activity and sports.
-To incentivate the collaboration of the associative movement in the management of certain public facilities.
-To create consensus with the Municipal or Neighborhood Boards to carry out actions in these spaces.
-When the characteristics of the installation so advise, to establish collaboration agreements between the corresponding District Board, Zaragoza Deporte Municipal and an entity or sports association for the maintenance and management of the IDE, obtaining this entity priority in the use of the same.
Broadly speaking, the procedure followed in the cases of concession is as follows: 1) Impetus for the creation of a sports entity that brings together practitioners of a particular modality.
2) That entity assumes the role of interlocutor with ZDM.
3) A collaboration agreement is established between said entity and the corresponding Municipal Board.
4) Any type of investment made in the installation (remodeling, equipment, extensions, etc.) will be carried out in a consensual manner between the three parties.
In the case of newly created sports facilities, they have been valued in participatory budgeting processes carried out by the current government team, as experiences that involve the participation of citizens in the preparation (planning, approval, implementation and / or evaluation) of a public policy by initiative or connivance of a local government (Galais, Navarro & Fontcuberta, 2013;Pindado, 2000).Citizen participation has been considered, in recent decades, one of the criteria of good governance.
Theoretical framework used for this analysis is public policy networks one (Arenilla, 2011), defined as stable groups of actors that maintain interpenetrating relationships (so that the objectives can not be achieved without the articulation of all interests in favor of a common goal), that maintain over time (not punctual) and that, in their diversity and heterogeneity, represent groups and heterogeneous interests of society.These networks are articulated around one of the agents, which is a public organization, responsible for the policies for which the network has been created.The criticism of these theories is based mainly on the dilution of the capacity (and power) of the government to make decisions and the questioning of the legitimacy of whoever makes the decisions related to these policies are the actors that participate in it.From this perspective of governance, state loses centrality in the processes, versus the capacity of other actors of the network to act from the private in the public, assuming the Administration a role of coordination and supervision rather than planner and executor (Zurbriggen, 2004;in Arenilla, 2011: 36).
The governance approach relates public policies with participation and social capital (Camagni, 2004), in its micro dimensión, that connects formal elements such as public bodies with social networks and associations and individual (personal) relationships-that can be used to benefit of the common objective.As informal elements, mutual trust and reputation stand out, fundamental for a model like the one exposed to work in a sustained way (medium and long term).This perspective of social capital decreases economic costs based on greater efficiency in the offer of services and increases the participation of citizens in decision making, generating greater satisfaction in the use of the services associated with these facilities.
This work is an approach to the «new urban sports», especially the countercultural sport, with the aim of proposing public policy strategies whose purpose is: a) To promote these modalities among the general population.b) To take advantage of the motivating aspect that they have among young people to enhance their educational and training component (at the level of physical skills and learning of social norms and values); c) To promote the process of sports institutionalization of new modalities, which is an area of interest for local administration.d) To contribute to the generation of social and cultural capital associated with the practice of these sports, which is added to the promotion of sports habits and healthy living, something that is presupposed of public actions in the field of youth and sports.
The process culminates with the proposal of a Dissemination, Promotion and Institutionalization Plan, as well as the corresponding Implementation and Control Plan through the public company Zaragoza Deporte Municipal.

Material and methods
Qualitative methodology has been used in all study's phases: information gathering, categorization, structuring, testing and theorizing processes.The sampling was non-random, intentional or opinionated.
Study has been carried out through a semi-structured interviews, and in several of the modalities it has been performed participant observation, to increase the validity of the study.
In this research, 35 people were contacted related to 27 nonconventional sports (Table 1).Of these, after a first informative contact and due to various circumstances, 11 sports explicitly or by default declined their participation in this study, for which they were excluded from the sample.Of the others, there is documentation of interviews (n = 16), informed consent to use photographs (n = 12) and consent to use photographs and videos on the Youtube channel (n = 11).
A 41.66% represent federations or clubes structures (presidents or representants), another 45.83% are active athletes in their sports, and 12.51% are teachers or coaches.Considering that they are predominantly male sports, the largest possible number of female participants was procured, assuming 25% of the sample.
The interview script (taking into account that they were semistructured and, therefore, very diverse in content and duration), was the following: -Personal and contact information.
-I would like to know how you organize in your sport, is there a federation, clubs, associations?Are you interested in forming some kind of formal grouping (in case there are no institutions)?What communication channels do practitioners use to be in

