Maximising enjoyment to sustain girls’ sport participation: a unique case study of Netball in Australia

ABSTRACT

Sports participation is associated with many physical and psychosocial benefits yet a large proportion of children, especially girls, are not participating in or dropping out of sport. Netball is a popular sporting choice for girls; however, it has experienced a decrease in girls’ participation according to census data in Australia. This study aimed to explore how Netball clubs and organisations utilise enjoyment to attract and retain girls’ participation. The FUN Integration Theory was used as a theoretical framework to guide the development of a semi-structured question route for qualitative interviews. The key findings indicate that clubs and organisations appreciated the importance of enjoyment, parental support and quality coaching, however, their current practices did not consistently reflect this understanding. Clubs and organisations were found to operationalise all four tenets of the FUN Integration Theory, though some areas could be further optimised to enhance girls’ sport enjoyment.

KEYWORDS:

• Dropout
• young females
• retention
• youth sport
• FUN Integration Theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Swag refers to material items athletes gain through participating in sport (e.g. Medals/trophies, new equipment, uniforms etc.)

2. Most policy documents were different iterations of the example provided.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine Litchfield

Catherine Litchfield is a PhD Candidate at Flinders University. Her research focuses on the role of social support among elite female athletes during times of adversity. She received her Honours from Flinders University for her research exploring the FUN Integration Theory and its application to Netball participation in Australia. Catherine is the recipient of a prestigious three-year Flinders University Research Scholarship.

Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott is an award-winning early career researcher and senior lecturer in Sport, Health and Physical Activity in the college of Education, Psychology and Social Work at Flinders University. Sam is an active member of the Sport, Health, Activity, Performance and Exercise (SHAPE) Research Centre. He is an emerging thought leader and has won international awards for science and research communications.