The ‘small town’ effect on youth athletic development: insights from New Zealand ‘touch’

Abstract

There is a growing worldwide interest in understanding optimal and healthy pathways for talent development in sport. The purpose of the study was to explore how familial, environmental and social factors facilitated the athletic development of elite Touch representatives who grew up in the small town of Petersville (pseudonym), New Zealand. An interest in understanding these factors influenced the decision to use an ecological model of development as an analytical lens and to apply (auto)ethnographic methodologies. The participants, which included the first author, grew up in Petersville and had represented New Zealand in the sport of Touch, in various capacities, i.e. of player, referee and manager. While the primary focus is on athletic development of the players who grew up in Petersville, they grew up in a community in which other members were active in the elite NZ Touch community. Consistent with an ecological view of development, the discussion illustrates how influential the referee (who was also the coach of the school Touch team) and the manager were to player development. The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating a nuanced interpretation of the ‘birthplace effect’, particularly in countries with small populations and limited geographical areas.

Keywords:

• Ecological
• talent development
• rural
• youth sport
• autoethnography

Notes

1. When Touch is used as a noun (i.e., the game of Touch) it is capitalised and when it is used as a verb (i.e., to touch) it is written in lower case.

2. ‘There is no internationally recognised definition of a “rural” area’, consequently Statistics New Zealand uses an urban–rural spectrum. ‘Communities that are rurally focused tend to be further from urban centres … and have poorer access to services’. http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/urban-rural-profile/defining-urban-rural-nz.aspx.

3. A school catchment is a geographic area from which students are eligible to attend a local school.

4. Deciles are a way in which the NZ Ministry of Education allocates funding in school. A decile rating indicates the extent to which a school draws it students from low socio-economic communities. Decile 1 schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities, whereas decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools with the lowest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities (New Zealand Ministry of Education 2014).

5. While the primary focus is on athletic development of the players who grew up in Petersville, they grew up in a community in which other members were active in the elite NZ Touch community. Consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological view of development, the subsequent discussion illustrates how influential the referee (who was also the coach of the school Touch team) and the manager were to player development.

6. 12 and 13 year olds.

7. 13 and 14 year olds.

8. 12 to 13 years old.

9. 17 to 18 years old.

10. 13 to 14 years old.

11. A module is a Touch competition which is held at a particular ground on a particular night.