Project SCORE! Coaches’ perceptions of an online tool to promote positive youth development in sport

Introduction

Over the last 30 years, there has been an increase in youth sport participation across the globe. ¹ In Canada, for example, participation in organized sport is the most popular extra-curricular youth activity. ² By taking part in physical activity and sport programs, children and youth have the opportunity to fulfill three main objectives: (1) to improve overall physical development, (2) to develop motor skills, and (3) to encourage psychosocial growth. ³ It has been suggested that 92% of parents believe that sport has the potential to be a positive avenue of growth and development for children and youth. ⁴ Although individuals recognize the importance of positive outcomes through sport, coaches are not proficient at implementing these outcomes into practice. ⁵ McCallister et al., ⁵ in interviews with 22 youth sport coaches, found agreement in the idea that life skills and values need to be taught through sport but they struggled with being able to articulate those ideas to sport participants. Therefore, along with the physical and motor skill development that is inherent in being active, participation in sport can be valued as a crucial context for personal development. However, the process of teaching positive values is not automatic which outlines the need for effective measures to be in place to educate coaches.

Damon ⁶ suggests that a positive youth development (PYD) approach “emphasizes the manifest potentialities rather that the supposed incapacities of young people” (p. 17). Although the definition may seem simple, there are many complexities related to defining the field and frameworks within it. In addition to the definition, literature in PYD has advanced the idea that the growth of young people involves fostering positive outcomes rather than simply reducing problem behaviors; ⁷ children and youth should engage in productive activities that will educate and inspire them. ⁶ Further, the core constructs of PYD have an ecological element focusing on contexts involving the youth, personal characteristics possessed by the individual and developmental outcomes. ⁸ Lerner also suggests that there are five core competencies that should be developed within a youth development program. These competencies include competence, connection, character, confidence, and caring/compassion and are labeled “the five Cs”. Ultimately, the goal of any program should be to develop these five Cs over time so that young people want to realize a sixth C, contribution, as they become young adults. It is possible that the development of these Cs may take place within structured youth programs. Research studies in the area of PYD highlights the importance of youth participation in a variety of structured activities, including sport, as environments that can provide developmental experiences.^9–11 Research has shown that participation in sport is linked to higher rates of initiative, teamwork, and emotional regulation when compared to other structured activities such as music, art, and service interests. ¹² However, in this same study involving 2280 participants, youth involved in sport also reported lower rates of identity work, positive relationships, and adult network experiences. ¹² Despite these claims, researchers in the field have highlighted the value that the sport context can present in the development of youth.^3,13,14

Gould and Carson ¹⁵ suggest a simple definition of PYD in sport and consider it to be “a broad notion that includes the development of diverse competencies that can help a young person in sport, in their current life and/or in their future” (p. 59). Results of various studies suggest that youth sport has the potential to be an avenue to support the growth of particular assets and outcomes including positive identity, support, social skills, character, and discipline.^16–18 However, a recurring theme in this line of research is the need to establish deliberate and integrated delivery so that positive outcomes are more likely. Assisting program leaders and coaches with the integration of positive youth development principles in their coaching practice will close the gap outlined by McCallister et al. ⁵ who suggested that many coaches are unaware of how to promote PYD within their sport environment. These results bring to light the importance of having properly structured programs for program leaders to use in order to develop positive developmental outcomes. Within a youth sport context, the responsibility for the delivery of a positive program typically falls on the shoulders of the coach.

Coaches, regardless of the level of participation of a child, are the most influential contributor to youth sport environments ¹⁹ and have been identified as the most influential adult in a child’s life after their parents. ¹⁴ The role of a coach may be quite diverse depending on the age and performance level of the athletes involved. ²⁰ Côté and Gilbert ²¹ used a sport-adapted version of the Lerner ⁸ C’s system to suggest a definition of coaching effectiveness. According to Côté and Gilbert, coaching effectiveness is the consistent application of integrated professional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge to improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection, and character in specific coaching contexts. This definition implies that coaches’ role is to develop sport specific skills (e.g. competence) but also contribute to the personal development of their athletes (e.g. confidence, connection, and character).

