Mothers, social capital and children’s physical literacy journeys in rural Australia

ABSTRACT

In rural communities in Australia, the provision of sport and physical activities for children almost exclusively relies upon parents and their ability to access and contribute to facilities, funding, volunteers, and administration. This paper brings Putnam’s social capital framework to Whitehead’s conceptualisation of physical literacy as a journey to offer original insight into children’s sport participation and the opportunities arising for physical literacy development in rural communities in Australia. Changes in sport participation in Australia and directions in sport policy set an important context for the project, which is located in a small rural community in Western Australia. It was recognised that access to and engagement with both formal and informal sport environments were important to examine, particularly given participation trends and the need to consider issues of equity and inclusivity concerning the physical literacy opportunities for children in diverse rural communities. Narrative inquiry methodology enabled in-depth exploration of issues of access and opportunity created through rural mothers’ social resources and identity. Participants provided rich insights into the realities and complexities of the rural social landscape and how this impacts their children’s participation. Data illustrates the importance of conceptual links between social capital and physical literacy development. The paper provides new perspectives for policymakers and the local community to consider in seeking more significant equity in children’s sport participation and physical literacy development in rural communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Parents
• mothers
• rural
• social capital
• physical literacy
• sport

Introduction

In rural communities in Australia, the provision of sport and physical activities for children almost exclusively relies upon parents, and more particularly mothers, and their ability to access and contribute to facilities, funding, volunteers, and administration. In essence, parents and the social capital inherent in community relations within rural settings have long been pivotal to a sporting landscape that has centred on and celebrated formal sport teams as the central focus of sport participation (Atherley, 2006; Onyx et al., 2007; Spaaij, 2009; Tonts, 2005; Tonts & Atherley, 2010). Historically, therefore, children’s access to opportunities to build foundations for lifelong participation in sport and physical activity has primarily derived from parents’ and guardians’ access to the social networks developed within and around traditional sports teams. This historical landscape provided stimulus for this research to explore the linkages between parents, social capital, and opportunities for children’s physical literacy development.

This paper more specifically reflects that mothers became the focus of the inquiry, recognising their roles as primary facilitators of children’s leisure activities within the rural community that the study centred on (which is referred to as Emelle). This focus also acknowledged previous observations that mothers in agricultural environments provide pathways to cultivate an appreciation of sport and movement beyond the physical benefits to a lifetime journey of physical literacy development (Fletcher, 2021; Jeanes et al., 2021; Trussell & Shaw, 2007, 2009). Mothers in agricultural communities regularly assume the role of primary caregiver in the divisions of family labour. Furthermore, this caregiver role is typically regardless of off-farm career contributions to the farm business and home (Trussell & Shaw, 2007). Trussell and Shaw (2009) have previously noted that the seasonal intensity of farming operations regularly means that mothers essentially operate as sole parents despite husbands returning home daily (Trussell & Shaw, 2009). This places them as primary influencers of their children’s participation in sports and physical activity, where fathers are unavailable to assume roles and responsibilities associated with participation. In this study, mothers were willing participants to explore the influences of their experiences of physical activity and social capital on their involvement in their children’s participation opportunities.

Social mechanisms of information, influence and identity are omnipresent in building connections between community members and surrounding towns in the sport landscape. These social capital elements, which are associated with the relationships central to the operation of sports clubs in rural communities, are, therefore, prospectively highly influential for parents’ capacity to facilitate their children’s physical activity opportunities (Spaaij, 2009; Tonts, 2005). Putnam (2000) explains that social capital builds when communities come together to support and encourage one another, foster inclusion and lift each person’s potential capacity through knowledge and resource exchange. Through horizontal and vertical social strata, networks that create social values and norms based on trust and reciprocity are developed (Field, 2008). Bonding relationships developed between members of one group with common goals and bridging relationships between similar groups who share a common purpose are evident in rural traditional sport models embedded in the culture of communities to combat isolation (Field, 2008; Putnam, 2000). Linking, or vertical relationships, between members of different social echelons describe connections with a broader spectrum of a community (Seippel, 2006; Sherry & O’May, 2013). However, with few participation opportunities outside of formal sport, the ability of communities to cultivate shared resources through this pathway is limited. Subsequently, due to their role as primary caregivers in rural communities, mothers’ interactions and networks were crucial aspects examined in this study.

While recognising the longstanding dominance of formalised team sport in rural communities, this research also acknowledged that sport participation in Australia and the nature of rural communities are notably fluid. As such, alternative pathways for participation, such as informal sport, are increasingly valued as mechanisms to broaden social capital acquisition and access opportunities to participate (Jeanes et al., 2021). Informal sport, described as flexible participation not affiliated with a governing body and that is oriented towards the needs and interests of participants, provides opportunities to socialise, move and apply sports knowledge without expectation and commitment (Jeanes et al., 2020; Jeanes & Penney, 2021). As Jeanes et al. (2020) discussed, this avenue for participation may be particularly enticing for minority groups and parents who, in a post-COVID-19 world, are seeking movement activities for their children that are more broadly inclusive, enhance skills outside of competition and are less prescriptive of parent involvement. Yet, research focusing on sport participation in rural communities in Australia remains scarce and, currently, very little is known about opportunities for children’s physical literacy development and informal sport engagement in contemporary rural communities.

This paper identifies such communities as complex and characterised by the diversity that calls for research inquiry embedded in the everyday realities of individual lives and social relations. In short, across and within the states and territories of Australia, there is a multitude of communities with varied demographics, histories and infrastructure. The paper reports on a study that explored parents, and primarily mothers’, perspectives on the role of social capital in shaping their children’s physical literacy development in a very small rural community in Western Australia that is referred to as Emelle. Emelle was selected as a purposeful and convenient case, representing a small, rural community accessible to the primary researcher (Author 1). Emelle is positioned as a single case in a research study guided by the overarching question: How does mothers’ social capital influence sports and physical literacy development opportunities for children in rural communities?

