Football: representations and practices of students of the elementary school

This study aimed to characterize the practices and social representations of students about football within the Physical Education classes. This is a qualitative research of ethnographic type, which used participant observation and semi-structured interviews, as well as questionnaires, in a class of 29 students from 6th grade of Elementary Education, in a private school in Bauru City-SP. The results indicate that the media and the family are the main elements that constitute the representations of students about football, and that the way football practice is developed at school simultaneously builds and feed them. We conclude that social representations rule the relationships of students with football, insofar as they guide and organize their behavior. However, this does not make their conduct and values homogenous, because the students seek in football the satisfaction of something that is also personal, as fun and friendship.