Why Adolescent Girls Play Basketball in Australia and its Meaning for them

The potential of organized sport to contribute to the health and wellbeing of young people justifies concern about their participation in it. While most research focuses on barriers and drop out, this article reports on a study that adopted a positive approach. Conducted in a large basketball club in Melbourne, Australia, it focused on what kept adolescent girls, aged 13 -16 in one team. It identified two main factors contributing toward making basketball enjoyable for the six girls in the study and which kept them playing. They were: (1) relationships within the team and (2) having a strong sense of learning and improvement.

Declining nu mbers of adolescents playing organized sport is part ially due to t ransitioning into non-organized sport or leisure activit ies, but this is mostly attributed to 'dropout' (Fraser-Thomas, Côté , & Deakin, 2008). This research also identifies similarit ies and differences between boys and girls who drop out. Butcher, Lindner and Johns' (2002) research on tenth grade students identified the same top three reasons for dropping out among girls and boys. These were, (1) not enjoying the sport, (2) wanting mo re time for non-sport activities, and (3) competit ion for time and energy fro m other sports, but there were differences in their rating of the next three most important reasons. Girls were mo re likely than boys to believe that they were not good enough, to feel performance pressure, and to want more t ime to study. Butcher and colleagues' study and many other studies, including those we have conducted, suggest the pivotal importance of enjoy ment and positive social interaction when making decisions about remaining in sport or dropping out, for boys and girls (see, Butcher, et al., 2002;Curry & Light, 2016;Light, Harvey, & Mermmert, 2013;Sabo & Veliz, 2008).
Overtrain ing at an early age has also been identified as a factor contributing to a lack of en joyment and mean ing of sport for adolescents. For examp le, a study on competitive swimming identified early specialization and the greater training intensity associated with it as the main cause of drop out (Fraser-Tho mas, Côté , & Deakin, 2008). Low perceptions of their own co mpetence and poor social relationships in sport settings can also discourage children fro m continuing in sport (Ullrich -French & Smith, 2006) with research suggesting that girls value the quality of friendships and show mo re self-determined motivat ion for play ing than boys do (Ullrich -French & Smith, 2006).

The Culture of S port in Australia
Fro m the second half of the eighteenth century, sport has played a significant part in the development of Australian culture and national identity with Cashman (1995) describing Australia as a "Sporting Paradise". There are few countries in which sport forms such a pervasive aspect of culture as it does in Australia. Th is is a country in which sport has played a central role in the development of a collective sense of identity, pride and a sense of self (Stoddart, 1986). Th is is d ramatically reflected in the results of a national survey in which respondents reported that seven out of the ten most inspirational mo ments for them were sport related (Stewart , Nicholson, Smith, & Westerbeek, 2004). In Australia, sport is accessible for children and young people through schools and commun ity -based clubs such as the one in this study. These are sites that are institutionally and culturally different to school settings. They are also distinctly different to the school environments in which adolescents play sport in countries like the US and Japan (see, Light & Yasaki, 2016), Co mmun ity-based sport clubs similar to the one in this study are also prominent in the UK and other former British colonies such as New Zealand and Canada. Australians have long taken a competitive approach to sport with victories in cricket over English teams fro m the 1873-1874 season in Australia playing an impo rtant part in the Brit ish colony's confidence in becoming an independent nation within what was seen as a threatening natural environment (Stoddart, 1986). With the exception of the more exclusive independent schools, the club system offers a more effect ive pathway for aspiring young athletes such as the girls in this study and a more co mpetitive environ ment than school sport normally does (see, Light, 2012). This is a very different environ ment to say, the US, where all adolescent sport is played within the institutional setting of school sport. The girls in this study were in a very large and successful basketball club in Melbourne and had grown up playing in the co mpetit ive club system with aspirations of success for some at the highest levels formed as young girls.

Methodol ogy
This study adopted grounded theory methodology to inquire into what made being in a basketball team positive enough to sustain the interest of for girls aged 13-16 in an Australian basketball club. Widely used in education research, grounded theory methodology seeks to construct theory about issues of importance in peoples' lives through a process of induction that Charmaz (2006 , p. 188) describes as, "A type of reasoning that begins with a study of a range of individual cases and extrapolate s fro m them to form a conceptual category". We appraoched the study with open minds and tried to avoid having strong, preconceived ideas or theories that we wanted to prove or disprove, as Mills, Bonner and Francis (2006) suggest is necessary. In this study we developed theory from data in an ongoing process of data generation and analysis in wh ich we delayed the use of formal theory and literature until we achieved theoretical saturation as the point at which we could develop no more theories. We reached this point with two strong substantive themes that we used literature and theory to elevate substantive themes grounded in the participants' experiences to conceptual themes .

