Douglas College student research essay submitted as partial requirement for SPSC 4256 course. Faculty sponsor to submit this research to DOOR: Prof. Ken Anderson.
<p>Volleyball is a sport that is introduced to youth typically when they are 9-11 years old. At this time, other youth may already be specializing in other sports, such as gymnastics, figure skating, or diving. Even with the later introduction of volleyball, a sport of peak performance after maturation, participants often experience pressure to specialize during the early stages of introduction. In this study, each variable will have two operational definitions. When collecting discrete data, the independent variable will be success identified as the league level reached, and the dependent variable will be the age at which specialization occurs. When collecting continuous data, the independent variable will be the degree of specialization in the participants’ youth, and the dependent variable will be success, defined as the role they play on their respective team. Specifically, this study’s research question is ‘how is young adult female volleyball players’ future success correlated with early sport specialization in their youth?’
This poster was presented at the Douglas College Student Research Week 2021 (May 3-7, 2021). Smith et al. (2020) found that athletes who specialize in both sport and position do so to have the highest chance of playing at the collegiate level. However, Latorre-Roman et al. (2018) concluded that specializing early in a single sport should be questioned when the peak performance is at the senior level. This study aims to research the correlation between the future success of young adult female volleyball players and sport specialization in their youth.
