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High school athletes' perspectives on support, communication, negotiation andlife skill developmentMartin Camiré a; Pierre Trudel a; Tanya Forneris a

a School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Online Publication Date: 01 March 2009

To cite this Article Camiré, Martin, Trudel, Pierre and Forneris, Tanya(2009)'High school athletes' perspectives on support,communication, negotiation and life skill development',Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise,1:1,72 — 88

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Qualitative Research in Sport and ExerciseVol. 1, No. 1, March 2009, 72–88

High school athletes’ perspectives on support, communication, negotiation and life skill development

Martin Camiré, Pierre Trudel* and Tanya Forneris

School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CanadaTaylor and FrancisRQRS_A_367497.sgm10.1080/19398440802673275(Received 15 July 2008; final version received 11 October 2008)Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise1939-8441 (print)/1939-845X (online)Original Article2008Taylor & Francis110000002008

There is a widespread belief that sport can be used as a tool to promote life skillsand positive youth development. However, little research has examined athletes’perspectives on the development of life skills in school-based sport programmes,in which a vast amount of youth are involved. In addition, research has yet toexamine how youth experience support, communication, and negotiationprocesses with parents and coaches in high school sport, elements that play acrucial role in life skill development. Taking this into consideration, the purposeof the study was to document high school athletes’ perspectives on support,communication, negotiation and life skill development. Results indicated that: (1)while variability was observed, many athletes believed they were able to negotiatemany aspects of their sport participation with parents and coaches, (2) a largenumber of athletes believe they received adequate support from parents and wereable to communicate with coaches, and (3) athletes believed high school sportparticipation allowed them to develop a number of life skills that could betransferred to other life domains.

Keywords: parent; coach; youth; sport; programme

Until recently, positive development in adolescence was often conceptualised as theabsence of negative or undesirable behaviours, such as not consuming drugs and alco-hol and not engaging in violence (Larson, 2000). However, since being problem-freedoes not necessarily equate to being fully prepared for life (Roth and Brooks-Gunn,2003), a new paradigm of youth development emerged in the early 1990s (Lerneret al., 2005). Positive youth development (PYD) is a strength-based approach todevelopment, grounded in developmental systems theories, recognising that youthhave the potential for successful development (Eccles and Gootman, 2002). Further-more, this new paradigm implies a shift away from the belief that adolescents shouldbe moulded by adults into responsible citizens and views youth as motivated andconstructive agents of their own development (Larson, 2006).

A number of studies have examined how organised activities, defined as structuredactivities emphasising skill-building that are performed under the supervision of adults(Mahoney et al., 2004), can serve as contexts for PYD. Empirical findings have shownthat participation in organised activities such as sports is associated with a numberof positive outcomes such as increased educational attainment (Barber et al., 2001;Eccles et al., 2003), adolescent adjustment (Fredricks and Eccles, 2006), initiative

*Corresponding author. Email: ptrudel@uottawa.ca

Downloaded By: [Canadian Research Knowledge Network] At: 15:38 13 January 2009

Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise 73

(Larson et al., 2006) and emotional development (Hansen et al., 2003). Nonetheless,research has also shown that youth can have undesirable experiences through sportparticipation such as negative peer interactions, favouritism, performance anxiety andstress (Dworkin and Larson, 2006).

In order to enhance youth’s psychosocial development and reduce the occurrenceof negative experiences, Petitpas et al. (2005) developed a framework for planningyouth sport programmes. According to the framework, youth are most likely to expe-rience positive development in the presence of (1) an appropriate environment(context), (2) caring adults (external assets), and (3) when they are provided opportu-nities to acquire life skills (internet assets).

An appropriate environment, the first component of the framework, is one thatallows youth to develop a sense of initiative, a sense of belonging within a group andthe opportunity to engage in a voluntary activity with rules and goals (Petitpas et al.,2005). Organised activities such as sports appear to be the best suited context in whichyouth can develop initiative (Larson, 2000). Initiative is a concept closely related withagency involving intrinsic motivation and engagement in an environment. Larson(2006) asserts that youth are generally motivated to develop and be engaged but, forthis motivation to be maintained, they need to perceive their actions as their own.Therefore, matters related to programme participation must be efficiently negotiatedbetween youth and adults in order to allow youth to exercise individual choice anddevelop skills such as responsibility and autonomy (Larson et al., 2007). Research hasshown that youth-driven programmes, in which youth exercise a large amount ofcontrol over decisions, allow youth to experience a high degree of ownership whiledeveloping leadership and planning skills compared to adult-driven programmeswhich can undermine creativity and engagement (Larson et al., 2005). It is aboutcreating a context where youth negotiate their participation and develop a sense ofinitiative by experiencing responsibility, choice and membership at the same time theyare offered challenges and guidance (Roth and Brooks-Gunn, 2003).