The Site
The study was conducted in a large co mmunity-based basketball club in Melbourne referred to using the pseudonym, The Melbourne Club. Six girls in the top under 16 year's team within The Melbourne Club participated in the study which was conducted over an eight -month period that included the whole season.

Participants and Selection
Invitations to participate were sent out with a questionnaire to all g irls aged 13 -16 at the club. One team was then chosen at random fro m all the, under-16 teams in the club within wh ich the parents of at least six girls had agreed to their daughter's participation in the study. The participants were selected at random fro m among those who agreed to participate and whose parent also agreed. The study had ethical clearance fro m an Australian university.

The Grounded Theory Process
Data generation for the study began with a 15 item questionnaire distributed to all girls in the club aged 13 to 16 that was used to provide information on the context of the club and to develop questions for the first of three rounds of semi-structured interviews. We began with in itial coding then moved to focussed coding through line-by-line read ing to identify incidents and ideas as empirical data fro m which we generated codes that fitted with our line of inquiry. These were then developed into categories through the ongoing use of memo ing and the constant comparison of data. To move fro m descriptive level codes to conceptual level codes we continued to use memo ing and constant comparison as well as theoertical sampling. This guided the development of emeging theory by seeing if data supported emerging categories. We used constant comparison in the three ways suggested by Holt on (2007) to co mpare: (1) incidents/ideas to other incidents/ideas, (2) emerging concepts to more incients/ideas and (3) emergent concepts to each other as well as comparing the concepts and theories we had developed at both sites.
Our theoretical samp ling involved deciding what data to generate next and how to generate it in a way that would facilitate continuing the development of emerging theory which meant that data generation was guided by emerging theory. Core concepts emerged though repetitive coding that produced the properties of each category but we ceased when we had reached theoretical stauration. Th is is the point at which we could not develop any more properties or dimensions within the relevant concept and which provides the conceptual density to lift descriptive theory to abstract theory. To do this we drew on Selig man's PERMA model, Antonvosky's salutogenic model and the relev ant literature to further develop and refine the theories we had developed and to reach theoretical integration.
The challenges that we faced in completing the grounded theory process were (1) maintain ing an open minded approach and letting the data speak, (2) raisining the level of coding fro m descriptive to a conceptual level and trusting our intuitive senses throughout the process. All interviews were conducted by the first author but with the second author present at most of them. university through the American college sports system (NCAA -National College Athletics Association).

Relationships
The coach, who has been an assistant coach for the Australian national wo men's team (the Opals) at the Oly mp ics, told us that he thought one of the girls was likely to play for the Opals in the future. Four of these five girls were academically successful and focused on succeeding in both basketball and school.
In Australia, the co mmunity-based club sports system provides open access to most sports and provides pathways to the highest levels of ach ievement in sport (see, Stewart, 2004). While many former Brit ish colonies such as New Zealand, the UK and Canada have similar systems, it is very different to sport based in schools and universities such as in the US and Japan (see, Light & Yasaki, 2016;Stewart, 2004).
The girls in this study felt strong identity with the team and stronger relationship in it than anywhere, else. They enjoyed being under pressure in co mpetition games and in practice games, not only because of how it developed them as individual p layers, but also because of how it intensified relat ionships between the players and bonded them as a collective. The intimate relat ionships between the pla yers as part of the team formed the most powerfu l theme in analysis of what made basketball so enjoyable and mean ingful for them: We have the bonds like sisters do. We just connect so well. So many people say we are the best team they've ever seen but they don't see what's off the court, they just see what's on the court. On the court we're great, even off the court we're just so together (Interview, Beth).
There was a very powerful sense of belonging among the girls and of connections between them that some research on sport refers to as 'relatedness' (see, Sarrazin et al., 2002). All the girls talked about friends, belonging in the team and the place of the team in their social life but this relatedness and sense of belonging was located within the larger co mmun ity of the club: …our younger sisters play together in the same club. We all stick together. We all think the same way and help each other out. If somebody is down some one will pull them up-in a game or at practice or anywhere and I think that is a p retty good thing (Interview, Bree).

