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*SPKN EXCLUSIVE* The Athlete Identity Trap: Navigating self-concept and mental health in extended NFL career pursuits
By: Dr. Brandy Runyan This study explored the persistence of undrafted football players who continue to pursue National Football League (NFL) careers five or more years beyond their draft class. Despite systemic barriers and long odds, these athletes remain deeply…
The effectiveness of decision-making training in team-sport officials: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Sports officials must make accurate, fast, and fair decisions under pressure—skills that are challenging to develop given the lack of structured training environments. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized findings from 14 studies (9 included in the meta-analysis) to evaluate…
What Is “Zone 2 Training”?: Experts’ Viewpoint on Definition, Training Methods, and Expected Adaptations
“Zone 2 training” has become a popular topic among endurance athletes and coaches, often praised for its ability to induce a wide range of aerobic adaptations. However, definitions of Zone 2 vary, leading to confusion around how it should be…
Achievement goals and the classroom motivational climate.
Although achievement motivation has traditionally been construed as goal-directed behavior, the recent literature (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Elliott, 1983; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Eliott & Dweck, 1988) has moved toward defining a broad conceptual framework for organizing both the cognitive…
Teamwork in team debriefings: Coaches’ communication patterns after wins and losses
This study examined how head coaches communicate during post-game team debriefings and whether win–loss outcomes shape the teamwork behaviors they emphasize. Using video- and audio-recorded debriefings from 18 elite basketball, volleyball, and soccer teams (seven coaches; 1007 minutes of footage),…
Enhancing Youth Leadership Through Sport and Physical Education
This article explores the role of sport leaders in promoting youth leadership and emphasizes the importance of mental health awareness and support in the development of young athletes.
How Can We Make Research More Relevant for Sport Practice?
Contrasting Approaches in Research: Sport scientists often design studies that compare different training methods or models (e.g., interval vs. continuous exercise, polarized vs. pyramidal intensity distribution). These studies tend to conclude that one method is superior, but leading practitioners view…
Judgement and Decision Making in Clinical and Return-to-Sports Decision Making: A Narrative Review
When deciding if an athlete is ready to return to sports after an injury, clinicians face a complex challenge. This process involves not only assessing the physical healing of the athlete but also considering their mental readiness and social factors.…
Advancing athlete development: How Percentile Comparison Methods (PCMs) can identify youth developmental profiles
This study aimed to address the challenge of accurately evaluating youth athletic performance, considering inter-individual developmental differences. Using Percentile Comparison Methods (PCMs), the research analyzed data from 866 female 100m Front-Crawl swimmers aged 9-15 years at Australian regional-national events. Let’s…
Mental Fatigue Impairs Repeated Sprint and Jump Performance in Team Sport Athletes
This paper aimed to investigate the effects of mental fatigue (MF), induced by a cognitively demanding task, on repeated sprint ability (RSA), repeated jump ability (RJA), and psychomotor vigilance. The study conducted utilized a randomized within-participant design and measured various…
Pay attention! The influence of coach-, content-, and player-related factors on focus of attention statements during tennis training.
This study on youth tennis players delved into the pivotal role of coach communication in shaping the attentional focus of athletes during training sessions across diverse sports. A detailed analysis encompassing 10 coaches engaged with youth athletes was conducted to understand the prevalence and influencers of attentional focus induced by coach communication. While prior research advocates for an external focus (EF) in enhancing performance, this study aimed to explore how coach-, content-, and player-related factors influence the attentional focus induced during sports training sessions. The findings shed light on the prevalent induction of EF in coaching across various sports, emphasizing the need for adaptable communication strategies aligned with athletes' skill levels for optimized training outcomes.