Narrative inquiry methodology explored mothers’ perspectives on their own, their children’s past, present and future physical literacy opportunities, and their roles associated with their children’s participation. As explained in the sections that follow, this research brought a social capital lens to inquiry centring on rural children’s physical literacy journey, probing matters such as who participation opportunities are available for, who provides and shapes them, and who may be isolated from experiences that can develop physical literacy.

As the primary researcher, a longstanding Emelle local community member and fellow mother, my (first author) role in the study was multifaceted, at times challenging, and personally rewarding. Alongside insights into historical experiences, language, processes, and networks within the community, my narrative provided a different perspective and social capital experience to broaden the scope of understanding the social environment. My story is unique in its urban origin and variety of regional contexts and is intertwined with many of the participants in the study. Our social positions in our community have each shaped our children’s participation journeys differently. While this paper reflects a research team’s collective input, the following sections include selective references to ‘my’ and ‘I’. These instances reflect occasions when writing directly engages with my distinct roles, which, as indicated, included researcher, participant and community member.

Social capital, sport and the rural context

Social interactions facilitated by sporting activities as the pillar of connection are a highly valued aspect of rural living (Spaaij, 2009; Tonts, 2005). Historically, relationships are built around formal sports teams in rural Australia, where a sense of belonging is attached to a community member’s commitment to the team’s success on the field (Tonts, 2005; Tonts & Atherley, 2010). However, despite its importance, recent literature has not focused on analysing the rural, regional and remote experience.

In Putnam’s (2000) seminal analysis of small-town interconnectedness, he identified that horizontal networks build social capital in key ways: bonding capital within a team and its inner, local support circle and bridging capital between groups of similar interests, such as football teams in two different towns. There are identifiable limitations to Putnam’s theory, which focuses on the potentially idealistic importance of social cohesion for progress and positive outcomes across political, economic and cultural capital. Spaaij’s (2009) study of social capital in rural adult traditional sports teams indicated a lack of acknowledgement of the role of power dynamics in the outcomes related to Putnam. However, its value here is in how it connects to the data provided by participants. Community pride, camaraderie and identity are key factors in building bonding social capital between community members in rural towns (Tonts & Atherley, 2010). Despite an exaggerated mythological team rivalry with neighbouring teams, a relationship of trust and reciprocity between competitors establishes the capacity to play fairly and meet the league’s expectations through bridging capital (Tonts, 2005).

Historical rural involvement in formal sport activities bears strong ties to the competitive sport traditions of the independent school sector, which promotes an ‘athleticism’ ideology established in the British Empire in the nineteenth century. Customarily, many rural students relocate to board in cities to pursue education opportunities (Horne et al., 2011; Independent Schools Australia, 2021). Typically, parents who possess historical knowledge and identity resources associated with formal sport teams can draw on these resources in interactions to promote collective values and future visions of the teams through social capital exchanges, which often focus on the competitive goals of traditional sports (Falk & Kilpatrick, 2000). This could exclude potential participants who have goals for themselves or their children outside of a competitive nature (Jeanes et al., 2022).

Falk and Kilpatrick (2000) highlighted the importance of interaction in resource exchange for social capital production. Knowledge and identity resources are shared between community members in an expectation of reciprocity and recognition of historical values and civic contributions (Falk & Kilpatrick, 2000). The benefit of developing social capital extends beyond participation to volunteers who support sporting clubs, including concerning their ability to commit resources that benefit the club, thereby building social cohesion (Darcy et al., 2014; Kay & Bradbury, 2009; Skinner et al., 2008). However, Spaaij’s study in regional Victoria highlighted the effects of ‘in-group loyalty’ (2009, p. 1134), which can also create substantial ‘out-group’ issues around formal sport teams, requiring careful balancing to provide benefits that alleviate social inequities.

Issues of exclusion are also prominent in rural formal sport settings, highlighting the ‘dark side’ of social capital (Field, 2008; Numerato & Baglioni, 2012; Whittaker & Holland-Smith, 2016). Minority groups and even those with different physical activity goals can find it challenging to be involved in sports clubs and lack the opportunities to build linking social capital through vertical networks, therefore becoming further marginalised in their rural communities (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2017; Tonts, 2005). Spaaij (2009) highlights that opportunities to develop linking networks may require a deliberate intention to coordinate and develop. Jeanes et al. (2018) reference the utilisation of ‘boundary spanners’, representatives of a group who enable communication and resource sharing between various groups via linking capital, to navigate and build these networks to benefit individual groups and the community at large.

These social structures can significantly impact rural communities ‘future visions’ by being passed along to children through formal sport teams controlling their opportunities to participate (Jeanes et al., 2021). The influential role of formal sport teams in rural areas significantly affects families’ access to participate in activities of their preferences. It potentially excludes them from opportunities to develop along a physical literacy journey by limiting access to infrastructure, dominating funding, and enforcing expectations and norms on those who seek greater flexibility and variety in participation (Jeanes et al., 2021; Onyx et al., 2007).

Physical literacy development and the influence of family in rural communities

Whitehead defines physical literacy as a journey that encompasses the progressive development of ‘motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding’ required to sustain regular physical activity across a lifetime (2013, p. 28). Physical literacy develops in a non-linear manner across a lifetime through experiences that provide opportunities to learn, observe, practise and reflect on the skills and strategies required by an individual to reach their highest physical potential (Whitehead, 2001). In Australia, the development of the Australian Physical Literacy Framework (APLF) (Sport Australia, 2019) was intended to inform the sport and education sectors of the significance of a targeted approach to holistic physical literacy development for lifelong participation (Scott et al., 2020). The APLF categorises four domains of physical literacy: physical, psychological, social and cognitive, which develop across a lifespan in five developmental stages (Sport Australia, 2019). Scott et al. (2020) emphasise Whitehead’s notion of ‘embodiment’ of the whole person and the importance of interactions within environments as crucial to physical literacy evolution. Acquisition and progression of social skills, knowledge and values impact a person’s capacity to read, interpret and respond to their environment, which benefits long-term participation (Scott et al., 2020).

Children, particularly those in rural areas, rely on parents’ positive attitudes towards participation in physical activity and sport to access opportunities to progress (Department of Health, 2018; Rodrigues et al., 2018). In this context, Trussell and Shaw (2007) foreground the overt role of mothers as primary or sole facilitators of children’s leisure activities in agricultural communities, where the division of labour included mothers predominantly taking responsibility for their children’s participation and associated volunteer contributions. Mothers’ shaping of children’s attitudes towards involvement was multifaceted and drew from expectation, tradition, opportunity and long-term participation capabilities (Trussell & Shaw, 2009).

Other research affirms that in rural communities, parents solely provide coaching, mentoring, modelling and support mechanisms for children, acting as ‘pedagogues’ of cultural values related to sport participation (Fletcher, 2021). However, considering locality significantly impacts parents’ abilities to provide exposure to various participation models to prioritise enjoyment, therefore opportunities to explore alternative participation models, such as informal sport, alongside traditional sport models are often sidelined (Quarmby, 2016). The potential of informal and formal sport activities to provide rich experiences that build physical literacy skills, speak to the diversity of parents’ resources involved in the creation and exposure to these activities (Jeanes et al., 2021).

The social benefits of sport are a core aspect of the APLF, with social connections, collaborative skills, ethical behaviour standards and inclusivity strategies all embedded in an individual’s physical literacy development (Sport Australia, 2019, 2020). As stakeholders and researchers recognise, parents provide the foundational socialisation links that shape participation, including developing self-confidence, motivation and self-esteem using physical activity (Department of Health, 2018; Jeanes et al., 2021). Children develop these skills through opportunities to observe and practise in safe and supportive environments, where acceptance, inclusion and tolerance are foregrounded in participation experiences (Cameron et al., 2022; Sport Australia, 2019). Looking beyond formal sport participation, O’Connor and Penney (2021) argue that informal sport constitutes a rich context for developing skills, knowledge, and understandings that are fundamental to lifelong participation and integral to physical literacy development. Research that evidences the contemporary avenues for children’s physical literacy development that parents in rural communities are able to leverage is lacking.

Children’s sport participation: trends and agenda

Children in Australia have high rates of participation in organised sport, which make up the ‘core of the school and junior sport’ (O’Connor & Penney, 2021, p. 5), with 62.1% participating in formal sport only (Sport Australia, 2020). Yet, these statistics also highlight the need to consider alternative provisions of physical activity to ensure that all children can access participation opportunities that provide exposure to physical literacy skills (Jeanes et al., 2021; Kokolakakis et al., 2017; Scott et al., 2020).

In a post-COVID-19 society, sport and physical activity pursuits have pivoted to adapt to changing values, interaction with technologies and a focus on lifestyle movement opportunities that meet participants’ needs outside of competition (Cameron et al., 2022). Increasingly, research highlights that the proportion of the population currently involved in traditional sports forms is small and, in many instances, declining (Jeanes et al., 2021). Current sport policy consequently also points to the importance of broadening the participation horizon to ensure an increasingly diverse Australian population has access to participation opportunities (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2017; Jeanes et al., 2021; Jeanes et al., 2022). Varied participation motivations, including social and mental health priorities, were further highlighted by the AusPlay survey as of greater importance by respondents than physical or competitive goals (Sport Australia, 2020).

Finally, it is pertinent to note that the APLF, a key component of recent sport policy and agenda in Australia, prioritises inclusion mechanisms to ensure that lifelong participation is attainable by all members of society (Sport Australia, 2019). As the primary source for building the foundations for attitudes and behaviours towards physical activity, family influence is vital in such social change through modelling practices of inclusion and advocacy (Jeanes et al., 2021).

This study recognised issues of power, hierarchy, and social capital resources as important to explore in relation to the provision of physical literacy development opportunities for children in rural communities. Mothers’ perspectives, as the critical decision makers and influencers of children’s participation habits, were central in an inquiry locating children’s physical literacy within the rural sociological landscape.

Theoretical framework: social capital and physical literacy

Social capital theory is a fluid concept based on the notion of relationships as the heart of resource exchange for the collective benefit of community outcomes (Field, 2008; Putnam, 2000). Putnam (2000) highlighted three components of social capital: moral obligations and norms, social values, and social networks, which are critical elements in establishing a social capital exchange that enables a community to achieve common goals. Falk and Kilpatrick (2000) described interactions based on trust and reciprocity where ‘knowledge and identity’ resources enact an ability to create and progress shared visions of communities, present and future, concerning their past.

Conceptually, Putnam’s (2000) social capital model paid homage to the networks created by relationships in a community through horizontal and vertical social strata. As outlined earlier, social capital produced through bonding relationships connects community members within similar groups. Connecting with similar groups outside the immediate locality requires bridging capital through exchanges of identity and knowledge resources with, but not limited to, associated sports groups, local government departments and state government agencies. These are crucial to enabling provision and participation in sports and physical activity (Falk & Kilpatrick, 2000). However, as explored by Spaaij (2009), ‘subtle, socio-cultural processes’ (p.1133) that can contribute to the welfare of community members can also create substantial exclusion issues. Consequently, it can be challenging to establish and maintain a balance between exchanges of resources that are beneficial and are not artificially engineered to alleviate social inequalities.

As discussed above, in the rural context, these networks are evident in traditional sport models and establish social cohesion and connection, which are embedded and promoted in the culture of rural communities to combat isolation (Tonts, 2005). In sport and physical activity, networks provide a place for shared ideals, physical literacy development and inclusion but can also amplify social hierarchy and exclusion (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2017; Sherry et al., 2015; Spaaij, 2009; Tonts, 2005).

All three types encompassed within Putnam’s (2000) defined model of social capital – bridging, bonding and linking – were recognised as prospectively important for providing opportunities for all rural children to progress in their physical literacy journey. Progression across the four key domains of physical literacy – physical, psychological, social and cognitive – is critical to effective sport participation. It contributes to developing the foundations to build personal social capital. The earlier physical literacy journeys begin, the greater autonomy children can possess in adapting and applying these skills over their lifetime to physical activities and sports of preference and availability (Green, 2012; Green & Smith, 2016; Scott et al., 2020; Sport Australia, 2019). The critical position of mothers as access and opportunity providers in rural communities formed the premise for the investigation reported in this paper. The values associated with participation and personal physical literacy development of mothers create the pathways of participation available and mould their children’s capacity to read and respond to the available landscape.

Research context and methodology

This research received ethical approval via [name] University. The study centred on a small town, Emelle (pseudonym), approximately 250 kilometres from Perth. The town’s population of approximately 150 people has significantly reduced over the past 15 years from 300 in 2006 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021). Emelle is primarily an agricultural community surrounded by multigenerational, cropping and livestock farming properties. Over the past decade, the population demographics have changed as all local church-focused community members relocated, and several Filipino families moved to the town for employment opportunities. Sport clubs operate seasonally, with winter sport including Australian rules football, netball and hockey in a league with five towns within a 90-minute radius. Junior sports (football and netball) run concurrently with adult training and competition. Summer sports include cricket, tennis and bowls. Children between 5 and 12 years can participate in cricket training, and those over seven can play in a competitive league with surrounding towns.

As an agricultural area focused primarily on producing grain resources, the town is laid out in two halves, with facilities split on either side of the grain-freight rail line. Mostly, residential properties occupy the western side of the tracks, along with a licenced communal sport and recreation facility used as a hub for formal sport teams and the wider community. This facility has an adjacent bowling green, tennis courts and a multipurpose basketball court. On the eastern side of the tracks are a full-size oval, dirt hockey field and an outdoor netball court with adjoining pavilion room and canteen.

Emelle was purposely selected as a convenience locale with the added strength of the first author’s familiarity and capacity to draw on longstanding involvement in the community to foster research relations. Narrative inquiry methodology provided a suitable tool for researching the social dynamics impacting children’s participation in sport and physical activity in Emelle. Through narrative inquiry, a participant can share the influences on their choices and actions with their story, potentially transforming their viewpoint of events (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). Individual stories enabled deep exploration of the rural context and opportunities for mothers to facilitate their children’s participation in sport and physical activity. My (Author 1’s) immersion in the context supported enriched descriptions of interactions and activities within the community through observational data. Further, as explained below, I was uniquely positioned to interpret how individuals express their values, beliefs and actions through culture (Rossman & Rallis, 2017).

Participants

Each parent participant in the study brought personal experiences from their historical participation in sport and physical activity. Selections cut across age, gender, social classification, ethnicity, and family demographics (Liamputtong, 2020). A maximum variation sampling technique was used to select four parents for semi-structured interviews, with the lead author and researcher being the fifth parent participant. The sample group was small but heterogeneous, and individuals were selected for their capacity to describe central themes, determined by broader discussions with a wider range of stakeholders, to gain a more in-depth understanding of the differences in the experience instead of only typical or extreme cases (Liamputtong, 2020). Mothers widely accepted the invitation to be involved in the study and became the focus of the perspectives shared. Table 1 below provides a snapshot of participant characteristics, collated from interview data, to illustrate the contrasting perspectives by virtue of different social and cultural demographics.

Table 1. Participant snapshot.

Victoria Youngest of three daughters raised in an agricultural region north of Emelle on her family farm. She participated in various formal sports, from netball to gymnastics, tennis and swimming, throughout her rural youth before attending a private boarding school in Perth for high school, followed by a bachelor’s degree. She married a multigenerational farmer in Emelle, together raising three children. Victoria has been an avid sports participant throughout her life, dominated by formal sport experiences in her rural youth and early city years which continued upon moving to Emelle. Her mother was a significant role model who ran a large rural gymnastics club. She and her husband have held many volunteer roles in local community formal sport groups, including coaching, committee, and coordinator roles and believe that physical activity is as valuable a priority as ‘brushing your teeth’. Both have rural backgrounds their experiences with formal sport guide their children’s participation activities and they often lead organisation and provision of these activities in the community.

Diane New Zealand born and raised during a significant school sporting era with high-performance training pathways leading to Olympic representation. She was in a Commonwealth Games development squad at 13 for running. Diane loves sport, and the school provided the catalyst for experiencing various team and individual sports. After moving to Australia, she continued her pursuits of high-performance pathways with horses and continued to participate in state squads. She currently participates in varied training activities on her farm to develop her horse training. She has married a multigenerational farmer in Emelle and has two children. Locally Diane has participated in the local netball team, held committee roles, and supports junior sport activities through regular volunteering however, does not enjoy direct involvement with children in sport. Her husband has been a non-sport participant throughout his life and describes their children as uninterested in participating.

