Essay On Figueroa's Framework

In modern society many different factors can both directly and indirectly affect an individual’s decision to participate in physical activity or sport. A framework developed by sociologist Peter Figueroa can be used to identify and examine issues of access, equity and equality in all sport and physical activity. This framework can be used to help explain the irregularity seen when comparing participation in volleyball in Australia to international participation. In Australia volleyball is not generally recognised as a popular sport compared with cricket, rugby league and AFL however it has the fifth largest fan base internationally (http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/fans.htm). Sport and physical activity can be viewed as

Factors such as government funding, media exposure, international success and national identity have affected my participation in volleyball.

The structural level of Figueroa’s Framework is associated with the distribution of resources and rewards and how this effects an individual’s participation in sport. The Australian Sports Commission is the governing body in Australia that is responsible for the allocation of grants and funding to registered sports across the country each year (http://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/funding/system_partners/national_sporting_organisations). The government uses many different strategies in order to allocate funding to certain sports however they allocate funding and generally expect something in return. For example the funding is based on “historical performance as well as future potential” or a healthier population means lower health care costs for the government. Volleyball as a sport receives a considerably small amount of funding, being allocated only $2.7 million in 2013-2014 compared with swimming

This is mainly due to the fact that funding was acquired to build a multi court indoor sports hall. This allowed me to have easy access to the facilities and equipment that is needed to participate in volleyball on a regular basis. Also the fact that KSHS has a volleyball unit incorporated into the senior physical education curriculum has allowed my participation in volleyball to grow as it is compulsory to participate. The access to competition has also affected my participation rate personally as each year the school allows teams to participate in the Schools Cup Volleyball competition. However KSHS does not allow the younger grades to participate in this competition this then limits the participation I had in grade 8-9 as there was no way I could compete. My participation rate was also affected in as I was not able to compete at schools cup if I competed in touch football all schools. This swayed my participation away from volleyball as there was more competitions to participate in and more chance of success in touch which therefore saw me choose to participate in touch. My participation in sport was again moved away from volleyball as the Wide Bay district area does not let students represent in both touch and volleyball. Due to the fact that my chance for success was higher when trialling for touch it lowered my participation rate in