In a recent study, MacDonald et al. ²² highlight the importance of a positive motivational climate for the personal development of young athletes. In a sample of 510 athletes aged 9–19 years, they found that a task climate was predictive of positive sport experiences and athletes’ personal and social development. Alternatively, negative experiences in sport were predicted by an ego climate. In another study, Isoard-Gautheur and Guillet-Descas ²³ found significant links between coaching style and psychological needs as well as burnout. Essentially, the authors found that an autonomy-supportive coaching style can strengthen the basic psychological needs (i.e. autonomy, relatedness, and competence), increase self-determined motivation, and in turn, decrease burnout (particularly sport devaluation) for young high performance athletes. It was also emphasized in the paper that coaching seminars should focus on developing positive coaching styles and facilitate the growth of meaningful relationships in high performance centers. Coaching education programs are important but at times, most of the valuable learning occurs outside of formal coaching education programs. Erickson, Bruner, MacDonald, and Côté ²⁴ questioned team and individual coaches about how they learn how to be a coach. The authors found that informal coach education is the most preferred method of learning how to be a coach (i.e. learning by doing, interacting with others). Formal coaching programs did have a major role, however, in knowledge transfer. This research also supports work by MacDonald et al. ¹⁷ who found that coaches who engaged in informal positive development coach training provided athletes with a more positive sport environment compared to athletes who played for coaches who did not have any training. These informal opportunities have been provided in the establishment of programs focused on developing positive life skills in children and youth through sport.

Earlier work by Hellison ²⁵ has led to the establishment of a framework highlighting the potential of youth development in sport. Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR; Hellison, 2003) is a program engaging youth in physical activity and relational work experiences. ²⁶ The TPSR concept emphasizes strong instructor–participant relationships, personal empowerment, and self-reflection as a means to encourage responsibility, positive motivation, and respect for others. ²⁷ Research work has found support for the delivery of this program as a way to develop personal skills in young people through a sport lens. ²⁸ Another initiative is the Sports United to Promote Education and Recreation (SUPER) program developed by Danish. ²⁹ The program includes a series of 18 modules which are taught like sports clinics and focus on developing sport skills and life skills (i.e. goal setting, managing emotions, using positive self-talk, keeping a healthy lifestyle). The SUPER program model has been offered in conjunction with several sports (i.e. basketball, golf) and has also been implemented in junior high and high schools in the United States. In addition to the different modules, the model emphasizes the development of peer mentors. The two programs mentioned above focus on the positive growth and development of the young athlete, but do not deliberately focus on the coach and his/her ability to deliver these programs. This creates a gap in the education and training of coaches to deliver programs focused on PYD principles. ⁵

While the aforementioned programs have been successful in their own right, sports-based intervention programs such as TPSR and SUPER can require significant planning, training, and financial support prior to their implementation. In fact, programs such as TPSR and SUPER rely on program delivery through grants and by a trained expert in the field. Once the expert leaves, it is difficult for the program to continue. Consequently, these programs may only be sustainable as long as time and financial resources are available. ³⁰ Vella et al. ³¹ recently called for more strategies that explore the “real-life” developmental impact of community-based sport programs in order to provide youth sport coaches with PYD principles that they can readily implement in their coaching practices. In addition, the blending of formal and informal coach education delivery might be the ideal way to teach coaches about blending PYD concepts into youth sport program to highlight the idea that skills need to be taught. ³²

It has been noted that coaches want to receive information from academics in an engaging and accessible manner. ¹⁶ Accessibility for coaches means that the information needs to be understandable and easy to retrieve. Further, Vella et al. ³¹ state that “(Y)outh sport coaches need to be educated about the important responsibility of positive youth development, and need training in how to facilitate such outcomes” (p. 45). Drawing on the literature from PYD, there is a clear opportunity to contribute to the research in this field through the development of a technology-based PYD program. Based on this information, the purpose of the current project is to examine coaches’ perceptions of Project SCORE! (Sport COnnect and REspect; www.projectscore.ca), which is an online tool established to promote the integration of PYD concepts in youth sport contexts.

Method

Project SCORE! was launched in 2011 and is an online tool for coaches to use to deliberately deliver concepts of PYD in their respective youth sport programs (www.projectscore.ca). A mobile version of the website was also developed so that it may be navigated on a smartphone, making the program very accessible for coaches. The program is based on research from positive youth development in conjunction with literature from youth sport development. In particular, the program uses Lerner’s ⁸ 5 C’s framework as well as current research in the field.^13,17,18,33 Further, the theoretical underpinning for this project is ecological theory. Ecological theory is often explained by using the systems approach but in recent years, Bronfenbrenner, the creator of ecological theory, has also put forward a model that encompasses the person, processes (i.e. interactions) involving the person, the context of these interactions, and the time required to honour the interactions that take place. ³⁴ This PPCT model (i.e. person, process, context, time) is the platform used to explain the interactions of the coach and athletes in a sport context. Using this model as a base, Project SCORE focuses on the athlete and coach (i.e. person) and their interactions (i.e. process) within a sport environment (i.e. context) over the course of a sport season (i.e. time).

