Dominique Falls -Simon Fraser University, Doctoral Stipend 2011
Français
Our knowledge of the experiences of youth sport participation in Canadian small towns is limited, anecdotal, or extrapolated from the very few studies that exist on rural sport. This is despite the fact that small town residents still make up a considerable part of the Canadian and British Columbian population. It is therefore disconcerting that while many of Canada’s young athletes engage in and construct their identities and behaviours in small towns, their experiences have been left largely undocumented by academics. My Ph.D. research seeks to address these gaps in our knowledge through an exploration of the complex social arena of organized youth sport in one small BC town. The purpose of this ethnographic research is to gain an understanding of the ways in which organized youth sport is experienced by young people ages 16-18 in one small BC town. Focus will be placed on how young athletes negotiate meanings of ‘being young’, ‘being an athlete’, and ‘small town-ness’ through their experiences of organized sport. I am interested in the ways in which the organization of youth sport in this particular small town develops, perpetuates, and promotes certain meanings of ‘being young’, ‘being an athlete’, and ‘small town-ness’ and how these meanings inform the young athletes’ experiences, behaviours and identities. Particular attention will also be paid to the role that road-trips and geographic mobility play in the negotiations of these experiences, identities and meanings. The goals of this research project are to better understand (1) the place that organized sport has in the life paths of young people, (2) the role that ‘locality’ plays in the life paths of young people, and (3) the specific contexts under which organized sport operates in an effort to help reveal local processes that shape sport participation experiences.
Contact Us
