Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The “Mamanet” cachiball league is a competitive sports framework for mothers of school-aged children, and currently boasts around 16,000 participants across Israel from a range of socio-demographic backgrounds. The current study explores the effects of Mamanet participation on participants’ health behaviors and on that of their families, with a specific focus on social capital. Data were collected from 1,000 Mamanet participants, and from 300 controls (mothers aged 30-50 who do not participate in Mamanet or in any other competitive sport). Family questionnaires were distributed to 70 families of Mamanet participants and to 84 families of controls. In the current cross-sectional survey, a strong association was found between participation in Mamanet, and in desirable measures of social capital, quality of life, and health behaviors. Longer participation the league was associated with more positive measures across all three indices. This study has identified high levels of social capital among participants and their families. Additional prospective research is needed to examine the long-term effects of participation in the Mamanet league, as well as to establish causality between Mamanet participation and higher levels of social capital, quality of life, and healthy behaviors.