Beyond Entertainment: Motivations and Outcomes of Video Game Playing by Older Adults and Their Younger Family Members
The percentage of older adults who are active gamers has increased tremendously in recent years. Although research shows that video games enhance physical and cognitive well-being in older adults, the role of video games in enhancing social interactions has been…
Benefits and Challenges Associated With Sport Participation by Children and Parents From Low-Income Families
The first purpose of this study was to examine low-income parents’ and their children’s perceptions of the benefits associated with participation in youth sport. The second purpose was to examine parents’ perceptions of the challenges associated with providing their children…
Athletes in the Pool Girls and Boys on Deck: The Contextual Construction of Gender in Coed Youth Swimming
Few studies have examined how groups of individuals enact different patterns of gender relations within and across contexts. In this article, I draw upon nine months of fieldwork and 15 semistructured interviews conducted with eight- to 10-year-old swimmers on a…
Assessing the Relationship Between Youth Sport Participation Settings and Creativity in Adulthood
This article presents an assessment of the relative influences of time spent participating in organized sports and informal sports during childhood with respect to the development of general creativity. In this study, 99 upper-division undergraduate and graduate students completed a…
Assessing Impact of Physical Activity-Based Youth Development Programs: Validation of the Life Skills Transfer Survey (LSTS)
Purpose: A signature characteristic of positive youth development (PYD) programs is the opportunity to develop life skills, such as social, behavioral, and moral competencies, that can be generalized to domains beyond the immediate activity. Although context-specific instruments are available to…
Alibis for Adult Play: A Goffmanian Account of Escaping Embarrassment in Adult Play
The social meanings of play sit at odds with norms of responsible and productive adult conduct. To be “caught” playing as an adult therefore risks embarrassment. Still, many designers want to create enjoyable, non embarrassing play experiences for adults. To…
Adolescent Sport Participation and Alcohol Use: The Importance of Sport Organization and the Wider Social Context
This paper investigates the relationship between adolescent sport participation and alcohol use, focusing on differences in sport contexts. We also include the wider social context, the role of peers and parents as key variables in our analysis. Our sample consists…
Actualizing Children’s Participation in the Development of Outdoor Play Areas at an Early Childhood Institution
This study examined how children’s participation can be actualized, and their perspectives respected, through an action research project that engaged them in the development of an outdoor play area in a child care center in South Korea. An educator devised…
“Who Are You?”: Exploring Adolescent Girls’ Process of Identification
We used ethnographic methods to examine the ways that adolescent girls (n=9) defined and understood themselves as individuals and in relation to cultural identities. We utilized Cook-Sather’s (2002, 2006, 2007) theory of translation to make sense of their identification as…
I Am Not a Cow: Challenging Narratives of Empowerment in Teen Girls Sports Fiction
This research examines two popular teen girls sports fiction series, called “Pretty Tough” and “Dairy Queen.” The books are heavily premised on the idea of empowerment, and are written in ways that invite the reader to see each protagonist’s choices…
We’ve Got Team Spirit!: Ethnic Community Building and Japanese American Youth Basketball Leagues
This article examines the role co-ethnic youth basketball leagues play in shaping ethnic community among third- and fourth-generation Japanese American youth. With dwindling rates of Japanese immigration, increased rates of out-marriage, and fewer cultural hubs available, finding a thriving ethnic…
There is Loads of Relationships Here: Developing a Programme Theory for Sport-for-Change Programs
This article reports on research on the effectiveness of sports-based interventions that sought to address issues of gang membership, racism, at-risk youth and a rather ill-defined notion of ‘conflict’. The article illustrates the varying centrality of sport in such programmes,…
Social Inclusion: Through Sports-Based Interventions?
There is international enthusiasm for the idea that sport can contribute to ‘social inclusion’ strategies. Sport now features in various targeted youth initiatives, including ‘Positive Futures’: a ‘sport and activity based social inclusion programme’ currently operating in England and Wales.…
Youth Team, League, and Tournament Sports: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2018 to 2024.
