Youth Sport - Comprehensive Study PDF

Youth Sport Why Children Participate in Sports To have fun To improve skills To be with friends To be part of a team To experience excitement To receive awards To win To become physically fit  Benefits of Youth Sport Physical Development: i.e., fitness, skills, muscul...

Youth Sport Why Children Participate in Sports To have fun To improve skills To be with friends To be part of a team To experience excitement To receive awards To win To become physically fit  Benefits of Youth Sport Physical Development: i.e., fitness, skills, muscular strength/endurance, flexibility, bone structure Psychological/Emotional Development: i.e., self-esteem, stress reduction, challenge, fun, enjoyment, life satisfaction Social Development i.e., citizenship, social success, peer relationships, leadership, career achievement, community integration, discipline, commitment Intellectual Development i.e., school grades, school attendance, cognitive development  Negative Outcomes of Youth Sport Physical Development: i.e., injuries, eating disorders Emotional/Psychological Development: i.e., low perceived abilities, low self- esteem, burnout Social Development: i.e., violence, aggression, low moral reasoning Drop Out in Youth Sport Six Most Important Changes Children Would Make in a Sport that was Previously Dropped BOYS GIRLS 1. Practices were more fun 1. Practices were more fun 2. I could play more 2. there was no conflict 3. coaches understood with studies players better 3. coaches understood 4. there was no conflict players better with studies 4. there was no conflict 5. coaches were better with social life teachers 5. I could play more 6. there was no conflict 6. coaches were better with social life teachers  Program Design We often see youth sport programs that are: Elitist Highly Structured Selective from young ages Focused entirely winning Expect specialization  If you remember…. Deliberate Practice High in effort and concentration Directly relevant to performance ‘not enjoyable’ (?) Practice alone Takes 10,000 hours to achieve expertise….  Youth Sport RECREATION ELITE SPORT ELITE SPORT 18 INVESTMENT YEARS 1 sport Entry into Sport (years) 17 RECREATIONAL ↑ practice ↓ play 16 YEARS 15 SPECIALIZING YEARS D EARLY moderate # sports SPECIALIZATION 14 ↑play ↓practice 2-3 sports R and moderate O INVESTMENT 13 play/moderate practice 12 P 11 O 1 sport SAMPLING YEARS U ↓play ↑practice 10 ↑ # sports T 9 ↑play ↓practice 8 parents: initiate participation 7 coaches: caring teachers 6 _____________________ Jean Côté (Queen’s University) & Jessica Fraser-Thomas (York University)  Youth Sport Sampling Years (Ages 6-12) Focuses on: variety of sports/activities Deliberate play Which leads to: diversified skill base intrinsic motivation  Youth Sport Specializing Years Investment Years (ages 13-15 years) (ages 16+ years) fewer activities One activity with higher with high investment investment balance deliberate between play practice and practice  “I had different activities in my life at that time (under 12). I was still playing squash and still playing hockey and doing other stuff as well. I had no idea I would focus on basketball at that stage. Between 12 and 16… basketball became my main sport. I had cancelled out the other sports. But I still wasn’t 100% focused on basketball at that time. I still had my school and other stuff but it was definitely my number one sport. Basketball was everything from 16 on. It was pretty much all that I was concentrating on.” National Basketball Team Player  Youth Sport But athletes need to specialize early to ‘make it’ in their sport Research suggests that early specialization can lead to elite performance But there is a cost… injury Lack of enjoyment Dropout/burnout Overuse Injuries in Youth Sport Result of placing the muscular and skeletal system under repeated stress over a long period of time increase in overuse injuries as a result of specializing in sport at earlier ages which involves year-round training Supports the ‘sampling’ of sports during childhood  Youth Sport Controversies: Psychological Issues Stress: unpleasant emotional state too much competitive stress can lead to a multitude of negative outcomes Are young athletes being exposed to too much competitive stress?  Youth Sport Controversies: Psychological Issues youth sport participation is not the only stress encountered in the daily life of a young person Pre-competition anxiety 468 children in youth sports 281 children who competed in other activities (i.e., school test, group competition in band, and band solo competition)  Youth Sport Controversies: Psychological Issues  Youth Sport Controversies: Psychological Issues (1) change something about the sport so that success occurs more often than failure i.e., t-ball uses stationary batting tee (2) reduce emphasis on winning (3) But maybe the best way to reduce stress for kids………..  Youth Sport Parental Education: Curbing Violence There has been a significant increase in violent behavior from parents during the last 15 years – Occurrences range from attacks to murder Parent beats a volunteer coach to death in front of his children after a youth ice hockey practice for ten-year-olds