A qualitative analysis of female sport experiences in soccer

Relative Age Effects (RAEs) have the potential to be counterproductive to sport participation rates given the associated selection (dis)advantages and inequitable access to development opportunities for individuals of varying relative age. Previous work has predominantly been quantitative in nature and focused on male athletes, with only a few qualitative studies in the published literature. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine relative age and sport engagement and dropout issues by conducting a qualitative analysis of post-adolescent, female athletes' experiences. An invitation to participate in a semi-structured interview (via phone) or online questionnaire (via Qualtrics) was distributed to a targeted sample of post-adolescent (18-19 years of age), current and past female soccer participants from Ontario, Canada (<i>N</i> = 15). Questions focused on reasons for participation and dropout, aspects of programs and relationships that facilitated or discouraged participation, player recommendations for encouraging future participation or reuptake of the activity, perception of abilities at various stages, involvement in other sports, location considerations, and age issues. The three stages of Côté's Developmental Model of Sport Participation were used to structure the questions in order to explore experiences occurring during specific stages of the athlete's developmental years. Hierarchical content analysis was used to identify raw data themes, which were grouped into higher order sub-themes and categories. Half year comparisons (H1 vs. H2) revealed similar themes reported by relatively older and younger participants, suggesting relative age was not the most important factor with respect to the players' experiences and decisions to continue in the sport when examined from a qualitative lens, although study design may have been a contributing factor. Engaged athletes reported a greater number of themes related to specialization in sport, and dropout athletes reported more negative sport experiences. Sport sampling at young ages (<12 years of age) was associated with ongoing sport participation into the post-adolescent years, with engaged athletes reporting involvement in a greater number of additional sports (beyond soccer), vs. the dropouts. Community size/characteristics reportedly impacted sport experiences, although no clear trends were ascertained. General recommendations for sport practitioners and recommendations for future research are discussed.