Results
The analysis of the content of the interviews carried out has allowed for a «map» of these sports in the city, its structures, communication channels, formal and informal institutions and groups as well as their expectations and aspirations (Figure 1).This map is presented in the form of a continuum from the most countercultural sports (left) to the most institutionalized (right), considering as variables the presence/ non-presence of groups, associations or clubs, the existence/nonexistence of usual places for practice and the fomal/informal communication between members, between groups and between athletes and the local adminitration.
Analyzed countercultural sports in the city of Zaragoza were (in alphabetical order): • American Football: team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end.
• Battle of Nations: historical medieval full-contact battle.
• Bikepolo: a type of polo using bikes instead horses.
• Bike Trial: cycling modality derived from motorcycle trials.The pilot must overcome the obstacles trying to perform the minimum number of supports with the feet.
• BMX: a discipline of cycling that is practiced with small cross bicycles and covers two modalities: race, whose objective is to complete the course in the shortest possible time, and free style (freestyle), whose objective is to perform acrobatics.
• Flag Football: a sport similar than American Football, without tackling.
• Jugger: Team fight game, which is based on skill and strategy, not on the strength of the players.The regulation limits strong blows and physical contact between players at all times.Based on the postapocalyptic 1989 film «The salute of the jugger».
• Lacrosse: team sport played with a ball and a special stick with a net, which is used to carry, catch, pass and shoot.
• Parkour: agilty sport which aim is to move from one point to another in an environment in the most useful and efficient way possible, adapting to the demands of it with the sole help of your body.
• Quidditch:7-player-teams, with rules similar to basketball and football, but play over broomsticks, which origins are found in the saga of Harry Potter books and films.
• Roller Derby: is a female contact sport that is played with parallel skates on an oval track.It always skids in the anti-clockwise direction.
• Slackline: is a balance sport in which a ribbon is used that is hooked between two fixed points, usually trees, tensed, and consists in walking it.
• Softcombat: person-to-person combat with simulated and padded weapons.
• Street Workout: a socio-sports movement based on training on the street, usually in parks and public spaces, using your own body and any object in the environment.
• Trick Riding: performing stunts while riding a horse.
• Ultimate: is a non-contact team sport played with a flying disc (frisbee).

A. Degree of instit
The most anarchic sports are Slackline (with only one athlete and only one association in the rural neighborhood of Villamayor), Trick Riding (WhatsApp rendezvous and without clubes) and Lacrosse (despite having Spanish federation, they do not have Aragonese  federation and they are neither association nor club).
At an intermediate level are the Football Flag, Battle Of Nations and Quidditch, where there are independent clubs that are not within any association or federation aragonesa (Quidditch subscribes to Catalan Federation).
The Sofcombat, Historical Fencing, Parkour, Workout, Bici Polo and Jugger have an association, in which there are several clubs involved, which tend to compete among themselves.
More structured sports are Ultimate Frisbee, although does not have autonomous federation, is within the Spanish federation of frisbee, American Football which happens the same situation, although in Aragon there are 3 male clubs (Hornets, Hurricanes and Dark Knights) and 1 female (Mustangs), but to be able to form the Aragonese federation they are required to have teams in the 3 provinces, a requirement that they do not comply with.
Finally, the most institutionalized in Aragon would be the Roller Derby (has a club-The Sicarias of Cierzo-that although does not have its own Aragonese federation is within the Aragonese speed skating federation), BikeTrial and BMX, which is in the same position, but in your case within the Aragonese cycling federation.

B. Communication channels
All, regardless of their degree of institutionalization, have different communication channels to exercise, meet or organize.The most frequent is WhatsApp.
In addition most have a email account to contact them and get information on their games, training, resolve questions about the sport, etc. (except for Quidditch).
The following social network most used by these sports is Facebook, in which you can find photos of the matches, in the case of those who do not have email contact them, and follow activities and events, since it is a social network that all Sports have very updated.In addition, it can also be used to meet and contact players, since all team members interact regularly with the page of their sport.In the case of Bike Polo, they do not have a page, but with an open group in which they are meeting and organizing the trainings.
With less popularity is Twitter, which only have 4 of the 16, and finally, YouTube channels and BlogSpot with 3 of 16.Finally, some of them also have a website of the club, association and Instagram.The average of the social networks that use the «lifestyle sports» is approximately 3.

C. Facilities' use
Less structured sports modalities, called anarchic previously, do not have a fixed exercising site; they change according to the day, occupation and other factors not explained.
The rest of the sports, with the exception of Sofcombat, Quidditch, Jugger and Parkour, exercise in formal facilities managed by public and private institutions (Figure 2).

