Short Essay

Using the Long-Term Athlete Development Model Outline the Life Cycle of Participation in Basketball,
in Australia.

Nicholas Hardy - #2167660

Hard0271@flinders.edu.au

HLPE1550 - Introduction to Sport and Physical Activity

Lecturer, Deb Agnew (Wednesday 8pm - 9pm)

Practical (Wednesday 11pm - 1pm)

Word Count: 985

Introduction.
The Australia Bureau of Statistics (2015) data found that in 2013 – 2014 Australia had a participation rate
of 60.2% of its population, which at the time was approximately 23,490,700 (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2014), in sport and physical recreation. With the Australian Capital Territory has the highest
participation rate of 72.9% and Queensland having the lowest participation rates of 53.6%; while all other
states participation rates were in the 60% - 70% range (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2015). 2013 – 2014
statistic data also shows that the Australia has a 2.2% participation rate placing it into the top 10 (at 10th)
sport and physical recreation activities out of 55 activities.

There are many different long-term athlete development models that are used by different sporting
organisation across the world, most of these models provide an outline which is then adapted to any given
sport by its governing body, such as Australia’s quite recently developed FTEM Model (Gulbin, Croser,
Morley , & Weissensteiner, 2013). But the model used as a basis in this essay is the Canadian Sport for Life
model.

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Nicholas Hardy (#2167660) Hard0271@flinders.edu.au

Body.
Canadian Sports for Life Model.

The Canadian Sports for Life (2016) long-term athlete development model has seven stages, those seven
stages being:

Active start | Male and female age 0 – 6
Fundamentals | Male age 6 – 9, female age 6 – 8
Learning to train | Male age 9 – 12, female age
11 – 15
Training to complete | Male age 16 – 18, female
age 15 – 17
Training to win | Male age 17+, female age 18+
Active for life | Any age

Training to train | Male age 11 – 16, female age

11 – 15

Basketball Participation Levels.

For recreational participation in basketball the entry age for children is between 5 and 12 years old, there
participation options are Aussie Hoops, a Mini ball competition (primary school) or Under 10’s and 12’s
at a district club. Second is at a junior level for children between 13 and 18 years old, they can participate
in high school competition, social / church, or Under 14’s, 16’s, and 18’s. Senior level participation is
over 18 years old participation options are university teams, social, Under 20’s, 23’s, Men’s / Women’s
and then into master’s completion and retirement.

Elite Participation.

Pathways into elite basketball in Australia starts will talent identification of junior and senior players who
show potential at state / regional and/or national underage championship or players can be nominated by
club / coaches to try out for state or nation-based development program (Basketball Australia N/A).
Through achievement in state / development programs players can move onto contracts with NBL / WNBL
teams, Under 19’s World Championships, World University Games or go to America to play college
basketball. The next stage after those is playing for the Boomers / Opals to represent Australia
internationally and / or playing for a NBA / WNBA team (Basketball Australia N/A).

Retirement

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Nicholas Hardy (#2167660) Hard0271@flinders.edu.au

There is no set retirement age for recreational and elite basketball players, the current oldest NBA player
is Vince Carter at age 40 (FOX Sports Southwest 2018). Some players retire because they have sustained
major injuries and some return from major and minor injuries to continue playing, a player’s retirement
age varies from person to person but generally players who fulfil guard positions leave slightly earlier
than centres because of the different body requirements.

Non-player roles.

Basketball like most other sports heavily relies on volunteers to fill in the non-player roles as there is not
enough money to cover all of the work need to run approximately 420 local associations, 20 000 clubs
and 60,000 teams across Australia (Basketball Australia 2014).

Inclusion Participation.
Basketball Australia also provides participation pathways for people who usually unable to participate in
regular competition because of intellectual disability or integration difficulty ((1) Basketball SA N/A) or
participates who are wheelchair bound ((2) Basketball SA N/A). Only wheelchair basketball offers elite
pathways to represent Australia internationally; the Gliders and the Rollers, while intellectual disability or
integration difficulty has no official representation internationally though we do have Australian teams

Factors Affecting Participation in Basketball.

The factors which affect participation of people playing basketball are no different than the factors that
affect people participating in sport and physical recreation in Australia in general. In children and
adolescent’s participation, parents have a very large part as to whether or not their child participates in
basketball or any sport, as their social class, home environment and economic status which is all created by
the parents, affects their participation in sport. As parents have to be able give their time and money for
their children’s participation; this is even harder on a single parent. Some factors affecting adult’s
participation in sport are perceived lack of facilities, lack of time available, and just lack of interest to
participate in sport (Sleap, & Duffy 1982).

A factor that affect talent identification is the high reliance basketball has on volunteers to help coach and
manage players from an early age as many players who start developing earlier are perceive as talented
compared to their peers who have not started to develop, and while that may be so during their development
period once the others have caught up physically they usually have better developed fundament skills, as

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they could not have a reliance on physicality (Drummond, Pill & Australian Council for Health, Physical
Education and Recreation. 2016).

Conclusion.
So, while Australia has a participation rate in sport that has gotten lower compared to previous years, despite
that the participation percentage of Australians playing basketball has continued to increase across the
country (Australia Bureau of Statistics 2015). Whether this be because of its diverse range of ways to
participate and adaptability to include participates who are generally excluded from regular participation in
sport or because it is a game that you can participate in as a player or a non-player participate for as long
as you want.

References (APA).
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2015). Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2013-14.
Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4177.0
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2014). Australian Demographic Statistics. Retrieved from
http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3101.0Main%20Features2Jun%202014?opendocument&tabn
ame=Summary&prodno=3101.0&issue=Jun%202014&num=&view
Basketball Australia. (N/A). National Athlete Pathway: Everyone's Game. Retrieved from
https://basketballqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Basketball-NAPF-v.2-copy.pdf
Basketball Australia. (2014). Key Facts. Retrieved from http://websites.sportstg.com/get_file.cgi?id=2966498
(1) Basketball SA (N/A). Wheelchair Basketball. Inclusive Basketball. Retrieved from
http://www.basketballsa.com.au/play/inclusive-basketball/wheelchair-basketball
(2) Basketball SA (N/A). Senior Inclusive Basketball Program. Inclusive Basketball. Retrieved from
http://www.basketballsa.com.au/play/inclusive-basketball/inclusive-basketball
Canadian Sports for Life (2016). Long-Term Athlete Development. Sport for Life Society Retrieved from
http://sportforlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/LTAD-2.1-EN_web.pdf?x96000.
Drummond, M., Pill, S., & Australian Council for Health, P. E. a. R. (2016). Advances in Australian Football:
Australian Council for Health, Physical Education & Recreation.
Dagkas, S., & Stathi, A. (2007). Exploring social and environmental factors affecting adolescents' participation in
physical activity. European Physical Education Review, 13(3), 369-384.
Gulbin, J. P., Croser, M. J., Morley, E. J., & Weissensteiner, J. r. (2013). An integrated framework for the
optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner approach. Journal of Sports Sciences, 31(12), 1319-
1331. doi:10.1080/02640414.2013.781661
Sleap, M., & Duffy, P. (1982). Factors Affecting Active Participation in Sport by the Working Class. International
Review for the Sociology of Sport, 17(1), 5-21.