Developmental pathways of Malaysian youth athletes in the national sports schools
<p>The main objective of this research was to examine the development of the Malaysian youth athletes in the national sports schools. Athletes (n=117) from eight sports (squash, archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, netball, hockey, volleyball) participated in the study. The first stu...
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| Format: | thesis |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=9292 |
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| Summary: | <p>The main objective of this research was to examine the development of the Malaysian youth athletes in the national sports schools. Athletes (n=117) from eight sports (squash, archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, netball, hockey, volleyball) participated in the study. The first study examined the athletes practice history prior being selected into the institutions. Data on sport specific milestones, type and amount of practice engaged and involvement in other sports were obtained using the Athlete Developmental Pathway Questionnaire. The individual sport athletes (squash, archery, athletics, fencing, swimming) achieved most of the sports milestones later but went on to higher levels of competitions earlier, compared to team sport athletes (p<.05). For their main sport, both individual and team sport athletes accumulated more hours on structured activities, and more activities were conducted during specialising stage, compared to sampling stage (p<.05). All the athletes engaged in a few other sports, especially sports that were very different from their main sport. The second study examined the microstructure of practice of six sports (squash, archery, athletics, netball, hockey, volleyball). The individual sports (Mdn=27.85) differed from team sports (Mdn=20.54) for the amount of time spent in transition activity (Z=1.41, p=.03, r=.47). During practice, the athletes consumed more time on training form activities (59%), compared to playing form. The observed microstructure of practice activities validated the reported coach-led practice hours, and identified the lack of competition-like practice activities that are necessary to develop expertise in sports. This research concludes that there is no singular pathway to develop athletes. Current scientific knowledge is still not being applied in practice.</p> |
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