FreeStyle Sports Promotion Plan in the city of Zaragoza
Once the analysis was completed, a Dynamisation Plan was designed, linking it with other programs already underway by Zaragoza Deporte Municipal, such as the granting of priority management and use of newly created facilities or remodeling to formal structures that act as interlocutors. in front of the administrations and the citizenship (initiative with positive verified results in several sports).
This Plan contemplates: I.An educational program for Secondary Schools in which the recreational practice of some of these modalities and their values will be encouraged.During the academic year 2017-2018 a pilot project is being carried out and depending on the feedback of the experience, and with the corresponding revisions and post-evaluation modifications, it can be offered as a program to all schools supported with municipal public funds.
II. Design a work plan (roadmap) with those sports interested in advancing the relationship with the administration.For this, although autonomy and respect for the specific sports culture of each of them is guaranteed, legal and normative bases of operation are established in the relationship with the public to be able to access improvements in the facilities and collaborative plans of promotion and funding of more or less formal structures.
III. Creation of an institutional YouTube channel from Zaragoza Deporte Municipal to respond to the concerns and collaborate from the language that can reach a greater number of users and interested in these modalities (Figure 3).

Discussion and Conclusions
This work is a starting point to delve deeper into issues that are considered of public interest, not only for the minority that practices or is interested in a set of sports that have passed in a short time of being qualified as marginal to attract large masses.
Before making any intervention it is important to have a diagnosis of the situation, and this is what this work has intended.
Depending on the different topics studied and as a conclusion, the following is stated: -The physical, psychological and social benefits of these sports, as well as the great popularity and recognition they have among young people in the digital age, make them appear as an excellent tool for, in addition to sports and health habits, to be able to develop programs related to risk management, decision-making, camaraderie and belonging («the tribe») as well as individual and collective identity.
-Regarding the degree of institutionalization, they have been located in a continuum of minor (or almost null) institutionalization (more «anarchic» functioning, without formal or informal leadership, without structure and practically casual meetings among users) to a complete institutionalization of sports that, although minority and counter-cul-   tural, have clubs integrated in a federation, and therefore with official regulations and channels of communication, in addition to informal ones such as social networks.
-In relation to the previous point, the degree of collaboration with public administrations (perspective of public policy networks) is uneven and does not depend solely on the degree of institutionalization as might be assumed a priori but on other factors among which we have found: a) The existence of one or several people willing to dedicate their free time to shape a sports project, sometimes in a completely voluntary way and in other cases with a minimum professionalization.In this sense, in addition to deepening the relations of mutual trust between associations and / or clubs and administration, the promotion of the training of professionals able to start up entrepreneurial projects and manage them successfully seems to be relevant for the long-term sustainability of the strategies proposed.Examples of the above are found in skateboarding, BMX and BikeTrial, for example.
b) The sports and civic culture of the most experienced athletes.Among some of these groups, the antisystemic culture and the avoidance of all attempts of what they consider control by the administrations («domestication») are deeply rooted.In this case it seems that a more progressive process, in which it reinforces it in a timely manner (for example in events), trust, careful communication of any initiative and common decision-making, seems the way to go, but neither guarantees the integration of these modalities.The negotiation and acceptance by both parties of some rules of the game and the assumption of mutual commitments are essential to be able to advance in the support to a sport or modality.In this sense, the sport of Street Workout could be considered to be in this process of internal contradictions that must be resolved, seeking effective leadership that leads it to approach or move away from institutions.c) Knowledge of administrative channels.In this case, one of the tasks with the most minority sports involves an initial approach in which the possibilities of collaboration are explained to them.Some of these sports do not have a settled «sports» identity, and they find it difficult to define themselves in a world in which the barriers between what is sport, culture, or art are becoming more diffuse.
d) The number, concentration and grouping of the practitioners.The greater the number and the more concentrated they are, the easier it is to contact them and agree on responsibilities.Also, when there are different clubs and associations, the conflict between them is absent and there is a sporting rivalry but a collaboration on a broader level.In this sense, the fact that there is at least one installation that brings them together, even if it is basic, is a relevant aspect for the creation of these cooperative networks.
-From the point of view of social capital, the strategy of conditioning the construction and remodeling of facilities to a formal leadership has been a success in the sports in which it has been carried out, creating with different formulas sports entities (associations, clubs, etc.) that make the associative sports fabric of the city grow.a) As a desired result, other related activities have begun to emerge, such as campuses, events, exhibitions, schools for children and young people (in hitherto eminently self-taught sports), which stimulate the start-up of new projects.On the part of the administration, these modalities have been disseminated in events such as Street Sports Day, or in the programming of acts on local festivities, as well as collaborating with them in local and national events.b) As an unintended consequence, the private management of sports venues (even with a soft mixed management model, supported by nonprofit associations and clubs) entails a social closure from the point of view that from the moment that establish schedules, rates and regulations for use, a percentage of the population that until now attended and practiced freely, stops going or appropriates other spaces for free practice.The balance between freedom and control is fragile and attention must be paid to the fact that disadvantaged groups are not harmed by these policies.
