Why did they continue? Female gymnasts’ reflections on early specialisation

• Previous research largely advises against early specialisation, due to possible physical and psychological risks (Côté, Lidor, & Hackfort,2009). For this study, we are interested in exploring gymnasts’ reflections of early specialisation in relation to motivation and autonomy.Despite limited empirical evidence, early specialisation is commonly considered necessary for high-level performance in aestheticactivities, such as gymnastics (Kliethermes et al., 2021). This study is one of the first to present qualitative data concerning experiencesof early specialisation, and the first known study to collect such data within female gymnasts.The research questions for this study are, 1) What motivated female gymnasts to remain in early specialised training? 2) How do theyreflect upon key specialisation milestones in relation to motivation and autonomy? and 3) How do they reflect upon the necessity of earlyspecialisation? The study is underway, with semi-structured interviews being conducted with female gymnasts aged 15-24 who selfreported a high degree of early specialisation. Specifically, those who reported reaching specialisation milestones at the youngest ageswere recruited from a database of 115 high-level gymnasts. The data will be analysed using abductive thematic analysis, where selfdetermination theory provides a framework to explore the interplay between early specialisation and motivation towards continuedparticipation in gymnastics.It is anticipated that the results will contribute valuable data regarding experiences of early specialisation, and how these experiencesmight influence motivation towards continued training. Such data also has the potential to shed light on the often-inconsistent quantitativeresults exploring motivational correlates of early specialisation.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Idrottsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Sport and Fitness Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Samhällsvetenskap/Humaniora

Social Sciences/Humanities

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)