Umeå University's logo

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.

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.

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.

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´.

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.