The purpose of this research is to clarify sporting event experiences of adult female soccer athletes during their school years and to pursue the relationship between past sporting event experiences and current engagement in sports. The research was performed by conducting a survey targeting 174 adult females registered with the Aichi Football Association (AIFA). An analysis of the sporting events that the women experienced indicates that currently-active adult female soccer players engaged in some type of sporting activity from elementary to junior- and senior-high school. With regard to continuity of soccer during the school years, about 20% of the respondents continued from elementary to junior- and senior-high school or from junior- high to senior-high school, and about 40% of the respondents who began playing soccer in elementary school stopped playing during junior high school. In addition, about 40% of the respondents had no experience playing soccer during their school years, indicating that the environment enables even inexperienced players to begin as adults. It is thought that the high percentage of inexperienced players among the women currently playing soccer is affected by an inadequate soccer environment during childhood and the juvenile period. It is also believed that resistance to female participation in soccer is strong during the school years, and as a result, many who want to participate are unable to do so. However, the ability of adult women who have not soccer experience to participate for the first time through the participation of their peers or their own children is an important element of an environment where lifetime participation in sports is possible. It is desirable that efforts be made in academic facilities, school activities, and the private sector to enhance the environment for girls to participate in soccer during childhood while maintaining the environment that supports good examples of the ability of inexperienced women to begin playing soccer after becoming adults.
