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Context; never exhilarating, sometimes useful, always necessary...

Sports Participation and Retention in Young People: A Comparison Between Programmes Run in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand" is the title of my Winston Churchill Fellowship. Awarded in 2015, I have finally found the time to venture across to the other side of the world to undertake what I hope is going to be some valuable research into how the Aussies and Kiwis inspire young people to be active, above and beyond the obvious.

"If you can't change your mind, you can't change anything" - Winston Churchill

I chose to travel to Australia because of their strengths on the  international sporting stage and due to the landscape/climate, it is a very organically active country. New Zealand, was a combination of reading 'Legacy' a book that delves into why the All Blacks are so successful and the desire to explore sport from a cultural perspective.

This week I've been exposed a complete range of sport in Melbourne and Newcastle. Basing myself out of Melbourne, as one of the more diverse cities in Australia and being the Education State, I thought it would be interesting to compare to a coastal city for a juxtaposed view. From professional sport in world class facilities at Melbourne F.C. to watching a couple of students play wall ball (an equivalent to outdoor squash) on the side of a building in a residential area - I've already seen the way sport and physical activity almost dominates ones daily routine.

I will be producing a thesis upon completion of my travels, hopefully identifying some tangible insights into young people's motivations to participate sport and physical activity, alongside a set of objectives that could form further, more specific research. For now, a lighthearted insight into my 6 weeks away, a set of observations that may entertain a boring commute, provide a 5 minute outlook break or simply aid procrastination. These are by no means statistically significant posts nor are they always going to be directly linked to my research, but the main theme is assimilation, Aus-mosis to be precise! 

More info on the fellowship in general, can be found here



Comments

  1. UnknownMay 17, 2018 at 12:52 AM

    Excellent ... wish I'd thought of an international comparison for my uni research!!
    Have a wild and educational time!!
    HBD

    ReplyDelete

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