Project SCORE! features 10 lessons for coaches to deliver. Lessons include “Goal Setting”, “Team Connection”, “Building Character – Respect”, “Building Character – Fair Play”, “Increasing Confidence – Your Turn”, “Increasing Confidence – Recognize!”, “Building Competence – Training the Mind”, “Building Competence – Let’s Train!”, “Building Competence – Sport for Life”, and “Parent Connection”. The program is recommended for head coaches or assistant coaches to deliver during practice time and delivered over the course of a season. Each lesson follows a similar format including an explanation of the theme for the lesson, recommended “SCORE plays” (i.e. strategies for implementation), and additional resources pertaining to the topic. For example, the first lesson, “Goal Setting”, introduces the premise of goal setting including a description of different types of goals (i.e. process, performance, and outcome) and an explanation of SMART goals (i.e. specific, measureable, adjustable, realistic, and time-based). Suggested methods of implementation include practicing goal setting with partners in practice and having athletes keep track of goals. Additional resources are also present.

Data analysis

An inductive analysis ³⁵ allowed for patterns to emerge throughout the analysis without assuming the outcome. A constructivist approach was taken for this study whereby the researchers wanted to obtain a sense of the lived experiences of the coaches over the course of the program. Rovegno and Dolly ³⁶ suggest three tenets of constructivism in an education setting and these tenets are implicated in this study. First is the understanding of learning as an active process where participants construct knowledge through critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making. The second tenet relates to the construction of knowledge through prior experiences and knowledge. Lastly, by taking an ecological perspective, knowledge is viewed as constructed through individual and social experiences whereby the processes are shared and understood in an interactive environment. An open coding technique was followed where data was organized and eventually grouped into themes and sub-themes (Table 1).^35,37 The lead researcher and a research assistant met regularly during the course of the analysis to corroborate regarding reliability and to validate the themes emerging from the data. ³⁵

OPEN IN VIEWER

Table 1.

Major themes and sub-themes from Project SCORE pilot with coaches.

Major theme	Sub-theme
Program organization	Preparation
	Delivery of the lessons
Positive aspects about the program	Website
	Lessons/Sessions
	Personal growth
	Parent reaction
Challenges about the program	Participant involvement
	Time away from training
Suggestions for change	Mix and match lessons
	Applicability to younger ages

Results

The analysis of the data yielded four main themes that were mentioned by each coach: program organization, positive aspects about the program, challenges about the program, and suggestions for change about the program. Ten sub-themes emerged from the main themes. Pseudonyms have been used to present the findings. The sub-themes are noted under each main theme heading.

Discussion

The current study explored the feasibility of Project SCORE! with four competitive youth sport coaches. Although a limitation to this study is that there were a small number of coaches, the overall experience with the program was very positive. Another noteworthy result is that although the program was aimed to develop positive youth, the coaches also reported personal growth through the program.

Through the constructivist approach to the analysis, results from the study reinforce the idea that coaches see themselves as responsible for the positive development of young people involved in their sport program. Many studies in sport psychology focus on the importance of the coach for skill development but also for psychosocial development.^13,23 Coaches do accept this role and are aware of the importance of creating positive environments for sport. ³⁸ What is lacking in coaching development is deliberate training for coaches teaching how to create these environments.^5,31 Vargas-Tonsing ³⁹ goes further by suggesting that the materials relating to positive development are sorely lacking and is not integrated in accredited coaching training courses. According to coaches who participated in this study, it would seem that Project SCORE! could be the resource needed to fill this gap. This program encourages coaches to take the time to teach positive skills in a nonthreatening format. The implementation of SCORE over other specialized training programs such as TPSR and SUPER has financial and resources advantages that facilitate its wide application to all community coaches. Project SCORE has the potential to be promoted as a sustainable and integrated alternative to specialized training programs that require trained instructors and staff. ³⁰

