The Participation and Perceptions of Girls Within a Unit of Sport Education

Abstract

This study examined the participation and perceptions of a cohort of sixth-grade girls as they participated in a season of floor hockey that followed a sport education format. Thirty-five girls and 37 boys completed a 20-lesson season. During the initial skills practice sessions and preseason scrimmages, no significant differences in opportunities to respond (either in rate per minute or percentage of success) were found between the girls and boys. During the formal competition phase, boys had significantly more responses per minute and higher success levels. Nevertheless, the scores for girls during this phase exceeded those of earlier in the season. During interviews following the unit, girls commented that they enjoyed playing on mixed sex teams and taking increasing responsibility for the unit, even though some of the boys tended to dominate decisions and the power roles such as captain and referee.