What’s your Passion? We asked young men from across Greater Manchester tell us about their particular leisure passion.
Among the most prevalent stereotypes of working-class boys and young men are of them hanging around aimlessly at street corners and engaging in anti-social behaviour. More often ignored are the leisure activities of ‘joiners’, who often develop skills knowledge and confidence which may be very different from their school experiences and which can sometimes lead to lifelong enthusiasms.
The Passions project started by filming some snapshot interviews with young men about what they get out of their leisure passion. Involvement in physical activities like football or boxing often help defuse the pressures which young men often experience as teenagers. Footballers training with FC United describes how football is a ‘way of calming nerves’, ‘taking your mind off things’, taking you away from the real world’, as well as keeping you fit and helping you make friends. Others just ‘love just diving around and getting filthy’.
The benefits of involvement in sport are, of course, well-known. The value of these snapshots are young men describing in their own words what they get out of their activities.
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