Learning, Improving and Achievement
Having a sense of constant improvement on a week-by-week basis, over the season and over their years of involvement in basketball made a strong contribution toward the girls' enjoyment of basketball and the meaning it had for them. This gave them direct ion, a strong sense of purpose and of achievement.
This occurred at both and individual level and at a co llect ive level in terms of how the team was improving and how their individual imp rovement contribut ed to it. Even in co mpetit ion games when the team lost, the coach had them reflect on the loss and on how they could improve, which sustained their sense of improvement as a team over the season and which relates to Csiks zentmihaly i's (1990) notion of flow as applied to sport by Jackson and Csikszent mihalyi (1999). They suggest that a state of flow in which optimal learning occurs most commonly happens when the balance between challenge and the ability to meet this challenge is met for athletes. They also s uggest that for athletes to achieve flow they and their coaches should always strive to be the best they can instead of focusing on winning.
At an individual level, there were many opportunities for the six girls to achieve explicit success within a single co mpetition game, over the season and over the decade that some of the girls had been playing basketball fo r. A ll six of them were very co mpetit ive with five having clear long -term basketball goals.
They all outlined their ach ievements in basketball as ma rkers of constant improvement in their quest to meet the long-term goals they had set with one was more focused on becoming a lawyer. These goals included being selected in and/or captaining the state team or being in a team that won the national championships as was the case for some of the girls in this study who played for Victoria in the national championships. During interv iews three of the girls said that they saw these achievements as "pay off" for consistent effort (Lee, Carter, & Xiang, 1995). This we suggest, cab seen as markers of achievement.
Five girls articu lated clear long-term goals in basketball that involved playing at high levels but the way in which basketball figured in their plans for the future did not seem to provide part icular motivation o r meaning for them. Instead, it seemed to provide direct ion and a framework for achieving more immed iate improvement and making learn ing more relevant for them. The girls in this team were highly experienced and talented basketballers but were co mmitted to academic success. Laura was, however, prepared to co mpro mise her academic results to realize her long -term basketball goals, which included playing College basketball in the US but Tayla d id not see basketball figuring in her future.
Her focus was in beco ming a lawyer. Regardless of their v iews on where basketball would figure in their futures, they were all well aware of where they were in basketball at fourteen and fifteen years of age, what they had invested to get where they wanted to be, and wh at it was going to take to get there: Although they spoke about their own development and achievement it was usually related to the team.
In these discussions they emphasized the satisfaction gained from improvement earned through hard work, co mmit ment, sacrifice and being put under pressure as a team over the season or in specific games that had been particularly tight. All of them nominated intensity as the most important factor required to make training and playing meaningful as Karen exp lains: "I like the intensity in training because it keeps you on the edge and keeps you focused on being your best and is never boring because you have to focus and do your best all the time" (Interview, Karen ). Their love of intensity in practice Winning was very important to these girls and was nominated by many of them as one the most enjoyable aspects of being in the team but not just because they won. It was more because of how the collective effort intensified them as a single entity. They enjoyed how the pressure on them pro moted more unity of purpose in the team because this was seen by them to be the only way to be their best "as a team". This is suggested in Britt's reco llect ion of a tough game the week befo re the interview that also suggests how the girls experiences being lost in the flow during intense games: "…so metimes when we are under a lot of pressure it like forces us to connect and the communicat ion between us just happens and sometimes you can think, 'how d id that happen?'" Winning games was important for them, but it was the tight games that produced a unified team effort that they valued most: I like winning but when you win by a lot it is not interesting. When you are really pushed to win, and you all put in to get a win it is really satisfying. Winning a close game because we all worked hard as a team is the best (Interview, Karen).
It was the nature of these victories as a collective response to pressure in tight games that made it so satisfying and meaningful for them. When asked, what had been the most enjoyable aspect of playing basketball fro m when she first started, Bree said it was: "Seeing yourself imp rove, I th ink it is definitely.
Or the hard work that you've put in it coming out" (Interview, Bree).

