Abstract
This study aimed to examine the sport participation of 229 Portuguese\nvolleyball players through a previously validated questionnaire within\ndifferent stages of their development and considering their expertise\nlevel and gender. The skilled players differed from the less skilled in\nhaving accrued more hours of training throughout all stages. Female\nplayers reported less early sport involvement (fewer number of sports\npracticed and less involvement in team sports and competitions) than\nmales. The early involvement in individual sports by skilled female\nplayers seems to be important in their route to expertise, while the\nlater involvement in individual sports by less-skilled male players\npossibly indicates the need for other motivational sport experiences.\nThese particular findings provide valuable information to guide the\ndesigns of Portuguese volleyball players' development considering gender\nand expertise at the same time. However, additional work is needed to\nunderstand to what extent these findings may be system, culture or sport\ndependent.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 579-592 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |