Size of Community of Origin and Recruitment to Professional and Olympic Hockey in North America

Abstract

A conventional wisdom in the lay sociology of sport journalism is that North American professional ice hockey players are disproportionately recruited from smaller communities and rural areas. One explanation given for this is that avenues for social mobility are more limited in such communities and that sport is heavily pursued as one of the few areas of opportunity. Sections of the sociological literature would suggest, though, that the opposite relationship may occur because larger cities have better opportunity structures for developing and expressing sport skills. These alternative expectations are tested for Canadian-born players in three professional leagues and for players on the last three Olympic teams. In addition, data for U.S. Olympic teams are presented. In interpreting the results, we also employ Canadian national survey data on mass participation of male youths in hockey. The findings show that the largest cities are underrepresented as birthplaces of players at each elite level, whereas small towns are overrepresented. Yet, community size does not appear related to the general population of male youths’ rate of participation in hockey. Emphasized are interpretations concerning how amateur hockey is organized.

When “where” is more important than “when”: Birthplace and birthdate effects on the achievement of sporting expertise

“…The 1976 Canadian census characterizes populated areas of less than 1000 as lacking the infrastructures that are usually common to a city, which may result in fewer opportunities to invest in physical activities and sports. The lack of facilities and playing partners, typical in small rural areas, appears to be detrimental to the early development of sport skills (Curtis & Birch, 1987). This minimum populated areas effect was not seen in the US data and may be due to the 1980 US census not providing the number of people living in rural areas in the USA.…”

“…The remaining values in each of the census subdivisions of population yielded values that closely resembled the expected proportions. Based on these findings, Curtis and Birch (1987) suggested that ''top players are more likely to come from communities large enough to build rinks, but not so large that the demand for ice time outweighs opportunities to skate'' (p. 239). Unfortunately, the qualitative nature of Carlson's (1988) study and the focus of Curtis and Birch's (1987) study on ice hockey did not permit the identification of optimal city sizes for sport development across different sports and different sport systems.…”

“…Accordingly, some children might benefit from situations that provide them with more opportunities to become involved in sports. The relative age effect (Musch & Grondin, 2001) and, to a lesser extent, the size of the city from which an athlete comes from (Curtis & Birch, 1987) are two variables that have been associated with increased early exposure to sport and the achievement of expertise.…”

“…Carlson also suggested that coaches in rural areas were more likely to take great care in maintaining the player -coach relationship even if they did not have the technical tennis knowledge of the coaches in urban centres. In another study, Curtis and Birch (1987) examined the city size of the birthplace of Canadian and US Olympic hockey players and Canadian National Hockey League (NHL) players. They found that for Canadian players, regions with a population of less than 1000 inhabitants and those with a population greater than 500,000 inhabitants were under-represented in relation to the expected proportions of the population in the same age range.…”

O Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano e a Data de Nascimento podem condicionar a ascensão de jogadores de Futebol ao alto nível de rendimento?

“…De acordo com algumas pesquisas, a falta de infraestrutura destas pequenas cidades pode resultar em baixos investimentos públicos e privados de incentivo à prática esportiva e, consequentemente, poucas oportunidades de vivência prática do esporte e de orientação qualificada (CÔTÉ et al, 2006). Além disto, a escassez de estrutura física e a falta de crianças/amigos para a prática do futebol são fatores que podem inibir outras facilidades encontradas nas pequenas cidades, como a prática por longo período de tempo e o desenvolvimento de habilidades específicas de jogo (CURTIS;BIRCH, 1987 No contexto do Futebol Brasileiro, a origem desta disparidade de concentração de jogadores pelos meses do ano pode estar associada ao processo de identificação de jogadores nas categorias de base e aos métodos de avaliação de trabalho dos profissionais (treinadores, preparadores físicos, auxiliares técnicos, entre outros) que lidam diretamente com os jovens jogadores. A pressão exagerada por vitórias e conquistas nas etapas de formação, pode ter reflexos diretos no processo de identificação de talentos que, consequentemente, irá influenciar o processo de formação e seleção do jogador até o mais alto nível de rendimento (DIAZ DEL CAMPO et al, 2010).…”