In addition to being a context suitable to the development of initiative, sport mayalso allow youth to gain peer acceptance and status in highly valued groups (Eder andKinney, 1995). Athletic achievement is for a large proportion of youth more valuedthan academic achievement and being a successful athlete is the most desired status ofhigh school students (Goldberg and Chandler, 1989). Sport participation is also avoluntary activity containing clear rules and objectives and in order to be successful,youth must exhibit prolonged persistence and effort (Petitpas et al., 2005). Therefore,through sport, youth can learn how to persevere towards a goal when faced with chal-lenges and conform to a set of rules.

The second component of the framework consists of the caring parents and coaches(external assets) communicating with and supporting youth in the sporting environ-ment (Petitpas et al., 2005). Research has shown that supportive parents and coachespositively influence youth development. A recent study conducted with junior tenniscoaches suggests that parents who provide support (e.g., logistical, financial, social-emotional) can have a positive influence on their child’s development (Gould et al.,2006b). Côté (1999) has shown that successful elite athletes generally have parentswho follow and support their sporting practice during adolescence. Furthermore, qual-ity parent–child relationships, in which children perceive encouragement and lesspressure, have been shown to lead to more enjoyment, more self-esteem, higher self-determined motivation and lower levels of stress in youth (Scanlan and Lewthwaite,1986; Leff and Hoyle, 1995; Ullrich-French and Smith, 2006). As for coaches, those

74 M. Camiré et al.

who exhibit good communication skills as well as flexible and adaptive behavioursgenerally have athletes who demonstrate higher levels of motivation and competenceas well as lower levels of anxiety and attrition (Black and Weiss, 1992; Smith et al.,1995; Mageau and Vallerand, 2003). As Petitpas et al. (2005) have asserted, ‘it is thequality and density of the social interactions and relationships formed with caring adultmentors that is most likely to lead to the development of positive assets andcharacteristics’ (p. 69).

The third component of the framework is based on the principle that effectivesport programmes must provide youth with opportunities to develop important lifeskills (internal assets) that can be generalised across different life domains. Lifeskills can be physical, behavioural and cognitive and enable youth to succeed in thedifferent environments in which they live (Danish and Donahue, 1995). Life skillsinclude, for example, dispositions such as having self-control, being self-motivatedand being confident as well as abilities such as solving problems, meeting deadlines,setting goals and working within a team (Danish et al., 1993). Participation in youthsport programmes has been shown to allow youth to develop a number of skills thatlead to positive physical, emotional and social outcomes (Fraser-Thomas et al.,2005). In addition, school sport participants demonstrate a lower school drop-outrate, higher grade point average, higher graduate rate and positive educational trajec-tories when compared to non-athletes (Eccles and Barber, 1999; Whitley, 1999).Although youth sport participation has been shown to lead to positive outcomes, it isimportant to acknowledge that ‘it is not sport per se that teaches life skills; it is asport experience that is designed in such a fashion that its participants can transferwhat is learned to other domains’ (Danish and Nellen, 1997, p. 103). Therefore,adult leaders must help youth gain confidence in their abilities and help them recog-nise that they have a set of skills that they can apply in other domains (Petitpaset al., 2005).

Although a number of life skill programmes delivered through sporting activitiesexist (Danish and Nellen, 1997; Hellison and Walsh, 2002), it is important to considerthat the vast majority of youth are involved in what can be referred to as regular sportprogrammes, such as community and school-based programmes. There are severaldifferences between both types of programmes, most notably as it relates to the train-ing of leaders. Coaches in regular sport programmes receive little or no training onhow to teach life skills and create positive environments (Gould et al., 2006a, Smithand Smoll, 1997) as opposed to the leaders in life skill programmes who receive train-ing and are equipped with tools to teach this type of material (Danish and Nellen,1997). Petitpas et al. (2005) mentioned that, ‘without trained leadership, it is doubtfulthat life skills and other positive characteristics are taught in a systematic way’ (p. 65).However, even if life skills are not necessarily being taught intentionally in an organ-ised fashion, do sport participants in regular sport programmes still believe they canacquire life skills through sport? Despite the popularity of organised sports in NorthAmerica, very few studies have explored this question. Some studies have examinedadolescents’ perspectives on development in organised activities in general and foundthat youth reported learning experiences related to identity exploration and reflectionas well as developing goal setting, time management and group social skills (Dworkinet al., 2003; Hansen et al., 2003). Specifically, in the sporting context, only one studyhas been conducted. Holt et al. (2008) examined the experiences of male high schoolsoccer players and found that these athletes reported learning about responsibility,respect, teamwork and leadership.

In sum, the context (e.g., an environment that promotes initiative), externalassets (supportive adult leaders) and internal assets (e.g., life skills) are factorsbelieved to play an influential role on the quality of youth’s experiences in sport(Petitpas et al., 2005). However, no research has been conducted to examine thesethree factors combined within the context of high school sport. Therefore, thepurpose of this study was to explore the three following research questions: (1) Dohigh school athletes believe they can negotiate their sport participation with theirparents and do they feel supported by them? (2) Do high school athletes believe theycan communicate with their coaches and negotiate their sport participation? and (3)Do high school athletes believe they learn life skills through sport and can these lifeskills be transferred to other life domains? Qualitative interviews were conductedsince this type of method has proven useful for examining areas of research thathave received less attention and for representing ideas and experiences from aparticipant’s perspective (Creswell, 2003).

