“I Will Make You Understand” Using Pictures to Explore Young Boys’ Sport Experiences Deborah Agnew, Jennifer Fane, Murray Drummond, and Philippa Henderson ABSTRACT This qualitative project explores the meanings young boys ascribe to sport expe- riences and how understandings and perspectives of sport differ between parent(s) and child. Thirteen five-year-old boys and their parent(s) (n = 17) took part in semi-structured interviews focusing on meanings associated with their sport and physical activity experiences. The boys undertook a drawing exercise as part of the interview to elicit their experiences as distinct from those of their parent(s). The seventeen parents were interviewed about their motivation for encouraging their sons to be active. The results indicated that the parents’ and boys’ constructions and understandings of the boys’ sport experienced differed in two important ways; the gendering of the sport experience, and the way in which the sport experience is conceptualized. KEYWORDS gender, masculinities, visual methods, organized sport, unstructured play The belief that sport can contribute positively to development is widespread (Coakley 2011). Sport can provide an avenue for the development of motor and sport specific skills, and also of character through discipline, team work, responsibility, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Additionally, there are many further benefits of sport participation in relation to overall health, fitness, and well-being; sport is generally viewed as being a positive pursuit and it is commonly agreed that children should be encouraged to participate in sport (Kremer-Sadlik and Kim 2007). Children’s participation in organized sport in Australia is relatively high, with 60 percent of children aged five to four- teen years of age involved in at least one organized sport activity outside of regular school hours (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2013). The par- ticipation rates in organized sport for boys are higher at 67 percent than for girls at 56 percent (ABS 2013). Boyhood Studies 10, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 44-65 © Berghahn Books doi: 10.3167/bhs.2017.100104 ISSN: 2375-9240 (print) 2375-9267 (online)  