Beyond recreation: Personal social networks and social capital in the transition of young players from recreational football to formal football clubs

Abstract

The relationship between sport and social capital is drawing the attention of a growing number of writers and researchers. However, its analysis is often limited to social capital accruing to communities or regions through involvement with sport and to the effects this may have on local wellbeing. While participation in sport can facilitate social capital creation at the community level, social capital accruing to wider communities, and particularly sporting communities, can affect the technical development of athletes. This paper reports on research employing both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the role of social capital in the development of female football players (i.e. soccer) in South Australia. In particular, this paper considers how social capital accruing to players from their personal social networks can influence their early 'career step' between recreational and school football to formal football clubs. The paper focuses on social networks encompassing players, their families and acquaintances, and highlights both positive and negative implications of social capital accumulated by means of membership in those networks.

Sport as a Means of Governing Social Integration: Discourses on Bridging and Bonding Social Relations

“…Access to cultural capital, something that migrants, for instance, may lack, could be seen as a resource that is needed even to be informed about how sports practices are carried out (Spracklen et al, 2015). Access to the right accumulation of capital may enable a transition from recreational sports to formal club and competitive sports (Rosso & McGrath, 2013). Altogether, concerns about limitations regarding bridging potential and exclusionary processes within sport make assumptions about the perceived links between participation in sport, social capital development and social integration contentious (cf.…”

From youth team to first team: An investigation into the transition experiences of young professional athletes in soccer

“…Traditionally, research on transition focuses heavily on the individual athlete and underemphasizes the individual-context relationship. More recent work has recognised the influence of the person-in-context relationship on transition (Rosso, 2010;2014;2015;Rosso & McGrath, 2013). Social capital represents one approach to theorising about the athlete's responses to transition.…”

Promoting Social Inclusion through Sport for Refugee-Background Youth in Australia: Analysing Different Participation Models

“…Risk factors for exclusion commonly experienced by refugee-background young people include residing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, disrupted education prior to arrival in Australia, poverty, discrimination, trauma-associated mental and physical health problems, and living in families torn apart by war and violence and struggling with multiple settlement challenges. This group has low participation rates however, with identified barriers that include costs; lack of access to transport; a lack of cultural sensitivity in sporting environments; a lack of knowledge of mainstream sports services on the part of refugee-background settlers; culturally determined gender norms; competing settlement priorities; and family attitudes (Caperchione, Kolt, & Mummery, 2009; O'Driscoll, Banting, Borkoles, Eime, & Polman, 2013;Olliff, 2007;Rosso & McGrath, 2013;Spaaij, 2013). A report by Oliff (2007) on the potential role of sport and recreation as an aid to integration of refugee young people argues that targeted programs can facilitate settlement, promote health and wellbeing and be an entry point to broader participation and social inclusion.…”