Method

Context

Participants were recruited from a private, French-speaking high school in the prov-ince of Quebec in Canada. The school, consisting of about 1000 students, offers to itsstudent population a comprehensive sport programme which is well-recognised in theregion. Participation in extracurricular sports is strongly encouraged and over onethird of students at the school are members of a competitive sport team. Schoolathletes and teams consistently win regional championships and regularly participatein the provincial championships in all the sports the school offers. The school alsoprioritises the academic success of its students and is regularly recognised in an annualranking as one of the top academic high schools in the province (Kozhaya andCowley, 2006). Through a number of initiatives, the school tries to ensure thatstudent-athletes excel from an ethical standpoint. At the beginning of the sport season,athletes must sign an ethical code of conduct which clearly states the attitudes andbehaviours the school expects all participants to demonstrate during training andcompetition. Furthermore, the school’s mission statement places emphasis on theemotional, social and physical development of the students, both in academics andathletics. However, while the school and its sport programme give themselves themandate of developing a wide variety of skills in its student population, it is importantto recognise that the sport programme is a regular programme, meaning that coachesdo not receive specific training related to PYD and the programme is not intentionallystructured to systematically teach life skills.

Participants

A maximum variation purposeful sampling technique (Patton, 2002) was used torecruit participants. This type of sampling technique was beneficial given that itallowed for the gathering of the perspectives of participants of different gender, age,sport practiced and sporting experience. A detailed description of the experiences of atotal of 20 athletes (10 males, 10 females) from the four sports offered at the school(basketball, volleyball, soccer and badminton) was collected. Participants’ age rangedfrom 13 to 17 years (M = 15.05) and experience in school sport ranged from 1 to 5

years. In order to be selected to participate in this study, participants needed to haveplayed on an interscholastic team during the past season. The recruitment techniqueconsisted of contacting coaches and asking them to send emails containing informa-tion about this study to their athletes. A number of athletes responded and agreed tovoluntarily participate. Researchers agreed to have a total of 20 participants becauseit was deemed to be a large enough sample to represent the perspectives of manydifferent types of athletes and to reach theoretical saturation. Interviews wereconducted immediately following the 2006–2007 sport season in order to avoid issuesof memory and recall. Ethics approval was obtained along with approval from theprincipal and the athletic director of the school prior to participant recruitment.

Procedure

Prior to undertaking the interview process, the interviewer reminded the participantsof the voluntary nature of this study, indicated an audiotape would be used, and hadboth the participant and a parent/legal guardian sign a consent form. A number ofsteps were taken in order to reduce social desirability effects. First, participants wereassured that their responses would remain confidential. In addition, participants weremade aware that the interview was not an evaluation and would not affect in any waytheir school grades. Finally, participants were told that the objective of this study wassimply to gather their perspectives on high school sport participation and that therewere no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. All the interviews, ranging from 30 to 63 minutes(M = 47), were conducted in person at a mutually convenient time, either in a privateroom at school or at the participant’s home. A structured interview guide, initiallypiloted with three high school athletes (one male, two females), was employed. Thethree pilot interviews were not included in the final sample of participants, but allowedfor minor changes to be made to the interview guide, such as adapting certain ques-tions to a younger population.

Interview guide

The interview guide was divided into four sections, a procedure consistent with Rubinand Rubin’s (2005) approach of using structured stages in interview proceedings. Thefirst section was comprised of demographic questions (e.g., age, sport practiced, schoolgrade, sporting experience). In addition, a number of questions concerning partici-pants’ general experiences in sport were asked to establish rapport and engage partic-ipants in the interview process. The second section consisted of questions specific toathletes’ practice of sport in the high school setting. In this section, we explored howathletes negotiated their high school sport participation with their parents as well ashow they felt supported by them during the season. For example, athletes were askedto answer questions such as ‘Did you negotiate with your parents the possibility ofbeing on a high school sport team?’ and ‘How would you describe your parents’involvement in your sporting practice?’. The third section dealt with issues related tocoaching as athletes were asked to comment on coach/athlete communication and howthey negotiated material of coaching. For example, athletes were asked ‘How did youproceed as a team to negotiate and establish team goals?’, ‘How would you describethe coach–athlete communication?’, and ‘Were you able to negotiate material ofcoaching during practices and matches with your coach?’. The final section examinedhow athletes perceived high school sports influenced their development. Specifically,

athletes were asked to discuss the different life skills they felt they developed by havingparticipated in high school sports and how these skills could be transferred to otherlife domains. For example, after having examined their school’s mission statement,athletes were asked to respond to questions such as ‘Do you think high school sportallows you to develop emotional, social and physical skills?’ and ‘How would you saythe skills you learned through high school sport can be transferred to other lifespheres?’. During the entire interview process, athletes were asked and reminded togive concrete examples of situations they experienced in high school sport rather thanhypothetical scenarios to ensure the depiction of actual events. In addition, probes wereused to manage the conversation since they are useful for clarifying unclear sentences,keeping the conversation on topic, and encouraging the interviewee to expand oncertain ideas (Rubin and Rubin, 2005).

