Understanding Adolescents’ Positive and Negative Developmental Experiences in Sport

The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of adolescents’ positive and negative developmental experiences in sport. Twenty-two purposefully sampled adolescent competitive swimmers participated in a semistructured qualitative interview. Content analysis led to the organization of meaning units into themes and categories (Patton, 2002). Athletes suggested their sport involvement facilitated many positive developmental experiences (i.e., related to challenge, meaningful adult and peer relationships, a sense of community, and other life experiences) and some negative developmental experiences (i.e., related to poor coach relationships, negative peer influences, parent pressure, and the challenging psychological environment of competitive sport). Findings underline the important roles of sport programmers, clubs, coaches, and parents in facilitating youths’ positive developmental experiences in sport, while highlighting numerous important directions for future research. Implications for coach training and practice are outlined.

ISSP Position Stand: To Sample or to Specialize? Seven Postulates About Youth Sport Activities that Lead to Continued Participation and Elite Performance

A comprehensive approach to sport expertise should consider the entire situation that is comprised of the person, the task, the environment, and the complex interplay of these components (Hackfort, 1986). Accordingly, the Developmental Model of Sport Participation (Côté, Baker, & Abernethy, 2007; Côté & Fraser-Thomas, 2007) provides a comprehensive framework for sport expertise that outlines different pathways of involvement in sport. In pathways one and two, early sampling serves as the foundation for both elite and recreational sport participation. Early sampling is based on two main elements of childhood sport participation: 1) involvement in various sports and 2) participation in deliberate play. In contrast, pathway three shows the course to elite performance through early specialization in one sport. Early specialization implies a focused involvement on one sport and a large number of deliberate practice activities with the goal of improving sport skills and performance during childhood. This paper proposes seven postulates regarding the role that sampling and deliberate play, as opposed to specialization and deliberate practice, can have during childhood in promoting continued participation and elite performance in sport.

The Contribution of Structured Activity and Deliberate Play to the Development of Expert Perceptual and Decision-Making Skill

The developmental histories of 32 players in the Australian Football League (AFL), independently classified as either expert or less skilled in their perceptual and decision- making skills, were collected through a structured interview process and their year-on-year involvement in structured and deliberate play activities retrospectively determined. Despite being drawn from the same elite level of competition, the expert decision-makers differed from the less skilled in having accrued, during their developing years, more hours of experience in structured activities of all types, in structured activities in invasion-type sports, in invasion-type deliberate play, and in invasion activities from sports other than Australian football. Accumulated hours invested in invasion-type activities differentiated between the groups, suggesting that it is the amount of invasion-type activity that is experienced and not necessarily intent (skill development or fun) or specificity that facilitates the development of perceptual and decision-making expertise in this team sport.

Towards a Definition of Excellence in Sport Coaching

In this paper,we propose different definitions of coaching excellence based on two principles. First,the application of coaching skill,as in any other domain of excellence,is context-dependent. Second, excellent coaches are knowledgeable and constantly assemble mental models that enable them to meet their athletes' needs and to effectively manage the central duties of coaching - organization, training, and competition. Four categories of coaches and corresponding definitions are proposed based on the characteristics of athletes and the developmentally-appropriate sport contexts: 1) participation coaches for children, 2) participation coaches for teens and adults, 3) performance coaches for young adolescents, 4) performance coaches for older adolescents and adults.

A Developmental Approach to Sport Expertise

This chapter examines the personal and contextual factors of youth sport that affect sport expertise and developmental outcomes. The developmental model of sport participation (DMSP) is used as a comprehensive framework that outlines different pathways of involvement in sport. Activities and contexts that promote continued sport participation and expert performance are discussed as the building blocks of all effective youth sport programs. This chapter provides evidence that performance in sport, participation, and psychological development should be considered as a whole instead of as separate entities by youth sport programmers. Adults in youth sports (i.e. coaches, parents, sport psychologists, administrators) must consider the differing implications of concepts such as deliberate play, deliberate practice, sampling, specialization, and program structure at different stages of an athlete's talent development. Seven postulates are presented regarding important transitions in youth sport and the role that sampling and deliberate play, as opposed to specialization and deliberate practice, can have during the childhood in promoting continued participation and elite performance in sport

Youth Sport Coaches’ Reflections on Leadership Behaviours During Games and Practices

Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2016-10-03 07:59:09.638