Radiant Insights has announced the addition of “Youth Team, League and Tournament Sports: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2018 to 2024” Market Research report to their database. Worldwide $22 billion youth sports markets are poised to achieve significant growth…
Youth Football Participation Dropping
The growing mound of research on the dangers of brain trauma in sports — especially when it comes to the young developing brain — has resulted in many parents deciding to not allow their children to play tackle football. According…
Youth Athletes, Bodies and Gender: Gender Constructions in Textbooks Used in Coaching Education Programmes in Sweden
This paper is based on analysis of ideas about girls and boys in sports as they are presented in textbooks used in coaching education programmes in Sweden. Specifically, it explores gender in relation to descriptions of girls’ and boys’ bodies…
Youth Action Sports and Political Agency in the Middle East: Lessons from a Grassroots Parkour Group in Gaza
In this paper we build upon recent scholarship on the globalization of youth culture and sport to examine the growing popularity of action sports in the Middle East. We focus on the development of the urban physical practice of parkour…
Young People’s Experiences of Parental Involvement in Youth Sport
Recently parental involvement in youth sport has intensified, challenging the understanding of youth sports as an arena where adolescents can develop their identity and autonomy. On this background, our study explores how adolescents understand and negotiate their parents’ involvement in…
Why We Should Think Some More. A Response to ‘When You’re Boxing You Don’t Think So Much’: Pugilism, Transitional Masculinities and Criminal Desistance Among Young Danish Gang Members
This paper forms part of a discussion with scholars working in the field of criminology and youth crime, in particular those who are interested in sport, gender, and desistance from violence. Furthermore, this paper challenges previous work into the sport…
Why do Students Bully? An Analysis of Motives Behind Violence In Schools
Research on school bullying and violence has always been working with taxonomies of bullying to categorize aggressive acts. Researchers distinguish between direct and indirect or between physical, verbal, and relational bullying. Cyberbullying is categorized either by type of action or…
Where Has Class Gone? The Pervasiveness of Class in Girls’ Physical Activity in a Rural Town
This paper seeks to animate discussion around how social class operates with adolescent girls from low socioeconomic status backgrounds to shape and inform their decisions about participation in physical activity (PA) inside and outside of school. Examining the instance of…
Where are the Kids?
Huge numbers of children participate in sports. However, kids and sports are rarely seen, much less systematically studied by sport sociologists. Our survey of the past decade of three major sport sociology journals illustrates a dearth of scholarly research on…
When is it Too Early for Single Sport Specialization?
Over the past 15 years, there has been an increase in youth sports participation with a concomitant increase in early year-round training in a single sport. Many factors contribute to the desire of parents and coaches to encourage early single…
What counts as “positive development?”
There is a widespread belief that sport participation inevitably contributes to youth development because sport’s assumed essential goodness and purity is passed on to those who partake in it. Promoted and perpetuated by sport evangelists and kindred spirits, this belief…
What About Place? Considering the Role of Physical Environment on Youth Imagining of Future Possible Selves
Identity research indicates that the development of well-elaborated cognitions about oneself in the future, or one’s possible selves, is consequential for youths’ developmental trajectories, influencing a range of social, health, and educational outcomes. Although the theory of possible selves considers…
We’re on the Right Track, Baby, We Were Born This Way’! Exploring Sports Participation in Norway
Based on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kultur Aktiviteter, this paper explores trends in Norwegians’ participation in sports, with a focus on young people. Norway boasts particularly high levels of sports…
Utilizing the Theoretical Framework of Collective Identity to Understand Processes in Youth Programs
This article explores collective identity as a useful theoretical framework for understanding social and developmental processes that occur in youth programs. Through narrative analysis of past participant interviews (n = 21) from an after-school theater program, known as The SOURCE,…
Understanding Gender Differences in Children’s Risk Taking and Injury: A Comparison of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Reactions to Sons and Daughters Misbehaving in Ways that Lead to Injury
This study compared reactions of mothers and fathers to the risk taking behavior of sons and daughters. Mother–father pairs ( N = 52) imagined their 2-year-old boy or girl behaving in risky ways in common home situations that could, and…
Traumatic Brain Injury: Endocrine Consequences in Children and Adults
