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

a microcosm of society and therefore through examination of the structural and cultural levels of the framework barriers which lead to low participation rates in Volleyball throughout Australia can be identified.

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

which gets $10.7 million or Athletics with $8.5 million (http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/598462/NSO_NSOD_2013-14_Funding_for_web_30_June_2014.pdf). This immense difference highlights the inequity in funding across different sports. This $8 million difference between swimming and volleyball would mainly be due to the lack of international success of the Australian volleyball team. The indoor men’s volleyball team has only qualified for three Olympic Games 2000, 2004 and 20012 (http://corporate.olympics.com.au/sports/volleyball1). Whereas the Olympic swimming team have won a total of 58 gold medals at the Olympic Games (http://www.swimming.org.au/article.php?group_id=168%20). Due to the fact that volleyball has had little international success the ASC is more interested in funding sports that Australia is successful in on an international stage. Also sports that will increase Australia’s international profile are funded to a greater extent. This is why athletics is funded more as winning an athletic event greatly increases the national profile on an international stage.
One factor that has a large influence on the participation and the funding allocation for the sport of volleyball is the media. The biggest form of media in modern society is television, which has a large impact on the participation in sport. In Australia only a small amount of sporting codes get prime time television broadcasting. For example on Friday the fifth of June only two different codes get prime time broadcasting. Two games of NRL and one game of AFL (refer to appendix 1). On average in 2014 the Friday night NRL had 626,000 viewers (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/afl-supreme-in-tv-battle-of-the-codes/story-fna045gd-1226719615473). This increased amount of media exposure builds a larger fan base and therefore increase the amount of participation in these sports. As a result these sports then gain a larger amount of funding. Due to the fact that volleyball does not have a national league across Australia it limits that exposure that it can gain from the media meaning that very few people can regularly watch volleyball at the elite level. Due to the fact that there is no major competition in Australia meaning that there is only small amount of money that can made as a professional athlete. This means that Australia’s elite players must move overseas in order to find financial success. This means that there are no national icons or role models for the younger players at grass roots level to follow or watch. When comparing this to rugby league there are countless stars of the game such as Jonathan Thurston or Cameron Smith. This decrease the fan base and participation that volleyball can create as it is not in public view.
Another factor that directly influences the government’s decision as to which sports to fund is the focus on a healthier Australia (https://secure.ausport.gov.au/clearinghouse/knowledge_base/sport_participation/community_participation/sport_participation_in_australia). Due to the fact that when played socially volleyball does not require a high level of fitness that is beneficial to staying healthy. This lowers the level of funding that is put into volleyball as the government opted towards putting more money into sports such as swimming, rugby league and AFL which require a higher base level of fitness. Another barrier that affects the participation in volleyball is the lack of equipment that is available and the expense of this equipment. Due to the fact that volleyball requires an indoor court, unless its beach volleyball and sports such as cricket, AFL, rugby league and soccer can share the same felid it reduces the facilities that the funding can provide. Due to the smaller amounts of money that volleyball receives, smaller towns do not get access to the facilities needed to participate. This consequently lowers the participation rate in volleyball around Australia.
Although participation is low in volleyball on a national stage at Kingaroy State High School (KSHS) has a large participation rate.

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

volleyball. In order to better the participation in volleyball at KSHS there should be not restrictions to stop people from participating in two different sports.
Although allowing students to participate in multiple sport and compete in junior schools cup will not increase volleyballs participation rate on a national scale it will begin to give volleyball the exposer needed to become a prominent sport in modern Australia. However in order to better the participation rate in KSHS and across Australia, a development program would need to be implemented. If a program was put in place it would allow students to experience the skills and abilities required to play. This would allow the participation rate to grow on a grass roots level which will then stem to the elite level.