Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology Conference
October 2011, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Sporting milestones and career progression of male Australian junior international
level team sport athletes
Melissa J. Hopwood 1, Damian Farrow 1,2, Clare MacMahon 1 & Joseph Baker 3
1. Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
2. Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Australia
3. York University, Toronto, Canada
Identifying the ages when highly skilled athletes reach various sporting milestones
contributes to our understanding of the typical time-course of career progression
from sport initiation to international level competitor. This information can be
used to guide sport programming and as a benchmark to assess athlete development.
Details regarding the attainment of sporting milestones were collected from 42 male
Australian junior international level athletes in the sports of soccer (n=24), basketball
(n=12), and volleyball (n=6) (Mage=17.27±1.28). One-way ANOVAs were conducted to
compare the ages at which athletes from different sports reached 31 sporting milestones.
Significant group differences were found for almost all milestones, including main
sport initiation, first participation at the local, state, national, and international
levels of competition, and specialisation. Post-hoc tests revealed that soccer players
reached each milestone first, followed by basketball players, then volleyball players,
with the difference between soccer and volleyball players significant at p < .05.
Interestingly, when the number of years between sport initiation and the attainment
of each of the remaining milestones was compared, the difference between sports was
not as marked. These results suggest that although the absolute ages at which athletes
reach sporting milestones may differ between sports, the relative time to reach these
milestones following initiation of main sport is similar.
To cite this presentation:
Hopwood, M.J., Farrow, D., MacMahon, C., & Baker, J. (2011, October). Sporting milestones
and career progression of male Australian junior international level team sport athletes.
Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology Conference, Winnipeg,
Canada.