Data analysis

The interviews were transcribed verbatim and careful considerations were taken toidentify features that can influence the meaning of an idea, such as laughter andpauses. Given that all interviews were conducted in French, careful considerationswere taken to protect the integrity of athletes’ responses during the process of transla-tion. The interview transcripts were read and reviewed on multiple occasions in orderto get familiarised with the data and to identify emerging themes. The software NVivo(Qualitative Solution and Research, 2006) was used to assist in the coding andmanagement of the data. All 20 transcripts were downloaded into the software and thedata was organised in themes and subthemes. Qualitative software was employedgiven its usefulness when the database of information is fairly large and whenresearchers want to organise and quickly locate useful quotations and categories ofthemes (Creswell, 2003).

A deductive–inductive content analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994) wasperformed to examine the data collected from the interviews. This type of analysis wasconducted given that a portion of the categories that were developed emerged deduc-tively from concepts deemed important in previous research and from the researchquestions of the study whereas the remaining categories emerged inductively from theparticipants’ responses. The data was content analysed, meaning that the participants’stories were cut into sections of text and put into defined categories (Lieblich et al.,1998).

Three main categories based on the research questions of this study were devel-oped. First, the majority of negotiation and support experiences with parents werecategorised according to the questions in the interview guide (e.g., negotiation ofentrance into high school sports, financial support). The remaining categories in thissection emerged inductively from the participants’ responses (e.g., negotiation ofschool in which to enrol). Negotiation and communication experiences with coacheswere also mostly categorised according to the questions in the interview guide (e.g.,negotiation of team goals, coach/athlete communication); however, a few categoriesdid emerge inductively (e.g., influence of coach characteristics on communication).Concerning life skills, a category was developed for each skill that was reported bythe athletes as being developed (e.g., time management, confidence). Specific cate-gories were also developed for the life skills participants’ believed could be trans-ferred to other life domains. Once all of the athletes’ responses were categorised,printed reports of each category were developed using NVivo. Researchers identified

emerging patterns as well as the sections of texts that best represented the ideas andexperiences of participants. A first draft of the results was then produced and revi-sions were made until the presentation of the data was an accurate depiction ofathletes’ experiences.

Results

The results are presented in three sections. The first section examines how athletesexperienced negotiation and support with parents. The second section examines howathletes experienced negotiation and communication with coaches. The third sectiondiscusses how athletes perceived they developed life skills through high school sportsand how these skills can be transferred to other life domains. Participant identificationcodes are provided for each quote (F = Female; M = Male; S = Soccer; B = Basketball;Ba = Badminton; V = Volleyball). Furthermore, numbers, in relation to the orderparticipants were interviewed, are employed for identification and confidentialitypurposes. For example, a female soccer player that was the ninth participant inter-viewed was coded as FS-9.

Negotiation and support with parents

Prior to being involved in high school sports, some athletes mentioned they first hadto negotiate with their parents the school in which they were going to enrol, as someschools in the region offer specialised sport programmes called ‘sport-etude’. Generally,competitive sports are practiced after regular school hours; however, at ‘sport-etude’schools, sports are integrated into the school’s regular curriculum. A typical school dayconsists of doing academic work in the morning and practicing a chosen sport in theafternoon. This athlete stated:

I didn’t want to come to this school; I wanted to go to a school that had a ‘sport-etude’programme. When I finally agreed to come here, it was sort of a compromise with myparents; I’m going here but I’m playing soccer. (FS-12)

The majority of athletes mentioned they negotiated with their parents the possibilityof playing high school sport, some for financial reasons and others for logisticalreasons: ‘Yes we discussed it because it’s more expensive here than at other schoolssince we do more tournaments’ (FV-3) and ‘For sure they had to be in favour of meparticipating because it requires a lot of time from them for transportation and every-thing’ (MB-17). Because of the importance placed on academic achievement at thisschool, this athlete mentioned she had to negotiate her participation since her parentshad concerns as to how sports would affect school work:

I wanted to play but my mom was unsure. She said it would be too much with school,but I pushed and we talked to the coach who said, ‘I’d rather you be part of the team evenif you have to miss some practices’. After that, my mom said yes. (FS-19)

Only a small number of athletes stated not having to negotiate their entrance into highschool sports with their parents. For example, these athletes said ‘there was no nego-tiation, there is a soccer team, I like to play soccer, perfect, let’s play’ (MS-4) and ‘Itold them I wanted to join the volleyball team and they were like “ok, go ahead”. Theysupported my decision, they were just happy that I wanted to play a sport’ (FV-14).

