Many girls and boys quit sport in their teens. The reasons for this has eluded scientists and sports organizations for many years. This study was performed on behalf of the Swedish Floorball Association with the aim to understand why girls quit floorball during their teenage years and to increase knowledge about what sportclubs can do to prevent girls from quitting. Special focus was directed towards the disengagement process which the girls undergoes when they take the decision to quit their sport participation. The study is based on data from 24 semi-structured interviews with 12 girls aged 13-18 years (n=12) and with one parent from each of the girls (n=12). The results showed that the disengagement process can take from a few months up to two years before the girl takes the final decision. A combination of different factors was found as the most common main reason to quit, and six salient factors were identified as crucial for the decision. The observed critical factors was; an increased focus on sport performance and results, changes in the team's formation, new coaches and changes in the coach's attitudes, interest in any other activity or sport, lack of time and high demands on themselves. Often a girl had quit due to a combination of three to four of these factors. The results indicated that the critical factors connected to the girls' decision often was related to changes from the way it was earlier in younger years. Furthermore, the results showed that parents were involved in the girls’ disengagement process, while representatives from the sport clubs were almost absent. Therefore, the representatives of sportclubs have limited knowledge about who the girls are and why they are thinking about quitting the sport. This means representatives are less able to adopt accurate strategies or to implement appropriate interventions to reduce the drop-out rate. One message to the sport organisations is therefore to develop strategies for dealing with the members’ thoughts and feelings about their sport participation and be especially aware of how changes in sport, in a combination with other critical factors, may affect the athletes´.
Introduction: Many girls and boys quit sport in their teens and the reasons for this has eluded scientist and sport organisations for many years. This study was initiated by the Swedish Floorball Association with the aim to understand why many teenage girls quit floorball and to increase knowledge about what sportclubs can do to prevent girls from dropping out. A special research focus was directed towards the disengagement process which the girls undergoes when they take the decision to quit their sport.
Methods: The study is based on data from 24 semi-structured interviews with 12 girls aged 13-18 years (n=12) and with one parent from each of the girls (n=12). The girls belonged to three different floorball clubs geographically spread in Sweden and had quit floorball from 6 months to 2,5 years ago. The study draws on Ebaughs (1988) theory of the disengagement process.
Results: The results showed that the disengagement process can take from a few months up to two yearsbefore the girl takes the final decision to quit. The process was described by four different phases 1) First doubts 2) Seeking alternatives 3) The Turning point 4) After the decision. While the parents were involved in the process representatives from the sport clubs were almost absent. The longer into the process the girls where the more final their decision became. Six factors were identified asthe main reasons for the girls to quit their sport, often a girl quit due to a combination of three to four of these factors. The most salient factors were an increased focus on sport performance andresults, changes in the team's formation, new coaches and changes in the coach attitudes, interest inother activities or sports, lack of time and high demands on themselves. No one of the girls in this study had been contacted from the sport organisations after they quit.
Discussion: The results points out the impact different changes had for the girls’ decision to quit and the importance for the clubs to be aware of this. It also highlights how the absence of there presentatives from the sport clubs in the girls’ disengagement process led to limited knowledge about the girls’ feelings and thought processes which means they were less able to adopt accurate strategies or to implement appropriate interventions to reduce the dropout rate. One message tothe sport organisations is therefore to develop strategies for how to gather knowledge of their members’ thoughts and feelings about their sport participation and be proactive in their work concerning how to handle changes, group cohesion and coach education. Organisation and leadership in the sport organisations were seen as key areas to develop when the ambition is to lower dropout rates.
The reasons young athletes drop out of sport have eluded scientists and sport organizations for many decades. Despite a large body of research on the subject, unanswered questions remain. This article reports on a new research approach that analyses sport withdrawal as a process. The study draws on Ebaugh’s sociological theory of disengagement and is based on data from semi-structured interviews with 12 girls aged 12 to 17 and 12 of their parents. By studying withdrawal from sport as a process, we found that the reasons comprise a combination of several salient interplaying factors related to changes. Organizational changes in sport and changes in the young athletes’ overall lives, together with changes in normative cultural and individual expectations associated with the young athlete role, are decisive for these girls to withdraw from sport. Furthermore, the disengagement process may be fairly long and emotional for young athletes, and less reversible the further into the process they progress.
This thesis is about selection processes and processes of measuring and judging athletes in competitions in top-level sport. The purpose was to increase the knowledge of these processes and to analyse them from a validity perspective in order to contribute to the discussion of whether the “right” athletes are selected to participate in teams, competitions and games and whether the “right” athletes win. The rule and judging systems were investigated in the judged sports acroski and rhythmic gymnastics. Information was gathered through individual interviews with two judges, two coaches, and four elite athletes from each of the sports, and in addition to this the respective sport’s rule systems, judging manuals, meeting protocols and historical documents were studied. Selections to top-level sport teams were investigated by individual interviews with 14 top-level coaches (selectors) from the national league in soccer and a national team and from national teams in alpine skiing. The results from the judging study showed that both studied sports had undergone major changes in their rule and judging regulations, changes that had a considerable impact on the sports and the judgements. The level of definition of the rules and regulations was raised to increase the opportunities for clear and reliable judgements, but this became problematic for the overall validity of the judgements. The reason for this was that the new rules and regulations did not clearly correspond to the original idea of the sport, since the specified and detailed regulations lead to less originality and freedom in the performances. In the selection study, the results pointed to great differences in how precisely defined the selection criteria were among the teams. The selectors stated that well-defined selection criteria or grounds could be helpful in many ways, but they also emphasised how important it was for them that some parts of the selections were based on their subjective valuations of the athletes. Quite a few coaches from both sports argued that they would choose an athlete with good behaviour and favourable personality over an athlete with better sports skills, if they had an opportunity to do that depending on the selection system that was used. Overall, this research displays how validity issues connected to the selection and judging criteria and these processes might affect the outcome of the processes. It is notable that high reliability is in the main focus of the measuring and judging processes, while considerably vaguer and more subjective assessments are considered important in the selection process. The thesis points to the importance of discussing and understanding the consequences of rules, rule changes, selection and judging criteria as well as how these processes are performed, if the desired outcomes and consequences of the selection and judging processes are to be reached.
