Mulheres praticantes de futebol/futsal no estado de Mato Grosso : oportunidades e desafios

Abstract

This dissertation addresses as a central theme the sports path of young women in soccer/futsal, with the general objective of investigating the challenges and possibilities perceived in this modality in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The specific objectives were: 1) to identify the profile of these young women; 2) describe the experiences in their sports career, focus on the supports and barriers found in the practice of soccer/futsal; 3) prospectively, to dialogue about the participation of women in soccer/futsal. This is a qualitative, exploratory study, carried out retrospectively from an ecological perspective. In order to identify the profile of the young women, we used part of the database of a longitudinal study carried out with the participants of the Youth School Games in the State of Mato Grosso, with a sample composed of players from the futsal teams from 2016 to 2019. Of the profile, the data were treated through descriptive analysis. For the identification of the other objectives, we have selected the participants who are former futsal players from the Soccer Youth Schools in the State of Mato Grosso from 2017 to 2019. The collected data took place through a semi-structured script-guided interview. The data were transcribed and processed through the content analysis. The first chapter is an essay whose the objective consists of discussing the participation of women in futsal/soccer, we have concluded that the school environment is a place that encourages the participation of girls in the world of sport. The second chapter presents the profile of Mato Grosso’s practitioners, which shows that the group is made up of young people whose parents have little education, with indications of belonging to a low-income class. The third chapter deals with the sport journey of young female soccer players, aiming to describe and understand their experiences, focusing on the supports and barriers perceived in the practice of soccer/futsal, in which it was concluded that the greatest support of these young women pass through the family and the greatest difficulties encountered were due to the organizational structure of the modality in the State, which does not allow them to have a prospect of continuation in the modality. Another relevant factor was that young women viewed the sport experience as a means of cultural expansion, behavioral improvement, and collaboration for mental well-being. Therefore, we found in our study evidence that the football career of these women is marked by a late insertion with regard to the formal initiation in the modality, the main support perceived is from the parents, being an emotional and financial support, it is the confrontation in adulthood to be able to remain practicing the modality, which consequently influences the perception of the possibility of carrying out the performance sport. In short, our objective is to contribute for the understanding of women’s relationship with football/futsal in our context, showing the need to reflect on public policies that allow sport to be experienced in adult life, aiming not only at high performance, but also the sport participation that provides a sequence of psychological, physical and behavioral benefits that young women reported having received from the sporting experience.