The influence of games and culture on indigenous AFL and NRL players’ development of expertise

This chapter looks into this contribution towards the development of Indigenous sport expertise by drawing on an Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded study that identified the development of Indigenous expertise in Australian football and rugby league. It focuses on the central role that playing self-managed, informal games from early childhood to around the age of 13 made towards laying the foundations of expertise for Indigenous Australian AFL and National Rugby League (NRL) players. Learning through informal games from early childhood up to the age of 13 or 14 had the strongest influence on the participants’ development of expertise and was part of day-to-day life for them all. The physical and sociocultural environment the participants grew up in encouraged creativity, due to the influence of Indigenous culture and through being forced to adapt to the constraints of the limited resources available to them. Playing other sports and Aboriginal culture made contributions towards the participants’ development of expertise as children