Adolescent girls’ experiences of basketball in Australian and Japanese clubs

ABSTRACT

Despite recognition of the influence of social and cultural contexts on young people’s participation in youth sport, there are a limited number of studies that have identified how culture shapes the nature of participation and how it influences experience. This article reports on a study that inquired into what adolescent girls (13–16 years) enjoy about playing basketball in Japan and Australia and in which the cultural context emerged as a significant influence upon experience and enjoyment. Adopting grounded theory methodology, data were generated through an initial questionnaire and three subsequent rounds of semi-structured interviews with six girls in the team at clubs in Melbourne, Australia, and Tokyo, Japan.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent girls
• basketball
• culture
• participation
• meaning
• sport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Richard Light is Professor of Sport Coaching in the School of Health Sciences, College of Education, Health and Human Development at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Professor Light’s research in sport coaching and physical education situates experience and learning in cultural contexts. Professor Light worked in Japan for six years as a rugby coach and then a teacher, completed a comparative PhD on Australian and Japanese high school rugby and has conducted extensive research on sport in Japan that has been published in English and Japanese.

Wataru Yasaki is Professor of Sport Sociology in the Faculty of Science Division I, Liberal Arts, Tokyo University of Science, Japan. As well as conducting research on the sociology of sport in Japan, Professor Yasaki has conducted research in the UK, Europe and Australia. He has previously collaborated with Professor Light and published in English on a number of research projects that include the impact of the 2002 FIFA World Cup on Japanese society; the development of the J. League (football) and its influence on regional Japan; the professionalisation of rugby in Japan and on culture and rugby in Japanese educational institutions.