The purpose of the study was to increase the knowledge of selections of athletes to top-level sport teams. Selections in alpine skiing and soccer were investigated and modern validity theory was used as the theoretical framework. Key issues concerned the goals and criteria involved in the selection processes, how the processes were performed and notions from the selectors (coaches) about the outcomes and consequences of the selections. The study was based on 14 semi-structured interviews with top-level coaches (selectors) highly involved in the selection processes in the individual sport of alpine skiing (national teams) and in the team sport of soccer (club teams/national team). The results show great differences in the definitions of the selection criteria among the teams. The selection criteria ranged from very well-defined to very vague. This has implications for the validity of the selections with regard to both what is really used as the grounds for the selections and how stable those grounds are. Some of the coaches were convinced that clearly defined criteria are a necessity for good selections, while others were not. There were some disparities between the club and federation boards and the coaches as regards both the level and the types of goals and ideas for the selections. From a validity standpoint this is problematic, as there might then be different kinds of goals that the selection method has to be adapted to. The selection decisions were mostly a result of the coaches’ discussions with each other. In some teams this was a fairly subjective process, and in other teams ranking lists played an important role in the decisions. Quite a few coaches from both sports said that they would choose an athlete with good behaviour and favourable personality over an athlete with better sports skills, if the system allowed for such alternatives. All coaches emphasised the importance of the selection criteria being formulated in such a way that they gave the coaches opportunities to influence the judgements themselves. All coaches stated that their eyes and their feelings were their most valuable selection tool. When it comes to the outcome and the consequences of the selections, the importance of the selections was experienced as very important To be selected to a national team in skiing was by some coaches described as a career-changing event, whereas the soccer coaches described the selections in soccer to be very important although not crucial for the athletes’ career. For the coaches it was said to be of utmost importance to select a successful team, as they otherwise could lose both their job and their respect. Most of the skiing coaches thought they selected the “right” skier, even if the athletes did not always achieve the expected results, while all the soccer coaches thought that they sometimes had selected the “wrong” player. Overall the results show that there are validity issues to be considered in the selection processes. It was also shown that many of the coaches regard the selection process as rather difficult and the evaluation of the process as challenging. The fact the coaches do not have any education concerning selections and how to deal with factors affecting the selections means that they have to figure out strategies for dealing with these complex situations.
Did the right person win? In competitive sports the difference between winning and loosing can be very marginal but still the result will have a big impact. To finish second, even if it is an Olympic Game, can be felt like a failure for the athlete. In the light of this the quality of the measurements and the judgements in sports are an extremely important issue. In this dissertation, consisting of two separate reports and one summary report, the freestyle discipline, acroski, and the gymnastic discipline, rhythmic gymnastics (RG) where studied with a focus on the rules and judgements in the sports. The reliability and validity of the rule and judging systems were analysed together with changes in the rule and judging systems. The reliability, as the judges ability to interpret the rules and judge in a consistent way, and validity in the sense that the judgements, and the rules for the judgements, where in accordance with the idea of the sport. Information was gathered from rulebooks, judging manuals, meeting protocols, and historical documents. For information on how the rules and judgements where perceived among people involved in the two sports, interviews where carried out with two coaches, two judges and four athletes from each of the sports. In the summary report the results from the two reports where discussed and a comparison of the rule systems and judgements was made together with a discussion about reliability and validity problems in sports measured by time, length and height. The results showed that the rule and judging systems in acroski and RG in a short time have gone through major changes to increase the reliability and validity in the judgements. The quick evolution of these sports seems to be the main reason for these changes but also other factors where of vital importance. Finding the balance between making the judgements as objective as possible, without loosing the idea of the sport, together with the quick evolution of the sports, seemed to be the main challenges in the rule and judging systems of acroski and RG.
Selecting the ‘right’ athletes to competitions and games is crucial in eventually deciding winners and champions. Thus, thepurpose of this study was to discuss selections to top-level sport teams using validity concepts as theoretical points ofdeparture. Drawing on data from 14 semi-structured interviews with elite coaches (selectors) in football (n¼8) andalpine skiing (n¼6), this article adds to the knowledge on rationales behind selection decisions in elite sport, howselections are performed and with what consequences. Results point to several key validity concerns in selectionprocesses such as the (non) use of explicit selection criteria, lack of structure in selection processes and coaches’giving way to gut feelings and their ‘eyes for the sport‘ instead of utilizing various selection aids at hand.