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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

LESSON 11

YOUTH SPORT

When people think of applied sport psychology, they usually think of elite athletes and how to improve

athletic performance. This is certainly the focus of sport psychology, however, when you consider that

there are millions of children between the ages of six and eighteen, you see the tremendous potential

for human enrichment and development. If every child who participated in sport emerged with

increased self-confidence, greater perceived ability, increased intrinsic motivation, and greater self-

esteem, the world and society would certainly be better for it. Unfortunately, many youth who would

like to participate in organized sport programs are unable to do so because of limited resources. This

lecture is dedicated to the important topic of youth sport. We will be looking at the benefits of youth

sports, reasons children participate or withdraw from sports, potential negative factors associated with

the youth sport experience, training volunteer coaches in developed countries, and the coach-parent

relationship.

Youth sport programs can be classified into two categories; school-sponsored programs, and nonschool

programs. School sponsored programs operate at schools and generally they have the luxury of

dedicated facilities and qualified coaches, although this is not always the case. Nonschool youth sport

programs operate in quite a different way. These programs are usually run by agencies and city

recreation departments. Nonschool programs usually do not have dedicated places for practice and uses

volunteers as coaches. Typically, an adult volunteer is assigned to supervise and to coach a team. Love

for sport, of course is the primary motivation of the adult to volunteer to spend hundreds of hours of

his free time coaching children. We will be discussing youth sport as a whole, covering both types of

youth sport programs.

Benefits of Youth Sports and Reasons Why Children Participate

Studies show that the number one reason children give for participating in youth sports is "to have

fun." When it isn't fun any more, the young athletes will find something else to do. Based on numerous

investigations, following motives for participation have been identified by youth sports participants:

The motive to have fun and to enjoy participating in sport.

The motive to learn new skills and to improve on existing sports skills.

The motive to become physically fit and to enjoy good health.

The motive to enjoy the challenge and excitement of sports participation and competition.

The motive to enjoy a team atmosphere and to be with friends.

This list also represents some of the perceived benefits of youth sport participation. The benefits of

youth sport participation include having fun, learning new sports skills, getting physically fit,

experiencing the excitement of competition, and making new friends. Other intangible benefits include

things like learning to cooperate with teammates and coaches, learning what it means to be a good

sportsperson, and developing a sense of perceived competence and self-efficacy. A positive youth

sports experience will enhance intrinsic motivation, which will in turn lead to continued participation in

sports throughout a lifetime.

Potential Negative Factors Associated With the Youth Sports Experience

If youth sports are not organized and supervised by responsible adults, there may be some negative

consequences of youth sport participation. The potential negative consequences of youth sport

participation are:

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

Too much competition and focus upon winning.

Competition gives the youth sport participants an opportunity to put all of their training and hard work to the

test. The problem arises when winning becomes so important that it becomes the sole purpose of competition.

When winning becomes that important, it forces an external locus of control, and the athlete's sense of self-

determination and autonomy is diminished, as is intrinsic motivation.

Distress and anxiety

Too much emphasis upon competition and winning leads to increased levels of distress and anxiety. These

terms are related to a child's fear of failure and worry about disappointing others. You simply cannot enjoy

playing a cricket game if you are fearful every time it is your turn to bat or are worrying that the ball might be hit

to you when you are in the field. The FLOW experience should be kept in mind, and the focus should be

towards enjoying the experience. You cannot experience FLOW if your focus is upon winning. Your focus must

be on the experience itself and not upon outcome. The FLOW experience and feelings of anxiety and distress

are incongruent with each other.

Violence and aggression among adults

Another negative factor associated with youth sport is violence and aggression among adults. According to

some researches, it is something that is increasing rather than decreasing.

Why Youth Drop Out Of Sports?

Children's surface reasons for withdrawal from sports are:

Participating in sport not being fun anymore

Failure to learn new skills or to improve on existing skills.

Lack of physical activity

Lack of thrills, challenges, and excitement

Poor team atmosphere, not making friends

Another surface reason given by youth sports participants for dropping out is "change of interest" or "other

things to do". An athlete's decision to drop out from one sport does not mean that she is a dropout from all

youth sport activities. She might be giving up swimming for tennis, or badminton for field hockey.

Consequently, it is important to determine if a youth is a specific-sport dropout or a general-sport dropout.

Withdrawing from one sport to participate in another is less of a concern to sport psychologists than dropping

out from sports altogether.

Other than surface reasons of why youth dropout, there are the underlying psychological reasons for

withdrawal. Distress and worry associated with too much emphasis upon winning and competition is an

example. There factors undermine a child's intrinsic motivation or love for the activity. There is no longer an

intrinsic reason to continue sports participation, and the external rewards are insufficient motivators.

Withdrawal from sport for underlying psychological reasons is more serious than withdrawal due to surface

reasons.

Training Volunteer Coaches in Developed Countries

The best way to assure a quality youth sport program is to provide quality training and supervision of volunteer

coaches (Smith & Smoll, 1997). A number of coach training programs have been developed to assist volunteer

coaches in creating a positive and enjoyable athletic experience; we will be briefly discussing Coach

Effectiveness Training (CET; Smith & Smoll, 1997).

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Sport Psychology (PSY407)

There are two types of reactions of coaches which may affect sport participation. Reactive behaviors

are coach reactions to players or team behavior. For example, a player makes a mistake and the coach

responds by verbally chastising the player. Spontaneous behaviors are initiated by the coach and do not

occur in response to player behavior.

Coach Effectiveness Training (CET)

The coach effectiveness training (CET) program is based upon over twenty years of research. The

purpose of the CET is to teach youth coaches how to engage in team building. Effective team building

results in teams that have a positive climate, whose members enjoy a sense of satisfaction, and feel

attraction to the team as well as each team member. The purpose of team building is not necessarily to

better win/loss record, but the promotion of more enjoyable and valuable developmental experience. A

CET workshop lasts approximately for two and a half hours. Behavioral guidelines for effective coaching

techniques are presented and discussed.

Coach-Parent Relationships

To a large extent, problems in youth sport come from two basic sources. The first is a failure on the part

of coaches and parents to distinguish clearly between the youth sports model and the professional model

of sport, and the second is what Smith and Smoll (1996) have named the "reversed-dependency trap" the

youth sports model provides an educational setting for the development of desirable physical and

psychological characteristics in the youth athlete. Conversely, the professional sports model is a

commercial enterprise in which the stated goals to entertain and to make money. Some parents and

coaches fail to differentiate between the two and act as if they are the same. The reversed-dependency

trap describes a situation in youth sport in which the child becomes an extension of the parent. A parent

comes to define his own sense of self-worth in terms of the success and failure of his son or daughter.

When this happens, the parent becomes a "winner" or a "loser" through his young athlete. The guiding

principle for a coach-parent relationship is good communication, and that it is two way street.

References

Cox, H. Richard. (2002). Sport Psychology: Concepts and Applications. (Fifth Edition). New York:

McGraw-Hill Companies

Lavallec. D., Kremer, J., Moran, A., & Williams. M. (2004) Sports Psychology: Contemporary Themes.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers