This study aimed to identify collective efficacy and group cohesion seen in rugby players belonging to top-ranking universities and high schools, and to verify, for each age group, the differences between these two concepts in relation to the opportunity to participate in a game. As the participants of our study, university student group comprised 100 regular, 24 semi-regular, and 216 non-regular of belonging to five teams, while the high school student group comprised 141 regular, 20 semi-regular, and 173 non-regular of belonging to five teams. The scales used were the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports (CEQS) for collective efficacy, and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) for group cohesion. We performed a non-paired, single-factor analysis of variance. An ex post facto test was conducted if a significant difference was seen. The results showed no significant differences in CEQS values among university students for any of the items. In the high school participants, meanwhile, regular team members showed higher values than no-nregular team members for all the items. Regular university team members showed higher GEQ values than non-regular team members for only two of the subscales. Regular high school team members showed higher values than non-regular team members for total score and two other subscales. Our findings therefore suggest that, even in groups that specialize in the same athletic sports and play at a set competitive level, different age groups are differently affected by the presence or absence of opportunities to participate in a game.
