{"id":16719,"date":"2026-01-22T10:14:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/?p=16719"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:06:36","slug":"movement-that-builds-strong-people-not-just-muscles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/movement-that-builds-strong-people-not-just-muscles\/","title":{"rendered":"Movement that builds strong people \u2013 not just muscles."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More and more children and young people in Sweden are doing worse than they should. Stress, mental health issues and a lack of belief in the future have become recurring headlines. Change the Game wants to educate more people and help them see themselves as movement providers<\/em> \u2013 in other words, to give them the ability to validate and develop movement activities that contribute to the holistic development of children and young people. Much good work is already being done today, but there is still a lot left to do \u2013 especially when it comes to connecting young people\u2019s inner and outer capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Change the Game, movement is not primarily about performance, burning calories or competition. It is about building sustainable human beings through a good relationship to movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMovement experiences are important for children\u2019s and young people\u2019s development \u2013 not only from a physical perspective, but also to support psychological, social and creative potential,\u201d says Tom Engl\u00e9n, Director of Change the Game.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMovement experiences are important for children\u2019s and young people\u2019s development \u2013 not only from a physical perspective, but also to support psychological, social and creative potential,\u201d says Tom Engl\u00e9n, Director of Change the Game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation works from the concept of\u00a0Physical Literacy<\/em>\u00a0and, above all, from a holistic view of the human being in motion \u2013 considering both the outer and inner dimensions. Together with Swedish and international partners, they want to raise the quality of how movement is used in schools, sport and other environments for children and young people. Some of their recent collaborations include the Research Center for Human Potential in Montreal<\/a> and partners within the network \u201cInner Development Goals for children and young people in Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A low-hanging fruit in school<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tom Engl\u00e9n believes that schools hold a huge, untapped opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe clearly see a need for integrated learning. Students need to be able to move while learning traditional subjects and developing their self-leadership. There are still very few good examples of this, even though it could be a low-hanging fruit. By strengthening teachers\u2019 and school leaders\u2019 willingness and ability to work in this way, we can quite quickly make school both more meaningful and more effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same approach applies within sport. Children\u2019s and youth sport can do a great deal of good, but the quality of activities is crucial to the impact they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSports coaches have an enormous opportunity to develop children both as athletes and as people. It\u2019s not about choosing one or the other \u2013 it\u2019s about combining them,\u201d says Tom Engl\u00e9n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When quality beats quantity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the quality and the abilities are already there \u2013 without being recognised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn preschool, we sometimes see natural excursions being replaced by something like the equivalent of an adult gym session \u2013 surely with the best intentions. But we know that a walk to a small forest area can challenge children in many different ways at the same time, which that \u2018PE class\u2019 is probably nowhere near,\u201d says Tom Engl\u00e9n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relational crisis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Change the Game draws on sustainability research that points to a relational crisis in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are losing more and more contact with ourselves, with each other, and with our place in the world. That also makes us ask what role physical activity plays in strengthening or counteracting that development. We often say that children and young people should move more and make better choices \u2013 that they should pull themselves together. But they make their choices based on the conditions we give them. That\u2019s why we, the adult world, all together, need to become better at creating environments that make it easy to choose right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change the Game draws on sustainability research that points to a relational crisis in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are losing more and more contact with ourselves, with each other, and with our place in the world. That also makes us ask what role physical activity plays in strengthening or counteracting that development. We often say that children and young people should move more and make better choices \u2013 that they should pull themselves together. But they make their choices based on the conditions we give them. That\u2019s why we, the adult world, all together, need to become better at creating environments that make it easy to choose right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not about chasing symptoms \u2013 it\u2019s about working in a long-term, preventive and health-promoting way. If we want children and young people to feel well, we need to build systems that help them flourish, not just survive. That\u2019s where we at Change the Game want to contribute \u2013 and can contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new development programme<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During 2026, Change the Game will work together with local and regional stakeholders to run a new development programme for leaders who create movement experiences that support children\u2019s and young people\u2019s inner development and wellbeing. 
It is called \u201cShine as they should\u201d<\/strong> and will offer a few teams of movement enablers<\/em> support to explore new ways of running activities that can strengthen children\u2019s and young people\u2019s inner development and wellbeing. The programme will show the way for how we can integrate movement, self-leadership and learning in areas such as school, healthcare and community organisations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, an exploratory journey will be carried out to strengthen the teams\u2019 own organisations and contribute to more people strengthening their willingness and ability to co-create a future where all children and young people get the chance to become their best selves. The programme will include at least four teams, run between April and October, and will be launched within the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual event 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Change the Game 2026 will be held in Ume\u00e5 at the end of September.
Theme of the year: Movement that matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We focus on how movement can help children and young people develop and thrive in a fast-paced and complex world. We need to strengthen their inner abilities so that they can cope better. Movement, both in school and in leisure time, can make a major difference. This requires us to become better at intentionally creating experiences that are fun, meaningful and valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Earlier updates ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More and more children and young people in Sweden are doing worse than they should. Stress, mental health issues and a lack of belief in the future have become recurring headlines. Change the Game wants to educate more people and help them see themselves as movement providers \u2013 in other words, to give them the ability to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-okategoriserade-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16719"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16730,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16719\/revisions\/16730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/change-the-game.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}