Discussion
The importance of peer relat ionships and having a sense of learning, improving and achieving  Relationships with teammates and other people in the club contributed most to the girls' enjoy ment of being in the team and making it meaningful for them, wh ich is something that research suggests is valued by adolescent girls in sport more broadly (see, Weiss & Smith, 2002). It is also one of the elements of the PERMA model that makes a contribution to happiness. In sports clubs and other physical activ ity contexts, positive peer relat ionships have been linked to establishing a sense of physical co mpetence and positive affective outcomes for boys and girls (Muenks, Wigfield, & Eccles, 2018). Positive perceptions of peer relationships have also been shown to have a positive effect upon young people's motivation and enjoyment that the literature suggests is more marked with girls and wo men (Bruner et al., 2018;Flintoff & Scratton, 2003;Heemsoth & Retelsdorf, 2018;Ullrich-French & Smith, 2006;Weiss & Smith, 2002) than with boys and men.
The girls emphasized the strength of their relationships forged in the heat of battle on the basketball court and under pressure at practice sessions but were focused on winning as a team and developing individual careers after leaving school. Their enjoy ment of peer relationships was strongly driven by individual and collect ive co mpetitive urges shaped by the culture of Australian sport and by the basketball club their team was in. It was the strong bonds between them all as a team, that enabled them to flourish under pressure in games and it was this pressure that sustained and strengthened their relationships. This deep engagement in competition and practice sessions was much like deep immersion in their team and is another element in the PERMA model that helps explain their enjoyment of being in the team.
The importance of young people feeling that they are learning and imp roving for enjoy ment of sport is a common theme in the literature (see, Jackobsson, Lundvall, & Redelius, 2014) as is a feeling of competence in the sport (Šilić, Sesar, & Crn jac, 2018). The g irls had clearly art iculated long-term individual goals in basketball and short-term collective goals as a team in terms of week by week competition goals and season-long goals. Their team won the Victorian state championships and some of them were in the Victorian state team that won the national championships in the year of the study.
Setting short term goals provided them with the positive experiences of meeting and dealing with individual and collect ive challenges on a weekly basis that also contributed toward them feeling they were on track to achieve their long-term goals such as playing college basketball in the US and playing for the Opals. According to the PREMA model, this sense of achievement makes an important contribution to happiness and psychological wellbeing in life and has been used to make learning positive with the Positive Pedagogy for sport coaching framework (Light & Harvey, 2019).
We have identified two main themes fro m the study that best explain th e girl's enjoyment of being in the team as the main reasons why they continued to play and committing so much to basketball.
However, we suggest that these are so significant because of the contribution they made to the meaning basketball had for them. Meaningfulness is not only an element in the PERMA model but also features www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr  (2019) argue that, when applied to sport coaching, practice that engages athletes physically, emotionally and intellectually it is likely to be mean ingful for them. Antonvosky's concepts of comprehensibility (understanding what is going on) and manageability also offer exp lanations for the mean ing of basketball for the girls. In particular, their enjoyment of very intense competition g ames and practice that push them to their limits with pressure they are able to manage, and this is tied to the mean ingfulness basketball had for them.
For the six g irls in this study, basketball held great mean ing but, less so for one of them. It was not just an activity but instead, was central to their lives, future aspirations, their social lives and daily routines.
One girl was prepared to sacrifice her academic ach ievement to reach her long -term goals in basketball, four also had lofty long-term goals in basketball but were equally committed to academic success, and one saw no future in basketball beyond secondary school because of her co mmit ment to beco ming a lawyer.

Conclusion
This article lends support to the literature suggesting the importance of peer relat ionships and having a sense of learning and imp roving for adolescent girls' enjoyment of playing competit ive sport (Clare, 2018;Cope, Bailey, Parnell, & Kirk, 2018;Timken, McNamee, & Coste, 2019). The close-focus nature of the study also provides useful insight into, and knowledge about, the personal, indiv idual experiences of adolescent girls in sport. Focused on six girls in the one team, it identified variation and diversity in individual experience and the mean ing of basketball in their lives between them but also commonality in experience. It suggests how this was influenced by the context of club sport in Australia and the particular basketball club the girls were in. The study contributes to knowledge about the complexity of adolescent girls' involvement in sport and the range of factors and experience shaping where sport sits in their lives. It identifies what meaning basketball has for the six g irls in this study and how participation in it was shaped by being at school, social life, family, aspirations for the future and sporting culture. It h ighlights the pivotal importance of the social dimensions of sport for attracting young people to sport and keeping them in it wh ile also reminding us about the positive ways bin wh ich co mpetition can make sport fun, and how coaches and other involved can deal with the negative impact of a win at all costs approach on young people in sport.