Maria She moved to Australia from the Philippines in 2012 due to her husband’s career together with their two children. She grew up participating in running throughout her schooling, and in high school added gymnastics, basketball, and volleyball to her repertoire. Whilst she describes herself fiercely competitive, her husband was not given the same opportunities to play sport in the Philippines. Work and church commitments largely dominate their schedule and priorities, resulting in spending more time with the growing Filipino community in the region. She has helped coordinate and held committee roles in the organising group for the Filipino SportsFest event, held annually for teams representing local businesses in basketball and volleyball. She and her children have intermittently participated in local netball.

Stacey A single mother of six children who moved to Emelle from Perth almost two decades ago. She trained as a jockey at a School of Agriculture incorporating a variety of modes of training to improve riding performance, mitigate safety risks and maintain weight. She currently owns a horse and continues to ride as a passion and for social connection. Stacey describes her children as arty and focused on the social aspect of sport participation; hence, she does not enforce their participation in local activities unless they show particular talent or passion for a sport.

My story (Author 1) I moved to the Wheatbelt 15 years ago after meeting my future farmer husband in a Midwest coastal town where I taught. Originally from Perth, my youth physical activity journey had included team sports – calisthenics, netball and tee ball. However, the competitive nature was intense, and after ten years of dancing, I stopped to focus on my studies. My participation became solely socially orientated, walking, netball, and gym classes throughout my university studies. Upon arriving in rural WA, I was met with an insight into the prominent role of sport in country life as both a competitive and social outlet. I joined local netball teams and volunteered in committee and community sports-related positions. My four children are involved in local sport but also have taken up some opportunities to participate in teams in Perth as the rural provisions lesson with declining child numbers. I have returned to physical activity as an outlet for mental and physical well-being.

Method

Data collection was undertaken over a period of three months during 2022. Semi-structured audio-recorded interviews with four participants, who were all mothers, elicited their personal sport and physical activity history, values and attitudes and explored how these informed decisions about their children’s participation. Interviews were conducted at a location preferred by the participant, either in their own homes or in the meeting room at the Emelle Community Resource Centre. Each interview followed a general structure through mothers’ past, present and future sport activity and their duration varied between an hour and two hours. I (Author 1) also utilised observation opportunities by accompanying participants at local sport activities to pursue the connection or lack thereof between participants’ perspectives and actions and to identify ways that social networks impacted participation. Managing relationships between the roles of researcher, participant and community member required careful, reflective practice (Strike, 2006), developed through open communication, deliberately framed exploratory discussions and respecting the right of participants to withdraw.

As a participant myself, the collection of the autobiographical narrative posed consideration in its potential to impact the questioning used to interview other participants. A distinct decision was made to write and include my story post-participant interviews, enabling me to remain subjective in my exploration with other participants. It then involved in-depth introspection on the uniqueness of my pathway and an appreciation of the diversity of individuals in creating and sharing their stories. A heightened sense of explanation is evident in the personal narrative due to the process.

The analysis began with the first day in the field, taking notes and considering follow-ups, examining standard features, and considering items contrary to the typical (Anderson-Levitt, 2006). Ongoing analysis continued throughout the data collection process. I transcribed the semi-structured interviews and reflected on and expanded initial notes from observations, adding depth of context and capturing unspoken communication alongside spoken words. This process enabled me to examine what was happening and why, consider the inferences emerging from the data and identify what required further exploration. Further, it ensured the study analysis sought to notice the divergences between ‘life as narrated and life as lived’ (Rosenthal & Fisher-Rosenthal, 2004, p. 263).

A coding system, guided by the frameworks underpinning the study, was used to develop an in-depth analysis of the research questions and theoretical perspectives. Datasets were organised concerning each aspect of the research question. Refinement of the coding system-built connections between the data and common themes and contrasts. Common themes that were generated through the interview analysis included community expectations and values, power and self-determination associated with evolving formal and informal participation. However, these contrasted with real-life behaviours, which were submissive, traditional and at times apathetic to the resulting effects on their children’s physical literacy development.

This analysis process particularly highlighted the role of language in understanding the social capital possessed by participants, who referred differently to the resources of other community members and in personal reflections. For example, Diane described the school as a social capital focal point for children’s participation with language such as ‘told’ and ‘expected’, leaving her powerless in making decisions for her children. Diane also described her social capital as strong in the eventing community due to the recognition of her commitment to the sport and her capacity to develop her skills through connections, which gave her the power to structure her participation to achieve her goals. My reflective notes added further consideration of the implication of the researcher in context and potential risks to objectivity.

Findings: mothers’ social capital and navigation of participation opportunities for children in Emelle

This study highlighted that the diverse nature of contemporary rural communities impacts how social capital is cultivated and how the opportunities for physical literacy development are accessed by children in Emelle. This section uses key themes generated from data analysis to examine social capital’s positive and negative effects on children’s opportunities to extend their physical literacy journey, which is threaded through formal and informal sport participation. Through mothers’ stories, the complexities associated with parents’ development of social capital in formal and informal sport settings and the significance of this for their children’s physical literacy journeys becomes evident. The narratives shared evidence that mothers’ involvement in their children’s physical literacy development differs noticeably from their urban counterparts (Trussell & Shaw, 2007). As primary caregivers, mothers are required to provide access and opportunities for their children, which is shown to require navigating complex social dynamics.

