Abstract
Previous research has reported an overrepresentation of elite athletes born in small city centers (Côté et al., 2006). However, little is known about the developmental opportunities that smaller cities offer to promote elite athlete development. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively compare the organized and non-organized sport activities of elite athletes from different birth place sizes. Participants included 37 CIS athletes (n small city=15; nlarge city=22). A retrospective semi-structured interview guide was used to compare the developmental sport activities of the athletes from larger (>100,000) and smaller (<100,000) cities. A discriminant function analysis (DFA) was conducted wherein four developmental activities (organized sport activity, sport camps, non-organized sport activity in school, non-organized sport activity out of school) were entered as predictors of the athlete's developmental environment (larger/smaller cities). Results revealed that the four developmental activities significantly discriminated between athletes from larger and smaller cities, Wilks' Lambda =.441, p<.001. An examination of the standardized discriminant function coefficients revealed that participants from smaller cities engaged in more non-organized (i.e. deliberate play) activities in comparison with participants from larger cities. Findings from this study provide evidence that varying developmental activities can lead to elite athlete development. Recommendations for future research examining the benefits of non-organized sport participation are presented.