Once a decision was reached to participate in high school sports, most athletes felttheir parents provided them with plenty of support. Some emphasised the emotionalsupport provided by their parents: ‘My parents are always there to encourage andsupport me. They were present at all my matches, they didn’t even miss one’ (FS-19)and ‘My parents come to all my tournaments, they’re my number one fans’ (FS-6).Others alluded specifically to the importance of having their parents provide themwith logistical and financial support: ‘They are the ones giving me lifts to and frompractices. They are also paying for everything; if they weren’t there, I couldn’t bedoing this’ (MV-2) and ‘My parents pay for my equipment and the registration feesand they give me rides to the tournaments we have’ (MV-1). However, some variabil-ity was noticed as there remained a few participants who felt their parents were not atall involved in their sporting practice. For example, this athlete said ‘they never comeand see me … they’re not necessarily interested in that stuff’ (FS-11). Of note, quitea few athletes reported they believe their fathers were more involved in their highschool sport participation than their mothers. For example, this athlete stated, ‘my dadhas always been there for me, coming to my matches; my mom hates soccer, she givesme lifts; that is her involvement! She won’t come and see me because it just doesn’tinterest her’ (FS-16). Nonetheless, there were a few athletes who stated they felt theirmothers did show interest in their sporting practice and provided adequate support:‘My mom was present at all my games; she was supportive and she would tell me tonot only think about sports, but also my studies; she helped me maintain a balancebetween the two’ (MB-17).

Negotiation and communication with coaches

Given that communication is an essential element in the process of negotiation,athletes were asked to describe the coach/athlete communication during the pastseason. Most athletes felt they could effectively talk to their coach: ‘Communicationwas very good, we were close to him as a friend, we talked and we could say what wehad to say, there were no secrets’ (MB-20) and ‘It was excellent; after each practice,he would tell us what he thought; we knew what to expect from him and what we hadto do for things to go well’ (MS-4). This athlete mentioned how communicationprocesses evolved in a positive manner throughout the season:

At the start of the year, we [athletes and the coach] didn’t know much about each otherand people were shy. After a while, people learned more about each other and we wouldtalk about everything and we were really close. It was really a team and that was fun.(MV-5)

However, there were also several athletes who stated communication with the coachwas negligible and this situation appeared to lead to some conflicts: ‘He alwaysthought he was right, he would talk to us pretentiously; after a while, we just stoppedapproaching him because he would get agitated’ (FV-13). The following athlete statedher experience in sport was negatively impacted because she felt her coach did notvalue communication.

It was disastrous, seriously, when you would tell him something, he would take it verypersonally, get mad, and not play you. I think the coach didn’t think it was important tohave good team communication, it wasn’t pleasant; you couldn’t say something and behonest. (FV-8)

It was interesting to note that for some participants, specific coach characteristicscan have a positive or negative influence on coach–athlete communication. For exam-ple, this athlete stated that, ‘communication was very good because he was young.With our coach, we were friends because he was just four or five years older than us,we had a strong relationship with our coach’ (MS-2). This athlete explained why hefelt it was important to have younger coaches:

For me, it’s necessary for the coach to be young, in his twenties or thirties; it’s importantbecause his teen years are not too far behind, when you’re an adolescent, you don’t wantto be bored by an old coach. For me, if he’s old, he needs to be able to understand youthvery well. (MS-4)

Some female participants believed communicating was more difficult because theircoach was a male. This female athlete said:

Last year, we had two female coaches, talking was easier. This year, we had a malecoach, and there were really big changes. Personally, I think there is a differencebetween males and females in sport. With [name of coach], we would only talk aboutsoccer; on the other hand, with the girls, we could let loose on certain things. (FS-12)

After having gathered a general understanding of how athletes felt they couldcommunicate with their coaches, we asked them if they believed they were able todiscuss and negotiate material of coaching. Negotiation of material of coaching wasdefined to the athletes as having, for example, input on the type of drills executedduring practices and the strategies and plays implemented during games. A lot of vari-ability in the responses was observed as some athletes believed negotiations wereprevalent while others believed there was partial or no negotiation. Those whobelieved negotiations were prevalent said, ‘we could give suggestions and ask ques-tions; if we had difficulty executing something, he would add it to his plan for the nextpractice or give us tips’ (FS-10) and:

Most of the time he had his practice plan but if we didn’t agree with something, we couldtell him … at times we would ask him if we could play a game at the end of practice andhe would say yes. (MB-18)

Others felt their coach was not receptive to the idea of negotiating material of coach-ing: ‘He already had his practice plan, he wasn’t open enough, if we said we had trou-ble doing serves, he would make us do receptions, it didn’t work’ (FV-13) and ‘that’swhat I didn’t like about this season, she wasn’t open to our suggestions, there was nonegotiation, everything came from her’ (FV-3). It is important to note that someathletes perceived their coach as being very competent and didn’t necessarily believean environment where negotiations were non-existent was negative: ‘We didn’t nego-tiate too much; we just listened because we knew that what the coach was making usdo was good for us’ (MV-1).

