Adolescent girls’ experiences of basketball in Australian and Japanese clubs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite recognition of the influence of social and cultural contexts on young people’s participation in youth sport, there are a limited number of studies that have identified how culture shapes the nature of participation and how it influences experience. This article reports on a study that inquired into what adolescent girls (13–16 years) enjoy about playing basketball in Japan and Australia and in which the cultural context emerged as a significant influence upon experience and enjoyment. Adopting grounded theory methodology, data were generated through an initial questionnaire and three subsequent rounds of semi-structured interviews with six girls in the team at clubs in Melbourne, Australia, and Tokyo, Japan.