Involving Immigrants in Youth Sport Coaching: Part 1. A Literature Review and Quantitative Profile

Little, if any, previous research has investigated the involvement of immigrants in sport coaching. This is the first of a series of two articles that focus on this issue. In this article, following a general literature review, structured retrospective interviews (n = 29) are used to construct a profile of immigrant youth sport coaches. Two distinct profiles were identified: (a) leisure-oriented coaches, who had not coached prior to immigration; and (b) career-oriented coaches, who had coached prior to immigration Statistically significant differences (p < .05) were found between groups relating to athletic experience, sport-related education, time between immigration and initiation of coaching, and coaching of their own children Separate pathways to coaching involvement after immigration were identified for both profiles.

Engaging Immigrants in Youth Sport Coaching: Part 2. A Qualitative Analysis of the Barriers, Facilitators and Motivators for Involvement

Although research in the area of immigrants and their physical activity patterns has been steadily growing, there is still much to learn. The purpose of this study was to identify the barriers, facilitators and motivators facing recent Canadian immigrants as they relate to involvement in coaching youth sport. The quantitative information presented in the first article of this series served as a framework for conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews with 28 immigrant youth-sport coaches. Results of these interviews support the notion that there are two distinct groups of immigrant coaches - the ‘leisure-oriented coach’ (those without coaching occupational aspirations) and the ‘career-oriented coach’ (those with coaching occupational pursuits). Despite sharing several of the same barriers, facilitators and motivators, each group showed marked divergence from the other on a number of aspects in each of these three categories.

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.

The Development of Coaching Knowledge

Coaches are known to fulfill many different roles including leader, psychologist, friend, teacher, personnel manager, administrator, fundraiser and role model. The papers presented in this special issue emphasize these different roles by highlighting how coaches learn and how they foster an optimal learning environment. In the first section of this discussion article, I will briefly summarize the main issues covered in the five target papers. I will then propose that the learning environment of coaches needs to be put into a larger conceptual framework that would allow one to account for the variability of experiences that coaches go through before becoming a coach. The third section of this paper will describe three different settings in which coaches learn their skills. Finally, I will offer some concluding remarks and briefly outline directions for future studies.

The Relationship Between Coaching Behaviours and Sport Anxiety in Athletes

Previous research has identified the relationship between athlete sport anxiety and various sport outcomes (e.g., performance and dropout). For the majority of athletes involved in sport, the coach is an influential element of the competitive experience. Two hundred and twenty-eight athletes from 15 sports, completed the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S). The predictive ability of athletes' perceived frequency of seven coaching behaviours (physical training, mental preparation, goal setting, technical skills, competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport) on four forms of sport anxiety (total anxiety, somatic anxiety, concentration disruption and worry) was examined. Results indicate that negative personal rapport was a significant predictor of all measured forms of sport anxiety while competition strategies was a significant predictor for total anxiety, concentration disruption, and worry. Other behaviours were not significant. The findings suggest that negative rapport between coach and athlete is an important contributor to athlete anxiety. In addition, behaviours that the coach demonstrates relative to competition can be influential in reducing athlete anxiety.

Examining Adolescent Sport Dropout and Prolonged Engagement from a Developmental Perspective

This study examined youth sport dropout and prolonged engagement from a developmental perspective focusing on physical and psychosocial factors. Twenty-five dropout and 25 engaged adolescent swimmers, matched on key demographic variables, participated in a retrospective interview. Results indicated that dropouts were involved in fewer extra-curricular activities, less unstructured swimming play, and received less one-on-one coaching throughout development. Dropouts reached several developmental milestones (i.e., started training camps, started dry land training, and were top in club) earlier than engaged athletes. Dropouts were more likely to have had parents who were high-level athletes in their youth, were more likely to be the youngest in their training group, and were less likely to have a best friend at swimming. Findings are discussed in relation to past research; future directions and implications for researchers, sport programmers, coaches, and parents are suggested.

Understanding Dropout and Prolonged Engagement in Adolescent Competitive Sport

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of training patterns and roles of significant others (i.e. coaches, parents, peers, and siblings) in adolescent swimmers’ sport participation patterns. Design: The developmental model of sport participation [Côté, J., Baker, J., & Abernethy, B. (2003). From play to practice: A developmental framework for the acquisition of expertise in team sport. In J. Starkes, & K. A. Ericsson (Eds.), Recent advances in research on sport expertise (pp. 89–114). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; Côté, J., & Fraser-Thomas, J. (2007). Youth involvement in sport. In P. R. E. Crocker (Ed.), Introduction to sport psychology: A Canadian perspective (pp. 266–294). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall] was used as a framework. Method: Ten dropout and 10 engaged swimmers, matched on key demographic variables participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview. Results: Groups had many similar experiences (e.g. early training, supportive and unsupportive coaches, involved parents). However, only dropouts spoke of early peak performances, limited one-on-one coaching, pressuring parents during adolescence, lack of swimming peers during adolescence, and sibling rivalries. In contrast, only engaged athletes spoke of clubs’ developmental philosophies, coaches’ and parents’ open communication, school friends’ support, and siblings’ general positive influences. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of appropriately structured programs and the fragility of athletes’ relationships with significant others during the adolescent years. Implications for sport programmers, coaches, and parents are discussed.