Following the sharing of narratives, the paper presents a theoretically focused discussion. This appraises the theoretical connection between social capital and children’s physical literacy development in the rural context.

Formal sport is a powerful conduit for controlling community values and expectations

Participants who grew up in rural areas describe the development of a pattern of participation and expectations based on values from their childhoods. Victoria, a born and bred Wheatbelt mother, business owner and member of two multigenerational farming families, described her motivation for involvement in children’s sport.

My husband and I have decided we’re going to create them [opportunities] because we see movement in the category of brushing your teeth and vegetables. That’s really what it comes down to. It’s a key component of living a happy life.

Victoria’s husband acts as junior football coach, football club vice-president and sometimes children’s athletics trainer in Emelle. Stemming from witnessing his father’s lifelong involvement in country football, he was inspired to share the same love of the sport with his children. He had the confidence to undertake the roles through his connections from his ongoing participation. Likewise, Victoria, who grew up in a similar rural setting, participated in swimming, gymnastics, and netball sport associations throughout her childhood. She witnessed her mother coach a large gymnastics club for many years, spurring a lifelong commitment to the benefits of formal participation and her involvement in her children’s development.

Alternatively, in my (Author1) own experience of growing up in an urban environment, I had understood formal participation to be predominantly elective, based on enjoyment and commitment driven by my willingness, alongside my mothers’, to provide access. However, my time in a Mid-West regional community, prior to Emelle, had provided an immersive experience of the expectations and focus of community on formal sport teams due to the lack of alternative social outlets. A significant difference in goals, to purely performance-based, led to some personal disharmony, having viewed my previous participation as a social networking opportunity. I found the raised expectations of intensive training schedules, personal fitness maintenance and scheduled ‘volunteer’ umpiring beyond my capabilities. However, I quickly recognised that my inclusion in a top-performing team provided an important foundation for building local networks.

Networks developed through formal sport provide an access point to inclusion and connection in rural communities. I was able to use past connections when I relocated to Emelle and was quickly included in their netball team based on my previous Mid-West team through bonding capital. However, despite a difference in skill level, the focus on performance and meeting extensive volunteer expectations were the same and often coincided with a lack of communication of the details. The negative attitude towards those who did not meet expectations was often overt, such as the ongoing attitude towards parents who were not ‘pulling their weight’ regarding contributions to their children’s games. This belief was somewhat baffling; mothers coached, managed the team, washed their children’s uniforms and transported them to games and training sessions. While these roles were not necessarily shared evenly, those with the capacity to undertake them did. The nature of the disharmony was often reflected in the marginalised avoiding face-to-face interactions with other parents at training, games and meetings.

The power of influence in formal sport is a tool that can impact the purpose of participation. Despite having personally participated in Emelle sport groups intermittently due to her commitment to horse dressage competitions outside of the community, Diane felt ‘heavily influenced’ to involve her young children in community sport when they came of schooling age. The implied pressure of ‘making up numbers for the team’ went against her belief that sport is a privilege and involvement should involve positive participation, so she forced her children to play to prevent being ostracised. Diane witnessed the negative impact forced participation of the children had on their behaviour at formal sport training. After ongoing behaviour issues, she fully supported the junior coach, who set the expectation that children should only play if they wanted to. Diane saw a significant improvement in the opportunities to develop children’s social domain skills afterwards because they were able to increase their engagement in the sport and bond with others with similar goals.

Discussions during sport activities between parents and teachers often bemoaned the declining child numbers in the community and the more significant effect on formalised sport participation. When her children were young, Diane describes feeling that the school had set the expectations of children’s involvement in local formal sport offerings. In turn, public announcements of children’s absences via photographs on social media meant Diane felt attendance was compulsory, as she described the inherent shame implied by not participating.

You don’t have to be told it, but it’s just like an unwritten rule of how it works in small communities. I don’t think it’s just kids. When I first came, I was expected to play netball, and that’s just the whole community thing. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from … . And if you’re not participating, you’re not part of the community [laughter]. So, when I first came here, I tried to do everything everyone told me to, and it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t for me, so I stopped playing netball and did the horses. We didn’t have kids, so we weren’t needed to volunteer, so we weren’t doing the canteen. We just weren’t involved with sport and eventually stopped being put on rosters for everything, and then we just were doing our own thing. If you’re not engaged in sports, and you’re not involved in the school, then you’re really not involved in the community. I don’t think. We weren’t [laugh].

The impact of Diane’s children’s lack of involvement in sport is intriguing because sport is such a significant aspect of her identity. Diane shared views on the element of social skill development for her children through formal sport and whether she believes skills such as communication, reciprocity, tolerance, and fair play have been impacted by not always participating:

I have seen it happening here for sure. It is not necessarily mine, but there is definitely a link between the junior sports team (you can’t see me doing my quotation marks) and their relationships at school, definitely. It’s like the ‘in’ group. If you’re not in the ‘in’ group which is playing sport, it’s not quite; I’m actually not talking about mine. I’ve seen it with other kids and the grouping together at sport.

She describes age, wisdom, and experience as keys to confidence in her changing decisions over time to determine her family’s level of involvement and interest in sport participation. Maria’s role as an intermediary within the Filipino community in Emelle has increased the inclusion of minority groups in formal sport activities held in Emelle. Parents are vital instruments of social change, modelling and enacting inclusion practices, which the Australian Physical Literacy prioritised in the social domain to ensure access to participation (Jeanes et al., 2021; Sport Australia, 2019). Maria advocated for bridging the gap through communication strategies to address superficial cultural differences, such as sharing a Filipino fear of dogs, which previously had regularly attended sport activities with farmer-owners, so Filipino children and parents would feel more comfortable participating. She also used social media to link information from the school or community groups to fellow Filipino families to ensure they could access sport training events and contribute. She explained that they felt safe asking her questions, and she could then seek answers or permission via her community networks.