In order to identify if other type of material was negotiated between athletes andcoaches, participants were asked to describe their involvement in the establishment ofteam goals. While some variability was observed, most stated they had the opportunityto voice their opinion on this subject matter: ‘At the start of the season, our first teammeeting was about that, we negotiated team goals, it was really a team decision’ (FV-14) and ‘coach discussed this with us and we came to a consensus, we wanted to goto the provincial championships. I think it’s important for a coach to talk to his players

about that’ (MS-2). Only a small number of athletes felt team goals were not properlynegotiated. For example, this athlete mentioned her coach would, without consultingplayers, set performance objectives that she felt were too ambitious:

He arrived with his plan which was to win the first tournament, finish first in the league,and then go to provincials. In his head, it was all clear. It was stressful; the way hepresented it, it wasn’t good. (FV-13)

Development of life skills

Athletes believed that participating in high school sports allowed them to develop anumber of different life skills. A majority of the participants suggested that having tobalance school work and sports allowed them to develop time-management skills. Forexample, this athlete stated, ‘you know in advance if you have school projects, prac-tices, or matches, it’s about finding time to do everything. In order to do that, you haveto optimise the use of the time you have’ (MB-17). These athletes explained how theylearned to manage their different obligations: ‘If I don’t have a lot of homework, I doit after practice. However, if I have many things to do, I try to do a little before andfinish the rest after practice’ (MBa-9) and:

My priority is to respect my engagements; if I have an exam but I also have a practicescheduled, for sure I will go to my practice, even if that means I have to stay up an hourlater to study. (FV-14)

Several athletes also stated that high school sport participation positively influ-enced a number of personal dispositions. For this athlete, having the opportunity toachieve goals allowed her to enhance feelings of self-efficacy: ‘I’m more confidentbecause I realised I could accomplish things; sports allow you to be someone. You tellyourself, I play volleyball and I’m good at it’ (FV-3). Another athlete mentioned shedeveloped confidence and leadership from having participated in sports: ‘I have moreconfidence. Before, I used to think I was a pretty lame person. Now, I think I’m a bitbetter and I feel I have more leadership abilities’ (FV-6).

Unanimously, all 20 participants indicated that being involved in high schoolsports allowed them to expand their social network and develop a number of socialskills. For example, these athletes stated that ‘through sports, you meet other girls thatshare your passion, it helps you create friendships; I think it allowed me to develop …to be less shy, to socialise more, and to open myself’ (FV-3) and ‘it helped me openup to the world around me, I am now more sociable’ (FV-8). Other participants putemphasis on the fact that high school sport is an excellent setting to meet new people:‘When I started my first year of high school, I didn’t know a lot of people but, beingon a sport team really helped me expand my circle of friends’ (FV-13) and ‘I onlyknew people from my grade; being on a sport team allowed me to meet many peoplefrom different grades. Now, I know a lot of people’ (MV-5). Many athletes went a stepfurther and highlighted that playing high school sports not only allowed them to meetnew people, but made it possible to create meaningful relationships: ‘When I made theteam, I didn’t anticipate this type of atmosphere; you really feel close to the girls’ (FS-10) and ‘my best friends are from volleyball’ (FV-8). Finally, many athletes stated thatthrough sport participation, they learned about the importance of working with others:‘Soccer is a team sport and if you don’t play as a team, nothing will work so for sureteamwork is something you develop when you practice a team sport’ (FS-19) and

‘When you’re on a team, you have to learn to work together and have good commu-nication’ (MS-2).

Transfer of life skills

Participants were asked to indicate if they believed the life skills developed duringtheir sport participation could be transferred to other life domains. A considerableportion of participants believed such skills could be applied to academic work, espe-cially as it relates to working with others: ‘At school, you have to do group projects;having experience working on a team is beneficial because you know not everyonewill always agree and you will have to compromise’ (MB-20) and ‘you learn it can’tjust be one person doing all the work, everyone has to give their point of view. Itworks better if, for example, four people are involved rather than just one becausethere are more ideas’ (MB-18). Athletes also stated that sport participation allowedthem to develop social skills they feel they can apply in various life domains, such ashow ‘to communicate with others; when you meet people with different personalities,you have to adjust to them’ (FV-13) and ‘to not be shy, to speak to others; you learnto share your ideas and respect those of others’ (MV-1). Finally, this athlete suggestedthat through sport, she learned the importance of working with people she doesn’tnecessarily like, a skill she believed will be valuable in future endeavours: ‘We willhave to do group work with many different people we might not have affinities with,we will need to know how to work in those situations’ (FS-12).

Discussion

Results of this study support the framework for youth sport programmes by Petitpaset al. (2005). As stated above, according to the framework, youth are most likely toexperience positive development in the presence of an appropriate environment(context), caring adults (external assets) and opportunities to develop life skills (inter-nal assets).

Context

According to the responses of participants of this study, the high school sport contextappears to be a suitable environment for youth development. High school sport partic-ipation allowed youth to demonstrate a sense of initiative as many athletes in thisstudy asserted they were able to provide input on material of coaching and participatein the development of team goals. Participation in such negotiation processes is bene-ficial given that it allows youth to remain intrinsically motivated to participate in sportbecause they perceive their actions as their own (Larson, 2006). Youth can develop asense of agency and be motivated to solve problems and persevere towards a goalwhen faced with obstacles (Hitlin and Elder, 2007). Research findings support theseclaims, indicating that athletes who have an input on team goals demonstrate greatercommitment and effort in sport (Weinberg et al., 2001).

