Summary Of The Impact Of Family On University Tennis Player

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the impact families have on University tennis players. Previous research has documented the impact parents and siblings have on athletes (Greendorfer, Boutilier & SanGiovanni, 1982; Wuerth, Lee & Alfermann, 2004). However, research into this impact over an athlete’s development has been scarce. Studies also paid little attention to the views parents and siblings have in perceiving their own influence (e.g. Côté, 1999). Therefore, the current work aimed to fill a gap in the existing literature regarding the impact of family on the development of tennis players. The results revealed that both parents and siblings have a huge influence on tennis players, consistent with previous research (Gould et al,

Support could be useless or have negative effects if it isn’t tailored to the individuals needs. (Park & Kim, 2014). The present study shows ways in which tennis players perceive parents to negatively influence them as well as positive ways. One example of this is parental over involvement. Findings supported previous research showing moderate levels of involvement to be important for athletes (Wuerth, Lee and Alfermann, 2004). Most participants did not comment on the parent’s involvement yet spoke about how they appreciated the fact that the parents did not become over involved. One possibility is social desirability occurring where participants did not speak about their own parents over involvement due wanting the investigator to see their parents in a favourable light. However, parents interviewed may in fact simply not become over involved in their child’s

Similarly, previous research suggests sibling rivalry is greater in children with elder siblings due to younger siblings feeling the need achieve higher than older siblings (Romeo, 1994). Younger siblings may want to prove themselves and avoid comparison to an older more talented sibling (Davis and Meyer, 2008). Sibling rivalry decreased with time for the participants in the current study. For the two players who had siblings playing tennis, siblings had stopped participating in tennis earlier. This may have caused a natural decrease in rivalry due to less competition occurring. However, other reasons for decreasing rivalry could be due to individuals maturing (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990). Siblings also began to have a more active role in supporting their sibling, providing emotional support and encouragement. All siblings spoke positively about their brother or sister’s tennis and in contrast to previous research did not appear to have any jealousy or tension occur as a result of their success (Wolfenden and Holt,