-The model chosen for the implementation of strategies to promote sports practice in minority sports, based on the establishment of public policy networks and framed within the actions of the consistory of participatory budgets (governance), seems to decrease (but not cancel) the risk of sports gentrification.This issue is not so complex in new construction facilities, especially in areas of new urban developments, where they are welcome, as in the remodeling of existing elementary sports facilities and located in consolidated urban areas where improvement plans can be made: a) Colliding with the speculative interests of individuals or with other preferences for the use of the area in question.
b) To suppose a contradiction between the philosophy of the original inhabitants of those zones, when the installation was built, and the current ones (due to a displacement of citizens from one area to another, as it happened in the center of the city; without generational replacement in some areas, or by changes in the sports culture of the new settlers).
For all these reasons, an integral approach is considered (creation of formal structures, establishment of public policy networks, training of professionals in teaching and management, establishment of specific policies for disadvantaged groups and dissemination and promotion plans -including dynamic programs in the facilities and in educational centers) it is necessary to, on the one hand, meet the demands of sports practitioners who can provide values at the individual and social level and who, however, have been marginalized (in some cases marginalized and self-marginalized) in public policies.On the other, «capturing» and «engaging» the young population that is attracted especially by the plasticity and impact on social networks of these sports and their «idols», facing the omnipresent impact of hegemonic sports and their values, and very especially, football.In this sense, the promotion of these sports can be considered a countercultural policy that endows prestige (and therefore symbolic capital) and supports alternative values.
This study was carried out in a city with certain sociodemographic characteristics; although the methodology can be considered as a model to be followed for analysis in other urban contexts, aspects such as the total population, the pyramid and population density, the presence of areas destined to this type of practices and public policies implementaed must be taken into account.For example, a city as L´Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain), with similar policies has a different «space interpretation» and dynamics as it density is 30 times higher than Zaragoza's and integration and coexistence issues are also more worrying.
This type of studies could contribute to use sport as a tool for social intervention, with a wide range of impacts since it affects not only those who practice it but also those who are followers, spectators and companions.Finally, newly created commercial brands and small sports entrepreneurs could benefit from these public policy networks with practices that motivate those who, in many cases, are excluded from the traditional sports system.A measurement of the sporting, economic and social impacts of these initiatives would be of great interest for both the sports players themselves and the sports authorities and the market.
Reflecting on the integrating potential of these sports from a broader point of view than the gender, which had been used as an example, highlighting its possible use as an integrating tool from a global and humanistic point of view, including inmigration (Carter-Thuillier, Lopez & Gallardo, 2017), youth at risk of exclusion, intergenerational practice, adapted sport, and others.
Finally, two considerations: -It does not seem logical to try or wish the total integration of these sports or their practitioners in the formal sports system, because of the disruption, the counterculture and its questioning of hegemonic values, and the concept of appropriation (or of the lived city) they have historically been its bulwark.Therefore, strategies should consider both safety and control in sports facilities and the promotion of responsible citizenship in the use of other areas of the city for sports.
-One of the contradictions that these sports face is that of integration and equal opportunities.Although these sports self-declare themselves as integrators, the reality is that the presence of women in most of them is very minor (in a general sports practice that is already smaller among women of all ages) and especially among young women in the city of Zaragoza).Therefore, specific gender strategies are required to show that «girls can also be daring, courageous and enjoy risk».
contact and share information related to your sport?-Where do you train and at what times?Do you usually do it in the same installation or facilities?Do you consider these spaces adequate and satisfactory?-Do you participate in competitions?In Zaragoza or should you move?-The materials and equipment, does each practitioner acquire it or is it financed in some way by clubs, associations, other means?-How do you value the relationship with the administration and what kind of support do you have or would you like to have?Content analysis by experts' consensus (a non-conventional athlete, a sociologist and and sport's administration representant) was done to identify, on the one hand, the dimensions and, within these, the themes.Three dimensions were identified and the topics related were: 1. Degree of institucionalization: a. Existence of hangouts groups.b.Existence of associations.c.Existence of sports clubs.d.Existence of sports federation.2. Communication channels: a. Webpages.b.Social Nets.c. Others.3. Facilities' use: a. Public places (streets, parks, squares).b.Public sport facilities.c.Private sport facilities.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.General map of degree of institutionalization, use of spaces and communication channels.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Location of the analyzed sports.