This study also highlighted how athletes believe high school sport is a context wherethey can develop a number of social skills and a sense of belonging. It appears thatsome social skills may be developed simply by having adolescents interact with oneanother in the high school sport environment as opposed to being taught in a systematicmanner. Holt et al. (2008) stated that, for example, ‘teamwork and leadership skills

may arise from sport involvement because of the unique demands of team sport’(p. 297). Being on a high school sport team might also, by itself, allow adolescents todevelop positive personal dispositions such as confidence considering that participationallows them to have highly valued social roles and identities and to have positive groupexperiences during a period of life where belonging and peer acceptance are crucial(Petitpas et al., 2004, 2005). Considering that all 20 participants acknowledged thathigh school sport participation benefited them from a social standpoint, the inherentnature of having sport in high schools, in a context where both academics and sportare part of the same reality for athletes, might provide specific opportunities for adoles-cents to acquire social skills and social capital.

Despite the positive developmental outcomes reported by athletes in this study,high school sport programmes should make efforts to provide youth more opportuni-ties by systematically and intentionally creating positive environments that encouragecommunication and support effective negotiation processes (Roth and Brooks-Gunn,2003). Sport-based life skill programmes have been successful at creating such envi-ronments and at training leaders to foster settings which promote youth development(Danish and Nellen, 1997). However, it is important to consider that the vast majorityof coaches in high school sport programmes do not have formal training in coacheducation or youth development (Petitpas et al., 2005) and that coaching certificationsare not required to coach in high schools in many provinces in Canada (Lacroix et al.,2008). Therefore, if we want the school sport context to be, as it is often labelled, anextension of the classroom (Holt et al., 2008), it is clearly time to increase the numberof qualified coaches interacting with youth and to invest in their retention (Donnellyand Kidd, 2003).

External assets

While some variability was found, most of the athletes taking part in this studybelieved they were able to successfully negotiate with their parents the school inwhich to enrol and their entrance into high school sport. Effective youth–adult nego-tiation allows youth to experience increased control over their daily activities, whichhas been shown to be valuable for development since it provides youth opportunitiesto develop skills such as autonomy, self-reliance and initiative (Larson et al., 2007).These new skills give youth the confidence to interact with their parents on a moreequal basis and demonstrate conviction in their opinions.

Once an agreement was reached to participate in high school sports, athletes statedtheir parents demonstrated, for the most part, adequate logistical, financial andemotional support. Athletes mentioned their parents paid for registration fees, providedtransportation to practices and matches, and offered encouragements and advice, allbehaviours they acknowledged were necessary for their successful involvement insport. Research has shown that youth sport participants experience more feelings ofenjoyment and can develop a number of life skills when provided with ample parentalsupport (Leff and Hoyle, 1995; Côté, 1999; Gould et al., 2006b; Kanters and Casper,2008). Although parental support is of importance, Petitpas et al. (2005) suggested thatfor parents wishing to reinforce proper behaviours and attitudes, it is about finding abalance between demonstrating a clear interest in their children’s activities whilerefraining from being too intrusive.

A large number of participants appeared to believe that coaches were willing toopenly communicate with their athletes. Nonetheless, there was a certain amount of

variability in the participants’ responses. Some stated feeling stressed because of theircoach’s lofty performance objectives while others mentioned feeling confused andalienated given that they were not able to express their ideas nor did they have anyinput on decision-making processes. Some athletes even stated they stopped trying tocommunicate altogether with their inflexible coach to avoid further altercations. Anumber of studies suggest that coaches’ level of experience and education influenceshow they proceed to communicate with their athletes, which ultimately influencesathletes’ experiences and development. McCallister et al. (2000) found that youthsport coaches usually believe that sport participation promotes youth development butthat they often fail to identify the strategies they implement to promote such develop-ment. However, highly experienced and educated coaches appear to recognise theimportance of implementing a number of articulated strategies to enhance positivedevelopment of youth. These strategies include negotiating and working with players,building quality relationships, encouraging open and positive communication, treatingathletes as young adults and making athletes feel like they are part owners of theprogramme (Gould et al., 2007). Holt et al. (2008) also noted that the well-educatedcoach in their study recognised the importance of communicating with his players,seeking their input on decision-making, and went out of his way to establish meaning-ful relationships with them. By doing so, he created a structure allowing youth todevelop and display a number of life skills and a sense of initiative (Larson, 2000).

An interesting finding of this study was how some athletes reported their highschool sport participation was negatively impacted because of poor coach/athletecommunication. Without an open dialogue between athletes and coaches, athletes arenot provided with opportunities to voice their opinions and participate in decision-making processes. Petitpas et al. (2005) discussed the importance of having caringcoaches who are willing to communicate and stated ‘positive outcomes are not somuch a factor of programmatic approaches, but evolve from the quality of the rela-tionships, behaviors, and expectations of adults and mentors who interact in a consis-tent way with community youth’ (p. 69). A number of participants in this studyexplained that certain coach characteristics can positively or negatively influencecommunication and negotiation processes occurring between coach and athlete. Someathletes asserted they prefer younger coaches because they feel younger coaches areeasier to communicate with since they can better relate to adolescents’ living reality.The ability to develop effective communication with their coach was, according to theathletes, conducive to their participation in negotiation processes such as the elabora-tion of team goals. Therefore, it appears that for coaches who wish to have a positiveinfluence on youth’s involvement in sport, they must make efforts to understand theirathletes, initiate and maintain an open dialogue, as well as have them involved inimportant team decisions.

