Physical and Competitive Environments and Their Influence on Developmental Experiences in Youth Basketball: A Mixed-Methods Study

Physical and competitive environments play an important role in shaping athletes’ psychological development, motivation, and long-term engagement in sport. Guided by the Personal Assets Framework, this study examined basketball athletes’ perceptions of the quality of facilities and material resources across developmental stages and explored how these environments influenced developmental experiences and continuity in youth sport. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed. Quantitative data were collected from Brazilian basketball athletes aged 18–19 years (n = 141), followed by semi-structured interviews with 24 athletes. Distributional differences were explored using Kruskal–Wallis tests and associations using chi-square tests, while qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results indicated that both public and private gyms were commonly used practice settings; however, private facilities were consistently perceived as offering superior structural conditions and material resources, particularly from early adolescence onward. Although physical environments were largely perceived as non-limiting during childhood, their influence on psychological development, motivation, and perceived developmental opportunities became progressively more salient with age. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of adequate physical and competitive environments as key contextual components of athlete development, suggesting that long-term participation in youth sport is strongly influenced by the contexts in which athletes are embedded.