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of death and disability in young adults with consequences ranging from physical disabilities to long-term cognitive, behavioral, psychological and social defects. Recent data suggest that pituitary hormone deficiency is not infrequent among…
Transnational Youth Mobility in the Neoliberal Economy of Experience
An increasing number of young people are making long-stay travels while postponing their transition to adulthood and seeking ‘global experience’. Among various forms of long-stay travel, the working holiday has been popular among young people looking for opportunities to work…
Towards Level Playing Fields? A Time Tend Analysis of Young People’s Participation in Club-organised Sports
Over the last 40 years, Sport for All policies – aiming at encouraging the sports participation of all citizens, regardless of age, sex, social class, ethnic origin, etc. – were implemented in a number of European countries. This study examines…
Top 10 Reasons Why Children Find Physical Activity to Be Fun
If one were to survey 100 elementary physical education teachers and coaches for the top three reasons they think children stay active and interested in physical activity, chances are that “fun” would make the majority (if not all!) of their…
The Sustainability of the Youth Olympic Games: Stakeholder Networks and Institutional Perspectives
This paper explored the Youth Olympic Games’ (YOG) potential sustainability (survival and success) through an analysis of how actors exert various forms of pressure on the YOG. Given the impact of the Olympic Games and of youth on society, it…
The Social Construction of Ability in Movement Assessment Tools
This paper focuses on how ‘ability’ is conceptualised, configured and produced in movement assessment tools. The aim of the study was to critically analyse assessment tools used for healthy and typically developed children. The sample consists of 10 tools from…
The Significance of Family Culture for Sports Participation
Contrary to commonplace assumptions regarding ‘determinants’ of sports participation, Birchwood et al. (2008) found strong evidence that family cultures were the chief factor underpinning individuals’ propensities to play sport. The central objective of this study was to investigate family sporting…
The Role of Trusted Adults in Young People’s Social and Economic Lives
In moving toward adulthood, young people make formative choices about their social and economic engagement while developmentally seeking autonomy from parents. Who else then contributes to guiding young people during this formative life-stage? This article explores one contributing relationship: relationships…
The Relationship Between Physical Literacy Scores and Adherence to Canadian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines
Background Physical literacy is an emerging construct in children’s health promotion, and may impact their lifelong physical activity habits. However, recent data reveal that only a small portion of Canadian children are regularly physically active and/or meet sedentary behaviour guidelines.…
The Relation of Coaching Context and Coach Education to Coaching Efficacy and Perceived Leadership Behaviors in Youth Sport
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The purposes of this study were to examine how coaching context and level of coaching education were related to coaching efficacy and, subsequently, how coaching efficacy was related…
The Predictive Ability of the Frequency of Perfectionistic Cognitions, Self-oriented Perfectionism, and Socially Prescribed Perfectionism in Relation to Symptoms of Burnout in Youth Rugby Players
Perfectionism has been identified as an antecedent of athlete burnout. However, to date, researchers examining the relationship between perfectionism and athlete burnout have measured perfectionism at a trait level. The work of Flett and colleagues (Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, & Gray,…
The Potential of Sports-based Social Interventions for Vulnerable Youth: Implications for Sport Coaches and Youth Workers
Sports have long been viewed as an opportunity to actively engage young people in a leisure context and not just in terms of participation in sports activities, but across a range of issues including education, employment and training, community leadership…
The Potential Benefits and Risks of Identifying as a Tomboy: A Social Identity Perspective
Although many girls may call themselves tomboys, little is known about the consequences of these self-perceptions. Seventy-six 5- to 13-year-old girls were interviewed and asked to identify their tomboy status (35 traditional girls, 20 tomboys, and 21 “in-betweens”). Tomboyism was…
The Long-Term Athlete Development Model: Physiological Evidence and Application
Within the UK, the “Long Term Athlete Development” (LTAD) model has been proposed by a variety of national governing bodies to offer a first step to considering the approach to talent development. The model, which is primarily a physiological perspective,…
The Impact of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Diminishing Contrasts, Increasing Varieties
The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were seen as a success and the hosts were praised for the promotion of equality, tolerance and unity as well as inspiring a legacy to continue these values. This volume contains a collection of…
The Gap Between Formalised Children’s Rights and Children’s Real Lives in Sport