Some female athletes in this study suggested that communication was more diffi-cult with male coaches compared to female coaches. Female athletes have been shownto have a preference for female coaches (Martin et al., 2003). This finding could be inpart attributed to the fact that males in sport tend to be more ego-oriented and slightlymore supportive of performance-oriented climates (Kavussanu and Roberts, 2001;Miller et al., 2004). Efforts must be undertaken to encourage more women to becomecoaches as research shows that when females undertake coaching positions, they canhave a considerable amount of influence on the personal development of girls in sport(Officer and Rosenfeld, 1985; Sabock and Kleinfelter, 1987). Despite the knownbenefits of having female coaches, a large number of males are still solicited to coach

female teams given that there are just not enough female coaches to fill all the coach-ing positions on women’s teams (Lacroix et al., 2008).

Internal assets

The findings of this study tend to indicate that in high school sport programmes, wherecoaches are not specifically trained to teach life skills and where life skills are nottaught in a systematic manner, athletes still believe they can learn life skills. Athletesin this study stated they felt that high school sport participation provided them withopportunities to develop skills such as time-management, the ability to compromiseand the ability to work with others. In addition, many believed they were able toenhance their feelings of self-efficacy as well as develop their confidence and leader-ship abilities. Holt et al. (2008) found similar results as athletes reported learning anumber of life skills, even though it was observed that the coach did not directly teachany of these skills.

Participants in this study also believed the life skills learned in sport could betransferred to other life spheres. A large proportion of athletes mentioned that learninghow to work in group situations in sport was a skill that could be applied to academicwork. Having opportunities to work within a sport team allowed adolescents to under-stand the importance of compromising, respecting others’ ideas, and taking on leader-ship roles. Athletes also asserted sport participation helped them develop otherimportant skills such as being less shy in social situations and how to properly behaveand interact with people you do not necessarily like. These are all important skills thatwill benefit youth in future endeavours as they enter post-secondary education and theworkplace. However, research has shown that transferring life skills learned in sportto other life domains is more complicated than what many assume (Martinek et al.,2001). Petitpas et al. (2005) have argued that most adolescents rarely understand howthe skills learned in sport can be applied in other spheres. Therefore, it is necessary forparents and coaches to make adolescents aware that, for example, if one has the abilityto communicate and work efficiently with teammates, then he or she has the skill setto do the same with classmates.

Considering the large number of youth participating in high school sportprogrammes, having coaches who engage athletes in decision-making processes,teach life skills and discuss the transferability of life skills may provide the most effec-tive means to help youth develop into healthy, successful adults. Future researchshould examine how the process of having coaches facilitate negotiation and integratespecific life skills training in high school sport programmes further promotes positivelearning environments.

Conclusion

Given the small sample and specific context in which this study took place, broad empir-ical generalisations are not in order. However, by having explored high school athletes’perspectives on processes such as communication, negotiation, and support with parentsand coaches as well as life skill development, we were able to expand on past researchand make a contribution to the PYD body of knowledge. This study contributed to high-lighting the fact that a great amount of variability exists as it pertains to participants’perspectives on lived experiences in high school sport, which appear to be largely influ-enced by the type of support, communication and negotiation they experienced with

parents and coaches. Therefore, it appears that external assets play an important rolein the quality of the experiences athletes have in high school sport and ultimately onthe opportunities they are afforded to develop life skills. This study also showed thatdespite being involved in a programme where life skills were not taught in a systematicmanner and where coaches did not receive special training to teach life skills, the major-ity of participants believed they had the opportunity to develop a number of life skills.It appears that whether adolescents are involved in sport-based life skill programmesor regular high school sport programmes, positive development has ‘more to do withthe philosophy of the sport organization, quality of coaching, nature of parental involve-ment, and participants’ individual experiences and resources (Petitpas et al., 2005, p.63). Finally, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) suggest that while sport can serve as acontext for development, we must have realistic expectations regarding the potentialof high school sport programmes to build skills and broaden youth’s horizons. Properdevelopmental initiatives must not only be undertaken in sports or other organisedprogrammes but in all the contexts in which youth socialise and mature if we wish forthem to develop into competent and responsible citizens.

AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities ResearchCouncil of Canada.

Notes on contributorsMartin Camiré is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics.His research interests are focused on youth development in the context of school sport.

Pierre Trudel is a Full Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics. Hisresearch interests are related to coach education and youth development through sport. Overthe years, he has developed an expertise in qualitative research.

Tanya Forneris is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics.Her research interests lie in the domain of positive youth development and focus on the devel-opment, implementation and evaluation of life skills based sport and physical activity programsto enhance youth development.

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