1 research outputs found
Transitioning out of the professional player pathway: A grounded theory on the process in South African Men’s tennis
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: To understand and describe the athlete and their environment(s), researchers, historically, have confined their description of retrospective events, such as sport participation, development, career transitions, etc., to the sport context. This approach has been limiting to researchers’ scope of interpretation (qualitative designs) and / or projection (quantitative designs) of past, present and future (athletic) selves along with transitioning and non-transitioning sporting careers. In other words, the person and athlete are portrayed as mutually exclusive. Considering this, the motivation for the current research project was to understand, reimagine and amplify the human experience of South African men’s tennis players, i.e., the people within their development pathways. To do this, a rigorous constructivist grounded theory (GT) methodology was employed both as the research process and as a strategy to generate theory. This GT study explored South African men’s tennis player transitions within and out of the professional player pathway in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Four research questions guided the study: 1) what is happening in the development process of a promising competitive junior tennis player in the Western Cape, South Africa?; 2) what is happening [on and off the court] in the development of these players?; 3) what are the transitional processes throughout the junior career pathway and how are these transitions understood?; and 4) how do men’s tennis players [with a promising national junior ranking] transition out of the professional player pathway? To best answer these research questions, a range of tennis participants (n = 34) were selected using purposeful sampling (theoretical sampling) along with maximum variation sampling. Data collection entailed semi-structured interviews augmented with observational work. Theory generation adhered to the procedures for constructivist GT analysis (initial codes, focused codes, categories and categories underpinning theory).
As a result, a GT model that explains South African men’s tennis player development and transition processes was developed. This model is underpinned by eight core categories: 1) pursuing a rich man’s sport; 2) transitioning steps; 3) playing inside the lines [small world]; 4) SA Coaching world; 5) life orbiting tennis; 6) college: driving the tennis vehicle; 7) manhood eclipsing childhood; and 8) being a pro at life, not tennis.
The practical implications of this model are recognised firstly in its approach to tennis development, i.e., placing greater emphasis on the person and their individual life transitions and how these influence their tennis trajectories. Secondly, this model provides a unique context to the South African tennis player journey. A journey that Tennis South Africa’s (TSA) current long-term player development model (LTPD) generically and collectively attempts to accommodate in a long-term development plan. However, without context and individual experiences of junior to senior transitions, i.e., sport within life domains, the South African tennis player remains (figuratively) confined to a linear, reductionist and prescriptive approach to development and the complexity of their path is grossly misunderstood and misrepresented.
A practical recommendation for TSA is to accommodate the doubles format as a mechanism for tennis development and utilize it as a viable professional tennis pathway.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In ʼn poging om die atleet en hul omgewing(s) te verstaan en te beskryf, het navorsers histories
gesproke hul beskrywing van retrospektiewe gebeure soos sportdeelname, ontwikkeling, loopbaan
veranderinge, ens., tot die sport konteks beperk. Hierdie benadering het beperkend op navorsers se
omvang van interpretasie (kwalitatiewe ontwerp) en / of projeksie (kwantitatiewe ontwerp) van die
verlede, hede en toekomstige (atletiese) eie-ek, tesame met veranderende en nie- veranderende sport
loopbane, ingewerk. Met ander woorde, die persoon en atleet word as wedersyds eksklusief
uitgebeeld. Met dit in gedagte, was die motivering vir die huidige navorsingsprojek om die menslike
ervaring van Suid-Afrikaanse mans tennisspelers, dit wil sê, die persone binne hulle
ontwikkelingsroetes te verstaan, opnuut te bedink en toe te lig. Om dit te vermag is ’n onbuigsame
konstruktivisties gegronde teoretiese (GT) metodologie gebruik as beide die navorsingsproses en as
’n strategie om die teorie te genereer. Hierdie GT studie het Suid- Afrikaanse mans tennisspeler
veranderinge binne en buite die professionele arena in die Wes- Kaapse Provinsie in Suid-Afrika
ondersoek.
Vier navorsingsvrae rig die huidige studie: 1) wat gebeur in die ontwikkelingsprosesse van ’n
belowende mededingende junior tennisspeler in Wes-Kaapland, Suid-Afrika?; 2) wat gebeur [op en van
die baan] in die ontwikkeling van hierdie spelers?; 3) wat is die oorgangsprosesse tydens die
junior beroepsloopbaan en hoe word hierdie veranderinge verstaan?; en 4) hoe verlaat mans
tennisspelers [met ’n belowende nasionale junior ranglys posisie] uit die professionele
ontwikkelingsroete? Om hierdie navorsingsvrae ten beste te beantwoord is verskeie tennisspelers (n
= 34) deur middel van doelgerigte steekproefneming geselekteer (teoretiese steekproefneming) saam
met maksimum variasie steekproefneming. Data insameling het semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude behels
wat deur waarneming aangevul is. Teorie generering het getrou gebly aan die prosedures vir
konstruktivisties GT analise (aanvanklike kodes, gefokusde kodes, kategoriee en kategoriee wat
teorie ondersteun).
As gevolg hiervan is ’n Gegronde Teoretiese model ontwikkel wat die Suid-Afrikaanse mans
tennisspelers se ontwikkeling en veranderende prosesse verduidelik. Hierdie model word gerugsteun
deur agt kernkategorieë: 1) die beoefening van ’n rykmansport; 2) oorgangstappe; 3) speel binne die
lyne [klein wereld]; 4) Suid-Afrikaanse (SA) Afrigtingswereld; 5) lewensbaan tennis; 6) kollege:
bestuur die tennis voertuig; 7) manlikheid wat die kinderjare verduister; en 8) om professioneel in
lewe te wees, nie tennis nie. Die praktiese implikasies van hierdie model word eerstens erken in die benadering tot
tennisontwikkeling, dit wil sê meer klem op die persoon en hul individuele lewensoorgange en hoe
dit hulle tennis ontwikkelingsroete beinvloed. Tweedens voorsien hierdie model ’n unieke konteks
aan die Suid-Afrikaanse tennisspeler se reis – ’n reis wat Tennis Suid-Afrika (TSA) se langtermyn
speler ontwikkelingsmodel (LTSO) generies en gesamentlik poog om in ’n langtermyn
ontwikkelingsprogram te akkommodeer. Dit is egter so dat sonder konteks en individuele ervarings
van junior tot senior oorgangstydeperke, dit wil se, sport binne die lewensdomein, bly
Suid-Afrikaanse tennisspelers (figuurlik) beperk tot ’n liniere, reduksionistiese en
voorskriftelike benadering tot ontwikkeling en die kompleksiteit van die spelers se loopbane word
erg misverstaan en verkeerd voorgestel.
’n Praktiese aanbeveling vir TSA is om die dubbelspel formaat as ’n meganisme vir
tennisontwikkeling te implementeer en om dit as ’n lewensvatbare professionele roete aan te wend.Doctora