Abstract:
The study drawn on for this presentation employed a methodology that combined constructivist grounded theory with narrative inquiry methodology to focus on the stories of eight AFL (Australian Football League) and eight NRL (National Rugby League) players and the socio-cultural factors that facilitated their development of expertise as a process of situated learning and particularly up to the age of 13. Using Côté and Hay’s (2002) Development Model for Sport Participation (DMSP) we divided their development into two major phases of the sampling phase (5-12 years) and the specializing and investment phase. This presentation reports on the participants’ movement into the specializing and investments phases in their journeys from young boys playing informal games in the local community to elite level players in the AFL (Australian football league) and the NRL (National rugby league).