23 September 2009

The contrast could not be so obvious between sports and the corporate world, in that a surprisingly large number of Australia’s top athletes were raised in rural and regional areas whereas those in corporate Australia are generally city types.

This has been the finding of Well-Being Australia’s chairman Mark Tronson who has developed an interest in the originating demographic of Australia’s champions on the sports field and the board room.

Although Australia’s population is centered in each State’s capital cities, this is not reflected in those young Australians who have made it to the top in sports, whereas it is reflected in those who have reached the board rooms of the nation.

“I have taken any Australian sport, regardless of the era within the 20th century and up to the present time, and ascertained where their leading athletes grew up,” M V Tronson noted.

Cricket is a classic example. Sir Donald Bradman grew up in the Southern Highlands town of Bowral while the 21st century cricketer superstar Mitchell Johnson grew up in Townsville. The list goes on and on.

Field hockey might be a surprise to the uninitiated, as this is one sport, where players with ‘rural and regional’ Australian roots far exceed their city cousins in numerical strength and national player representation.

M V Tronson, a Baptist minister of 32 years, has been ministering to Australian Institute of Sport athletes at Well-Being Australia’s respite facilities, Basil Sellers Moruya 1992-2005, and Basil Sellers Tweed since 2006.

“One of the most interesting responses of these young athletes to the question of where they grew up is that I consistently hear regional names as Bunbury, Victor Harbour, Burnie, Sale, Bathurst, Rockhampton and many others; and not as often as I would have thought, the capital cities,” M V Tronson explained.

Having lived in country areas, Mark Tronson likes to speculate on some reasons why rural regions are over-represented in sports, in this way.

Young people in rural areas have fewer activities ‘on tap’ than their city counterparts. Sporting clubs and associations are generally very strong within the communities, and are a very popular type of family entertainment.

Country kids are used to playing sport with their siblings, cousins, friends and adults from the time they can first toddle. They become adept at the skills of the most popular regional sports very early, particularly as they tend to spend more time in the outdoors than their city counterparts.

Children and teenagers tend to enjoy the things they are ‘good at’, as well gaining social satisfaction from joining in with the things their friends and peers are involved in. In the country, this usually involves sport, because there are limited choices in a rural area.

“These factors may tend to converge,” mused M V Tronson. “With few other activities, and small population base, the focus on sport becomes reinforced in the schools and reported as major activities in the local media.”

In contrast, when Mark Tronson has read the profiles of corporate figures in the business sector, he has found that their interests have been fostered by more ‘bookish’ activities, generally more available in the city regions.

He notes that city backgrounds dominate those with successes in this area; with an emphasis on people who have attained higher education opportunities, until now more available in the cities.

Having noted these trends of the past, M V Tronson now looks to the future, and speculates that these biases may not be so evident in the rest of the 21st century, as there are increasingly broad activities available in the country with regional university campuses, and the educational information about wider career choices available through the Internet.

Concomitantly, the coaching activities and reporting of sporting events in the city is enhanced by the Internet, reportage of overseas sports competitions, and the wider variety of TV channels showing a greater range of sports.

Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister for 32 years, is an associate member of the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) and is the author of 24 books. He was The Australian newspaper “field hockey” writer for 24 years to 1994; the Cricket Chaplain (1984-2000 Australian team, from 2001 Life After Cricket.) He is Chairman of Well-Being Australia since 2000, which provides respite facilities for elite athletes and also a painter of fine art.

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Olympian of the Century Carl Lewis presented Mark and Delma Tronson ‘Gold Medals’ for their 27 years of Sports and Olympic Ministry in February 2009, Dallas, Texas.

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