The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical standpoint of sociology of childhood to enhance understanding about how children’s rights, as outlined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, are experienced by child athletes…
The Discursive Construction of ‘Good Parenting’ and Digital Media – the Case of Children’s Virtual World Games
This article investigates ways discourses which are present on the virtual world gaming websites and in popular press produce constructions of ‘good parents’ and ‘good websites’ for children, and in the process create distinctions which position other parental practices and…
The Deadly Challenges of Raising African American Boys: Navigating the Controlling Image of the “Thug”
Through 60 in-depth interviews with African American middle- and upper-middle-class mothers, this article examines how the controlling image of the “thug” influences the concerns these mothers have for their sons and how they parent their sons in light of those…
The Civic Engagement Gap(s): Youth Participation and Inequality from 1976 to 2009
Civic participation in the United States is highly unequal, resulting in a “civic engagement gap” between socioeconomic, racial, and gender groups. Variation in civic participation and the civic engagement gap remain contested, primarily as a result of inconsistent definitions and…
The Attitudes and Opinions of High School Sports Participants: An Exploratory Empirical Examination
Sport scholars and public commentators have long held both positive and critical opinions about the influence of athletic involvement on participants and their perceptions of the social world. Yet for all of the strong claims and deeply held assumptions, relatively…
The American Dream, Then and Now
America has always taken pride in being the land of opportunity, a country in which hard work and sacrifice result in a better life for one’s children. Economic growth made that dream a reality for generations of Americans, including many…
The Adaptation Challenges and Strategies of Adolescent Aboriginal Athletes Competing Off Reserve
Within the motivation literature, it has been indicated that athletes respond more effectively to sport’s contextual challenges through effective adaptation skills. Fiske identified five core motives as facilitators of the adaptation process across cultures: belonging, understanding, controlling, self-enhancement, and trusting.…
The Absence of Resistance Training? Exploring the Politics of Health in High Performance Youth Triathlon
While research and scholarship on the dynamic interconnections between sport and health has steadily grown in the sociocultural study of sport in the past few decades, this paper focuses more directly on the politics of health within sport. Drawing on…
The “Logic” of Specialization: Using Children for Adult Purposes
Decisions and policies in both the public and private spheres were based on the ideological assumptions that (1) the sole foundation of social order was personal responsibility, (2) the most effective source of economic growth was unregulated self-interest, and (3)…
Symbolic Violence and the Olympic Games: Low-income Youth, Social Legacy Commitments, and Urban Exclusion in Olympic Host Cities
Drawing on a five-year qualitative study on the impacts of the Olympic Games on homeless and marginally housed youth in two host cities (Vancouver 2010 and London 2012), this paper explores the instances of ‘symbolic violence’ perpetuated by the institutional…
Sugar and Sports: Age Differences in Children’s Responses to a High Sugar Cereal Advertisement Portraying Physical Activities
This study experimentally investigated whether exposing children to a television advertisement for a high sugar cereal that depicts physical activities influences their perceptions of the promoted food and activities differently than exposure to an advertisement for the same product without…
Suffering and Thriving: Children’s Perspectives and Interpretations of Poverty and well-being in Rural Zambia
Drawing on the findings of a qualitative research in rural Zambia involving 24 children (9- to 16-year old), this article advances our understandings of the ways in which familial and intergenerational relationships influence the experiences, impacts, conceptualizations and interpretations of…
State of Play: Trends and Developments in Youth Sports
Our fourth annual report is the latest snapshot of how well stakeholders are serving children and communities through youth sports. The report includes the most recent youth sports participation data and coaching metrics from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association;…
State of Play 2018: Trends and Development
Five years ago this spring, Project Play was launched. We invited more than 80 leaders from sport, health, media, philanthropy and other sectors to the Aspen Institute’s campus in Aspen, Colo., to take measure of how well children were being…
Sports-related Concussion in Youth: Report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council
A report from the Institute of Medicine (IoM) and National Research Council has revealed the prevalence of sports-related concussions in youth. The need to view concussions as more serious threats to the health of young athletes is highlighted.
Sports-Based Interventions for Socially Vulnerable Youth: Towards Well-defined Interventions with Easy-to-Follow Outcomes?
