The Open Fun Football School programme builds on Cross Cultures innovative, tried and tested approaches, and it is inspired by social concepts provided by amongst other:
Robert Putnam and his insights on how citizenship and social capital in the voluntary sector connect communities, helping to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to live the life they dream of. Preben Astrup that argues that volunteering, heterogeneous social networking and community mobilization are fundamental prerequisites that can help unite communities and form the foundations of peace, social cohesion and democracy. The American-Israeli professor Aaron Antonovsky who links resilience – people’s ability to cope and handle long-term stressors – to what he terms a “sense of coherence”. This, he further links to the concepts of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness, while arguing that the stronger an individual’s “sense of cohesion”, the more resilient he or she is likely to be when faced with stressors, demands and challenges. Sara Lei Sparre that argues in her PhD dissertation on how young people’s resilience is enhanced when they gain practical experience in communicating and operationalizing their ideas and visions for society and when they are given the opportunity to be positive role models for other young people and for children. And finally, Peter Krustrup Daniel Parnell who argues that football is an excellent broad-spectrum prevention for children and youth – in club and school settings.