Longitudinal Trends in Sport Participation and Retention of Women and Girls

Abstract

Measurement and analysis of sport participation data is vital to understand trends, and therefore to make informed decisions relating to sport policy and strategies to get more people active through sport. This study identified patterns of club sport participation, retention and drop-out of women and girls over a 7 year period in a popular team sport in Australia. The study included registered women and girls of all ages (4-96 years at baseline) in an almost exclusively female sport, with a particular focus on the ages 4-14 years where most participation occurs. All commencing participants in the base year (2010) were tracked over the 7 year period. Participants were classified in two ways: the total number of years they played and their overall pattern of participation. Differences between age groups were analyzed using Kruskall Wallis and Mann Whitney tests. Registration records of 29,225 participants were analyzed in the study. Overall, there were considerable differences in the years participating in the sport. Almost one third (30%) of commencing 4-9 year olds played continuously for the 7 years. This proportion diminished through ages at commencement from 10 to 19, reaching a low point of 4% for ages 15-19, then rebounded slightly, reaching 7% for ages 30+. The proportion who dropped out during the 7 year period and did not return varied with age in the converse manner, as did the proportion of single-year players. The optimal age of entry to sport for retention in participation was 6-9 years. Consideration needs to be given to the age appropriateness of sports programs for very young participants. Strategies specifically relating to retention of girls and young women during adolescence should be developed.

The Physical Activity and Sport Participation Framework—A Policy Model Toward Being Physically Active Across the Lifespan

“…Even yearly cross-sectional analysis shows the drop-off in participation rates from a peak for ages 10-14 years and then a significant decline for ages 15-19, and after that, a continual decline with age. Advocacy for the development of retention strategies, in that regard, has been increasing, especially during adolescence and for females (Eime et al, 2016a,b;Eime et al, 2020c).…”

“…Various researchers highlight critical transitional life stages related to dropout or retention in sport and PA (Craike et al, 2009;Eime et al, 2013Eime et al, , 2020c. Participation patterns at these transition stages often differ between sport and other leisure-time PAs.…”

“…• Many pre-schoolers have been recruited into club-based sport; however, the majority drop out within a couple of years, and perhaps they are not developmentally ready for organized sport Eime et al, 2018aEime et al, , 2020c). • Young children are often active, resulting from participation in non-organized PA or free play and they are more likely to engage in free play than organized sport.…”

The current landscape of youth multi-sport training: athlete and parent insight data

“…It is recommended that specialisation in a sport should not occur until early adolescence yet or even teenage years; 61 this is unclear in regards to a multidiscipline sport where so many competencies are needed to be developed to be successful but also to balance TL effectively. Modern Pentathlon is seen to be a late specialisation sport with age of peak performance at the Olympic games in 2012 showed the top 20 pentathletes age as 26.9 AE 3.6 years (men) and 25.1 AE 4.1 years (women) 62 .…”

Sport participation in Victoria, 2018 Research summary Part 2: Discussion of key findings

“…Sport policy and strategy historically has focused heavily on increasing participation numbers annually. Recent sport participation and retention research has recommended that sport policy and strategic practices have a specific focus on retention and not just on an increase in numbers, and prioritise retention strategies especially for adolescents (Eime, Harvey, et al, 2020) 3. Sport participation rates are higher in regional Victoria compared to metropolitan Melbourne.…”