Season-Long Examination of the Intervention Tone of Coach-Athlete Interactions and Athlete Development in Youth Sport

Objectives: Coaches are a primary influence on athletes' development in youth sport (Horn, 2008). However, the intervention tone of coaches' behaviour has not been directly observed. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between the intervention tone exhibited by youth sport coaches and athletes' individual developmental trajectories over the course of a season. Design: Short-term longitudinal study with behavioural observation. Method: Fifty-five athletes and their coaches from five youth volleyball teams were observed at three time points, and the intervention tone of interactive behaviour was systematically coded and organized by coach-athlete dyad. Athletes completed measures of the 4C's of athlete development (competence, confidence, connection, character) at each time point, which were used to create individualized developmental trajectories. Person-centred analyses were used to examine associations between athletes' developmental trajectories and their unique interactive experiences with their coach. Results: Cluster analysis revealed the presence of three distinct clusters based on athletes' developmental trajectories: 1) high and increasing, 2) low and decreasing, and 3) moderate and maintaining, with athletes from each team distributed across clusters. Analysis of dyadic interaction profiles revealed significant differences in interactive behaviour between clusters. Conclusions: Results suggest that differences in coach-athlete interactive experiences are associated with different developmental trajectories over the course of a season, even for athletes working with the same coach, highlighting the individualized nature of coaches' influence on young athletes. Practical implications for coaches include a critical awareness of their unique interactive relationship with each athlete independently, as well as the importance of fostering these relationships with regard to young people as more than just athletes.

Developmental Paths and Activities of Successful Sport Coaches

The purpose of this research report is to present an overview of an ongoing, international project designed to chart the developmental paths and activities of sport coaches. This brief report includes three sections: (a) conceptual framework used to guide the project, (b) project design and methodology, and (c) results from pilot studies with a sample of 15 successful coaches working in different sport contexts in the United States Unlike the findings for athletic profiles, where several trends across coaching contexts were evident, only one trend was found in how these diverse groups of coaches invested their time in coach developmental activities. In relation to other coaching activities very little time was devoted to formal coach education on an annual basis. The results reinforce the need to consider the coaching context when examining coach development and when designing coach development initiatives.

Bullying Victimization and Perpetration Among Adolescent Sport Teammates

Purpose: Bullying is a specific pattern of repeated victimization explored with great frequency in school-based literature, but receiving little attention within sport. The current study explored the prevalence of bullying in sport, and examined whether bullying experiences were associated with perceptions about relationships with peers and coaches. Method: Adolescent sport team members (n = 359, 64% female) with an average age of 14.47 years (SD = 1.34) completed a pen-and-paper or online questionnaire assessing how frequently they perpetrated or were victimized by bullying during school and sport generally, as well as recent experiences with 16 bullying behaviors on their sport team. Participants also reported on relationships with their coach and teammates. Results: Bullying was less prevalent in sport compared with school, and occurred at a relatively low frequency overall. However, by identifying participants who reported experiencing one or more act of bullying on their team recently, results revealed that those victimized through bullying reported weaker connections with peers, whereas those perpetrating bullying only reported weaker coach relationships. Conclusion: With the underlying message that bullying may occur in adolescent sport through negative teammate interactions, sport researchers should build upon these findings to develop approaches to mitigate peer victimization in sport.

The Dynamic Process of Development through Sport

This article presents a global vision for sport through a new framework that incorporates the elements necessary for a developmentally sound approach to youth sport involvement. This framework proposes that youth sport involvement includes three basic elements: (1) taking part in activities (what), while creating relationships with others (who), in a specific setting (where). When these three elements positively interact, it creates a context that, when repeated on a regular basis, leads to changes in the personal assets of the participants. Changes in individuals’ personal assets, such as Competence, Confidence, Connection, and Character (4 C’s), have long been associated with positive sport experiences, which in turn lead to long-term outcomes, including continued sport Participation, higher levels of Performance in sport, and Personal development through sport (3 P’s). Research linking the three basic elements of youth sport (activities, relationships, and settings) to positive changes in personal assets (4 C’s) and long-term outcomes (3 P’s) are discussed and the Personal Assets Framework is presented

Applied Research Sport Experiences, Milestones, and Educational Activities Associated With High-Performance Coaches' Development

What experiences are needed to become a high-performance coach? The present study addressed this question through structured retrospective quantitative interviews with 10 team- and 9 individual-sport coaches at the Canadian interuniversity-sport level. Minimum amounts of certain experiences were deemed necessary but not sufficient to become a high-performance coach (e.g., playing the sport they now coach and interaction with a mentor coach for all coaches, leadership opportunities as athletes for team-sport coaches only). Although coaches reported varying amounts of these necessary experiences, general stages of high-performance coach development were traced. Findings serve to identify and support potential high-performance coaches and increase the effectiveness of formal coaching-education programs.

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