In contrast, Victoria experienced the adverse effects of a lack of linking social capital outside of the Emelle community when she undertook a role for a regional junior tennis group. Despite refusing to be paid for the role so that she could define how she conducted the role utilising her skills, parents fell on pre-established expectations that she would additionally seek ongoing funding for the group when government support for the program ended. After attempts to encourage other parents to share their repertoire of skills to benefit the program, she received backlash regarding her commitment. Subsequently, the program folded, emphasising the need for more robust networks of reciprocity to promote involvement by all parties. She professed a need to develop her conflict resolution skills, which would also aid her leadership skills within her agricultural business.

Whilst formal sport provisions dominated the sport and physical activity landscape in Emelle, parents were often met by exclusion barriers through lack of knowledge and identity resources, which formed the expectations of participation. Tradition created the social capital hierarchy to dictate the terms of norms and morals, expectations, trust and reciprocity. This leads key stakeholders in formal sport teams to exercise the privileges of social capital to control, coerce and manoeuvre parents to follow traditional participation pathways.

Informal sport: connection and participation

Values tied to participation were highlighted as key to involving their children. Stacey has six children; besides the eldest, they have yet to consistently participate in the local sport offerings. She explains,

I am not going to make my kids play sport unless they’ve got some extraordinary talent for it. The simple fact is you’re pumping, … and I do not have a lot of income, I’m not going to pump a whole lot of money into [a] sport that they’re probably never going to play when they grow up.

Her perspective is that her children are essentially not interested in the competitive aspect of formal sport and instead request to attend training when they are keen to socialise. Stacey describes a personal value that her children must exhibit: a significant passion or talent for a particular sport for her to pursue their involvement. She raises concerns about the lack of variety of options for children in the area, alongside a significant gap in participation beyond twelve years of age, and that a broader range of alternatives may encourage her children to increase their interest in participation. She delves further into the impact of her adolescent son’s current lack of participation:

I’ve got a 17-year-old son who will not play sport because he played football and he did cricket a couple of times. He just got so bored of it. It’s true, probably because they don’t get a shot at it. He was ok at cricket. But if he had the variety to find something he liked, he probably would have stuck with it. That was it; he had those choices and was very boyish, so he was not going to play netball, no matter how much I told him. You can do whatever sport you want; you don’t have to follow the rules.

But the lack of exposure to alternative sport and physical activity activities left him without early access to opportunities, which Stacey believes may have encouraged him to explore different physical skills outside of throwing, catching, striking, kicking, running and so forth:

I think if there were things like softball where he didn’t have to run around as much. A different kind of physical skill he would have because he could have been a catcher or a goalie.

Unlike his siblings, who enjoyed the sports they played and the socialising aspect of team sport, her son needed more variety to develop an interest in the limited offerings in Emelle.

Access to facilities can be intricate in rural communities, with influential formal sport organisations wielding control of government spaces. Negotiating access to local infrastructure to play sports in their own country led the Filipino population to create informal sport opportunities. Despite ending her participation in Emelle’s traditional sports due to cultural obligations creating conflicting schedules, Maria provided details of her involvement in the Filipino informal sport competition, held in a neighbouring town, involving Filipinos from Perth and through the Wheatbelt. Players and supporters travelled to the area on weekends over October to participate in SportsFest. A basketball competition for men and volleyball for women was held with teams representing local businesses. Business owners sponsored team uniforms, and the local shire provided funded facility access and supported a cultural parade through the town to the recreation ground to celebrate the event’s opening. The event has grown over the past five years, with cultural dancing closing the opening day and Filipino food available. Observing the event enabled me (1st author) to witness the relationships among the Filipino community; they interacted as family, laughing, cheering, and playing in a friendly but competitive manner. The opportunities for children to develop the social domain of physical literacy and understand its cultural value through sport participation were clear. She reports that this effort to be inclusive of all children is evident in adults and children in the community:

I don’t know if you know him, the [motel name] owner there. He’s really good, once every Sunday, so he message[s] everyone on that group. ‘Oh, there’s volleyball today. Everyone’s welcome, and the kids are welcome to play’.

However, despite substantial bonding capital being built, the event lacked the community reach to involve more than a token few non-Filipino participants. Maria’s role as a community spanner, connecting the Filipino community with Emelle’s activities through network connections and communication, indicates the potential for networks to be built upon these foundations to include a wider sphere of participants interested in activities outside the formal sports provisions.

Interestingly, the language used by those with perceivably lower social capital highlighted the power dynamics that impact the ability to change the sport landscape by incorporating informal sport opportunities. Stacey suggested a parent forum to discuss the potential of adding some variety to sport training for children but consistently used ‘they’ and ‘you’ when talking about initiating the discussion. Her language focus implied a belief that she did not have the power to lead localised change. Similarly, Diane suggested that sport training could add variety and be led by different parents with a range of sport knowledge and whilst happy to contribute, she needed formal sport leaders to be on board and that it would require negotiation to appease these parties in how these activities were coordinated and organised because getting parents who were not currently involved to participate would require support from those already doing the lion’s share of the volunteering who then may bring preconceived expectations to the activities.

Informal sports provide a place for those outside of formal sport teams to experiment and develop children’s physical literacy skills, particularly in the social domain, without the expectations and commitment required by formal sport teams. However, as evidenced, developing the linking capital networks required to make these activities inclusive is complex and requires extensive social domain skills such as negotiation, collaboration and shared purpose.

Discussion: social capital and physical literacy

Rural community interconnectedness is at the heart of sport opportunities in settings such as Emelle. The significance of the relationship between social capital and physical literacy development becomes apparent through exploring the social dynamics of a rural community. This discussion further explores the theoretical insights generated in this research.

As positioned and conceptualised in this study, physical literacy foregrounds the necessity to develop a holistic set of skills and understandings that allow a person to participate effectively and productively within their environment. The social domain of physical literacy guided the inquiry. It directed attention to opportunities for children to develop skills, including building and maintaining relationships and leading and participating in collaborative behaviours, recognised as critical aspects of lifelong participation in movement (Sport Australia, 2019). Both formal and informal sport opportunities in Emelle exhibited valuable opportunities for physical literacy development, specifically skills relating to the social domain. However, this study highlighted that consideration of social capital is critical to understanding differential patterns of access to and engagement with such opportunities and the generational effects of social capital that continue to shape the sport and physical activity landscape in a rural setting.

Social interaction as the ‘antidote of isolation’ (Tonts, 2005) highlights the importance of the relationship between social capital and the social domain of physical literacy. The study indicated elevated rates of opportunities for children of parents who engaged with formal sport opportunities most prominently available in Emelle. However, the study also illustrated opportunities arising in informal sport such as the Filipino lead SportFest (Sport Australia, 2019). Parents with knowledge and identity resources were more willing to be involved in coordinating formal and informal activities and were better placed to facilitate children’s development of social domain skills within the activities.

The data generated in this study affirmed that the epicentre of relationships is the interactions they construct based on moral obligations and norms, social values and social networks where ‘social capital is simultaneously used and built’ (Falk & Kilpatrick, 2000, p. 101). Tonts (2005) study noted that the ability to network effectively and build trust through communication is not shared equally among all community members. However, knowledge can be transferred to lift the social capital of the collective. Knowledge of physical literacy skills and game implementation of formal sport activities built bonding capital between farming families in Emelle and bridging capital between competing teams in surrounding towns. Prior knowledge of the physical literacy skills and understandings associated with the local sport provisions and the historical value of sport and volunteerism as part of the rural identity led these families to volunteer their time and energy to continue the passing on stakeholder positions in junior sport as was the case of Victoria and her husband. Even with modifications of these traditional sports, there was significant reliance on pre-existing physical literacy progression to participate or understand the knowledge being shared, to the exclusion of new community members accessing participation opportunities for their children.

‘In-group’ loyalty and ‘out-group’ issues operate as ‘subtle socio-cultural processes’ (Spaaij, 2009, p. 1133) that contribute to the overall well-being of a community. In Emelle, formal sport sets the scene for power imbalances, prescriptive participation and reliance on viable bonding, bridging and linking networks accessible through a commitment to traditional structures. The data signifies that each participant had experienced negative impacts from diversions to tradition. Unspoken understandings exchanged between formal sport stakeholders about roles, responsibilities and expectations in formal sport provisions can create barriers for those attempting to provide alternatives or get involved (Darcy et al., 2014). Informal sport emerges from this study as an important accompanying arena for participation and physical literacy development. It is an arena that provides a platform for developing bridging, bonding and linking social capital networks within a community with flexible structures and a broader scope of inclusivity. The potential for the informal sport sector to impact the social dynamics of communities calls for greater research to explore these dynamics.

Conclusion

Nearly 20 years after Tonts (2005) exploration of social capital in the Wheatbelt, this study provides up-to-date commentary on the social dynamics within rural sport opportunities, particularly their effects on children’s sport opportunities. This paper has highlighted the complexities of rural populations and the inherent tensions in providing sport and physical activity opportunities for children to progress their physical literacy. It reaffirms the view that formal structures drive away those without social capital resources and exclude them from the benefits of community sport. Historical insights and new visions of community need to be examined in light of increasing diversity among rural populations to cater to individuals’ needs. This paper uniquely reveals that informal sport could provide an alternative pathway to build and use social capital knowledge, identity resources, and physical literacy in a rural community.

In pursuing the interrelationship between Putnam’s (2000) social capital theory and Whitehead’s (2001) conceptualisation of physical literacy as a lifelong journey, the study has vividly illustrated that children’s access to sport opportunities in a rural community is far from a level playing field. Social capital is primarily responsible for formal sport stakeholders to develop the power of trust and reciprocity to control how physical activities are provided and the associated norms and commitments. However, mothers, as the critical connection between children and participation opportunities, hold some power to mitigate the inflexibility of formal structures through negotiation. However, this can be limited and shaped by the actions of others. This builds on existing knowledge of the importance of families by explicitly adding mothers’ perspectives in rural communities.

Consideration of the study’s limitations highlights other issues that may also guide further exploration. This study was conducted in one small, rural community and centred on mothers as participants. Widening the field of study to give a broader perspective of rural communities across WA or nationally would potentially reveal differences in the capital produced by community members. The importance of mothers’ roles in shaping their children’s perspectives and participation activity is evident, yet exploration of the intersectionality of gender and culture in rural communities requires further exploration. Finally, educational institutions in rural communities are significant stakeholders in children’s development of physical literacy. Their role in connecting children with community-based participation is vital, and this study affirms that pedagogical planning should encompass a broad range of sport and physical activity experiences and expose rural children to physical literacy development in varied settings.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was applied for and granted by the University Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref. 2022-03355-MCCREERY).

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project under Grant [LP180100038] and by funding from Edith Cowan University Higher Degree by Research Publication Award. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers whose feedback has helped strengthen this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council: [Grant Number LP180100038]; Edith Cowan University.