Closing the Gender Play Gap: A Qualitative Exploration of Female Adolescent Sport Participation, Dropout, and Reengagement

Organized sport participation can provide numerous benefits for adolescents. Despite this, rates of organized sport dropout for adolescents remain high, with rates typically higher for female adolescents than males. Two potentially productive methods of increasing sport participation rates in female adolescents are by reducing dropout and reengaging previous participants. This study employed a qualitative descriptive design to gain an in-depth understanding of organized sport participation, dropout, and reengagement in 15- to 19-year-old female adolescents in South Australia. A total of 30 adolescent participants were recruited (19 current and 11 previous participants) as well as 21 adults involved in female adolescent sport. A combination of individual interviews, group interviews, and focus groups were used to collect qualitative data. Findings elucidated four distinct themes: Social scoreboard, balancing act, equalit-ish, and controlled evolution. These themes highlighted a myriad of factors that currently act to diminish the competitive sporting experience for female adolescents. While adaptive and flexible sport formats were seen as beneficial under certain circumstances, it is important that these are implemented complementary to existing club-sport structures, and that female adolescents have easy and equitable access to high-quality, competitive sport opportunities. Future research should consider the potential of these results in guiding the development of sport reengagement interventions for female adolescents.