What was surprising in this study was the personal growth mentioned by some of the coaches who completed the program. Although geared to youth, coaches, regardless of level of experience, may use the program to enhance their coaching style. In a recent study, Camiré et al. ⁴⁰ interviewed 16 experienced coaches about how they facilitate PYD in their sport programs. The authors found that through a series of formal, nonformal, and informal coaching opportunities over time, coaches developed personal tools that they used to teach positive skills. The conclusions of the study posit that this type of coaching practice evolves over time through reflection. While the present study confirms that experienced coaches do amass skills over time to eventually teach positive skills, the notion that skills cannot be taught in a short period of time is not supported. In fact, it is possible to educate coaches and provide them with the tools to teach and create positive sport programs immediately, much like materials that are available to help coaches teach physical sport skills. The ability for coaches to have access to resources and information online and in a user-friendly way (i.e. low demands on time, no cost) are causal mechanisms that may encourage adoption of this program. Learning can be applied immediately and in a meaningful way for both coaches and youth sport participants. Additionally, these tools do not have to be taught in a formal setting. ¹⁷ Camiré et al. ⁴⁰ suggest that coaches can seek information (i.e. workshops, websites) to assist and enhance the learning of PYD in sport. Project SCORE!, as demonstrated in this study, has the potential to provide coaches with a necessary tool to promote personal development in youth through coaches of community sport programs.

Another interesting result from the analysis found that the coaches in the study, although they consulted the Project SCORE! website, sometimes used their own resources to implement the various themes and lessons. The researchers did not restrict the coaches to only using the implementation strategies presented. The coaches did share ideas with one researcher to make sure that the content was appropriate for the session. As mentioned earlier, Erickson et al. ²⁴ noted in a study involving 44 competitive coaches that the majority of coaches learn by doing and not through formal coaching courses. The experienced coaches in our sample had already developed some of their own resources “by doing”. However, coaches still noted that they used their personal information with more purpose, having confidence using some previous techniques and learning more about themselves through the process. The focus on deliberate delivery was essential in not only working to enhance athlete experiences but in improving the coaches’ experiences as well.

The challenges related to Project SCORE! in this study were not related to implementation; the identified challenges were more related to changing individual perceptions about teaching youth development as an integral part of coaching youth sport. The coaches suggested that some participants were not as focused during the sessions but some coaches also suggested that they would have liked to spend more time on physical skill development rather than the PYD lessons. It is important for coaches to realize that personal assets such as confidence, connection, and character should be included as part of the sport experience of youth rather than being offered as a separate component of the sport program. Côté and Gilbert ²¹ clearly show that the outcomes of sport and coaching effectiveness are to improve athletes’ physical skills as well as personal assets. Coaches need to be taught how to enthusiastically teach sport skills in an environment that promote the development of confidence, connections with others, and personal character. The SCORE! lessons are aimed at facilitating learning and provide coaches with additional ideas and tools that enhance the overall sport experience of youth. Youth sport coaches should realize that teaching sport skills require the integration of youth development principles such as the ones promoted in the SCORE! lessons. Coaches that integrate youth development principles in their coaching do not take away valuable practice time but rather enhance the learning experience of youth within the sporting context.

Upon review of the data presented, the coaches commented that the athletes who participated in Project SCORE! were positively influenced by the lessons. In particular, “Increasing Confidence – Your Turn” was noted by all the coaches as a lesson enjoyed by the participants and a great learning experience. In this lesson, coaches were asked to take a step back and allow youth to run the practice. The coaches provided a guideline of what topics/skills need to be covered but the athletes were allowed to lead the warm up, drills, and any other aspects of the practice. This is an example of the importance of empowering young people within sport environments as it has been shown to increase enjoyment. ¹⁸ Along with the other lessons, the goal was to provide youth with a holistic experience within sport. Another limitation of this particular study was that responses to the questions could have been probed further to gain some more depth. The goal, however, was to have coaches complete the program and comment directly about their experiences. Information provided by coaches in this study was instrumental to refining the Project SCORE! lessons and the general operation of the coaches locker room (i.e. removal of a participant attendance tracker). Subsequent studies need to measure youth experience before and after experiencing Project SCORE! to determine if experiences and learning are enhanced. Qualitative methods could also be utilized to gain a deeper understanding about the experiences of the youth involved and which lessons were particularly meaningful.

Conclusion

Project SCORE! appears to be an appropriate tool to use to help coaches deliver positive youth sport programs. Results from this study have a direct impact on youth and coaches alike; young people can learn valuable personal skills while enhancing sport competence and participation while coaches have an opportunity to gain knowledge that will assist with their coaching development and create positive sport contexts for children and youth. Future work with Project SCORE! needs to focus on measuring youth experiences and continue to engage coaches so that the program can continue to be valuable to them professionally and personally.