The Developmental Experiences of Expert Athletes in Sports with Different Levels of Risk

Background. Recent research has proposed that environmental factors affect the development of expertise. Objectives. The present study aimed to compare the history of training activities amongst expert athletes of different sport disciplines regarding the level of risk. Methods. Participants included 187 athletes from six sports disciplines, which were allocated to "low-risk," "medium risk," or "high-risk" groups based on the level of physical risk placed on the participating athletes. Participants completed a developmental history of athletes' questionnaire. Results. Findings revealed a significant difference amongst groups in terms of the mean age of beginning the sport (p < 0.001). Additionally, there was no significant difference between the total hours of deliberate practice and physical preparation amongst the three groups (p > 0.05). However, the low-risk group had an enormous amount of deliberate practice (p < 0.001) and physical preparation activities (p = 0.002) in the 6 to 12-year age band, and the medium-risk and high-risk sports groups had an enormous amount of deliberate practice (p = 0.01) and physical preparation activities (p = 0.003) in the age band of above 16 years. Conclusion. The present study provides useful information on the expertise acquisition process in different sport disciplines regarding the amount of practice relative to risk level.