In this paper, we critically examine the burgeoning scientific discourse about sports-based interventions for socially vulnerable or disadvantaged youth from a socio-pedagogical perspective. It is argued that the call for more well-defined sports-based social interventions with easier-to-follow outcomes may be…
Sports-Based Interventions and the Local Governance of Youth Crime and Antisocial Behavior
Drawing on analysis of youth crime and antisocial behavior reduction policies and a qualitative study of sports-based interventions (SBIs) in England, the article considers three ways in which SBI staff, managers, partners, and participants suggest projects contribute to youth crime…
Sports Specialization, Part II: Alternative Solutions to Early Sport Specialization in Youth Athletes
Context: Many coaches, parents, and children believe that the best way to develop elite athletes is for them to participate in only 1 sport from an early age and to play it year-round. However, emerging evidence to the contrary indicates…
Sports Coaches as ‘Dangerous Individuals’—Practice as Governmentality
Recent concern surrounding sports coaches’ interaction with young people has reflected a fundamental change in the way coaches and others regard the role of sports. In this paper, we consider the identification and definition of the contemporary sports coach (whether…
Sports and Structured Leisure as Sites of Victimization for Children and Young People in Finland: Looking at the Significance of Gender and Ethnicity
Availability and access have been central worries that are discussed related to children’s and young people’s sport and other structured leisure activities. In this article, we shift the focus towards children’s and young people’s experiences of violence perpetrated by coaches…
Sports Activities in a Psychosocial Perspective: Preliminary Analysis of Adolescent Participation in Sports Challenges
As the literature is far from being unanimous in regards to the psychosocial benefits of sports practice, we conducted a preliminary qualitative study with nine teenagers who participated in a group sporting challenge to better understand: (1) youths’ perceptions regarding…
Sport-based Youth Development Interventions in the United States: A Systematic Review
The growing number of sport-based youth development interventions provide a potential avenue for integrating sport meaningfully into the U.S. public health agenda. However, efficacy and quality must be reliably established prior to widespread implementation.
Sport Involvement and Educational Outcomes of High School Students: A Longitudinal Study
This study examined the relations among sport involvement and social and personal influences on high school students’ educational expectations and attainment, using National Education Longitudinal Survey-88. Athletic engagement, educational expectations of significant others, peer support for academics, parental involvement in…
Sport in a Youth Prison: Male Young Offenders’ Experiences of a Sporting Intervention
The numbers of children under the age of 18 being incarcerated in England and Wales has decreased of late, with official figures indicating that the current population of just over 1500 has halved during the last decade. But levels of…
Sport for All. Play for Life
THE NEEDS OF MOST CHILDREN ARE NOT BEING MET. Start with the need to be active: fewer than half of children ages 6 to 11 meet the U.S. Surgeon General’s recommendation for engaging in at least 60 minutes of moderate…
Sport Education as a Pedagogical Application for Ethical Development in Physical Education and Sport
The purpose of this paper is to consider four pedagogical applications within the Sport Education model to examine the ways in which a young person can become a literate sports person and develop ethical behaviour through engagement in physical education…
Sport and the Resettlement of Young People from Refugee Backgrounds in Australia
Within recent years, policy makers and practitioners have increasingly drawn on sport as a vehicle to assist with the resettlement of young people from refugee backgrounds. This article presents the views of sport development and resettlement service staff responsible for…
Socioeconomic Status and Sport Participation at Different Developmental Stages During Childhood and Youth: Multivariate Analyses Using Canadian National Survey Data
This study examines the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and sport and physical activity involvement at different stages of childhood and adolescence in Canada. From the previous literature on SES and health-related behavior, there was reason to test competing hypotheses…
Socialisation Into Organised Sports of Young Adolescents with a Lower Socioeconomic Status
Studies investigating sport socialisation often focussed on the barriers for youngsters from lower socio-economic status (SES) families to participate in sport. In the present study, the socialisation into sports of young adolescents from lower SES families that do participate in…
Small-sided Games for Young Athletes: Is Game Specificity Influential?
This study aimed to quantify and compare the physiological, physical and technical demands of a sport-specific and non-sport-specific small-sided game (SSG) in young athletes. Ten male soccer players (mean ± SD: age, 13.0 ± 0.3 years, O2peak, 54.4 ± 4.9…
Skills in Motion: Boys’ Trail Motorbiking Activities as Transitions into Working-class Masculinity in a Post-Industrial Locale
During an ethnographic research project exploring young people’s perceptions of living in a post-industrial semi-rural place, boys aged 13/14 years revealed their semi-clandestine motorbiking activities across mountains trails. It was found that riding motorbikes and fixing engines were potential resources…
Skate Parks as Context for Adolescent Development
All people influence, and are influenced by, the contexts they inhabit. Leisure contexts are no exception. The current research comprised three studies investigating the links between one leisure context, skate parks, and adolescent development. Using interview, observation, and questionnaire methods,…
Skate Life: Re-Imagining White Masculinity
An in-depth look at skateboarding culture by a promising young scholar
Sedentary Activities, Peer Behavior, and Delinquency Among American Youth
Delinquent behavior of one’s peers is one of the most robust predictors of adolescent delinquency. However, no study to date has explored the role of this relationship among those who engage in high rates of nonproductive sedentary activities (e.g., video…
School Sports and Identity Formation: Socialisation or Selection?
It seems common knowledge that school sport participation leads to all kinds of social, educational and health outcomes. However, it may also be that students with a certain predisposition, sometimes referred to as sporting habitus, are more inclined to participate…
Relationships of Coaching Behaviors to Student-Athlete Well-Being
Research on the association between coaching behaviors and student-athlete well-being has revealed significant relationships among coaching behaviors and a range of outcomes including anxiety, burnout, self-confidence, college choice satisfaction, and willingness to cheat to win. Findings from multiple studies suggested…
Refining the Nation’s ‘New Gold’: Music, Youth Development and Neoliberalism in South Africa
This essay explores the work of the Field Band Foundation (FBF) in South Africa, a non-governmental organisation that has been working nationwide since 1997 to create opportunities for the development of ‘life skills’ in youth in predominantly socioeconomically underprivileged communities…
Reconstructing the Community-Based Youth Sport Experience: How Children Derive Meaning from Unstructured and Organized Settings
Youth sport participation often provides the most salient forum for connecting sport with local communities. In this phenomenological examination of preteen youth sport participants, we consider the experiences and attendant meanings derived from participation in both organized and unstructured youth…
Reactions to Implementing Adventure-based Learning in Physical Education
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the reactions of 13 pre-service teachers (PTs) implementing an adventure-based learning (ABL) unit through the lens of occupational socialization. Data were collected through interviews, critical reflections and reflection of videotaped ABL…
Project SCORE! Coaches’ perceptions of an online tool to promote positive youth development in sport
Research points to the potential of youth sport as an avenue to support the growth of particular assets and outcomes. A recurring theme in this line of research is the need to train coaches to deliberately deliver themes relating to…
Preschoolers’ perceptions of their mothers’ and fathers’ reactions to injury-risk behavior.
Seventy-eight 3 year-old children participated in structured interviews. Boys reported wanting to engage in higher levels of risk than did girls. Children viewed mothers as allowing boys and girls to engage in similar levels of risk. Conversely, they viewed fathers…
Predisposed to participate? The influence of family socio-economic background on children’s sports participation and daily amount of physical activity
From a Bourdieu-inspired understanding of how personal resources (‘capitals’) enable certain practices in certain contexts, the links between families’ cultural, social and economic capitals, and children’s daily physical activity were investigated in 500 suburban Danish schoolchildren using questionnaire data and…
Positive youth development through sport: Myths, beliefs, and realities.
This chapter examines positive youth development (PYD) in the social, cultural, and historical context in which it has emerged and been linked with sports. It also focuses on the particular approach to development commonly associated with PYD, why sport is…
Place disparities in supportive environments for extracurricular physical activity in North Carolina middle schools.
Disadvantaged rural youth may be especially at risk for obesity and poorer health due to physical inactivity. Research suggests that extracurricular school programs can increase physical activity for this population. This study sought to determine whether local differences existed in…
Physical activity experiences of young people in an area of disadvantage: ‘There’s nothing there for big kids, like us’
Through an examination of the experiences of young people in one disadvantaged area, this paper adds to an emerging body of knowledge focused on what place physical activity occupies in the lives of young people in areas of disadvantage. A…
Perfectionism and attitudes towards doping in junior athletes
Recent theory and research suggest that perfectionism is a personal factor contributing to athletes’ vulnerability to doping (using banned substances/drugs to enhance sporting performance). So far, however, no study has examined what aspects of perfectionism suggest a vulnerability in junior…