Psychosocial development in youth soccer players: Assessing the effectiveness of the 5C’s intervention program.

This study examined the effectiveness of a longitudinal 5C coaching intervention (Harwood, 2008), focused on promoting behavioral responses associated with commitment, communication, concentration, control, and confidence in youth soccer players. Five players, their parents and a youth academy soccer coach participated in a single-case multiple-baseline across individuals design with multiple treatments. Following baseline, the coach received sequential education in the principles of each ‘C’ subsequent to integrating relevant strategies in their coaching sessions. During the five intervention phases, players completed assessments of their behavior in training associated with each C, triangulated with observation-based assessments by the coach and the players’ parents. Results indicated psychosocial improvements with cumulative increases in positive psychosocial responses across the intervention for selected players. Changes in player behavior were also corroborated by parent and coach data in conjunction with post-intervention social validation. Findings are discussed with respect to the processes engaged in the intervention, and the implications for practitioners and applied researchers

The integration of single case designs in coaching contexts: A commentary for applied sport psychologists

From personal experiences of working with coaches toward the modification of behaviors and psychological constructs that include motivation, enjoyment, and self-confidence, this commentary highlights how the integration of single case designs can enhance the services of sport psychology practitioners. Interventions within golf, soccer, and tennis are outlined, targeting factors pertinent to the coaches, their players or team members, and the development of relationships with parents. Single case designs are posited as enabling the implementation of personal, evidence-based interventions that yield perceptible differences in cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses within athletic populations; factors that enhance and underpin the practitioner-coach relationship

Educating and supporting tennis parents : a grounded theory of parents' needs during childhood and early adolescence.

The purpose of this study was to identify British tennis parents’ education and support needs across contexts and developmental stages. Data were collected in two high performance tennis centers and consisted of six months of fieldwork and interviews with parents, coaches, and ex-youth players [n=29]. Using a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data were analysed through a process of open coding, axial coding, and theoretical integration. The resulting grounded theory highlights the need to provide tennis parents with education that covers their introductory needs, organizational needs, development needs, and competition needs during childhood/mini tennis (5-10 years) and early adolescence/junior tennis (11-14 years). The theory is based on the notion that these needs can only be fulfilled if tennis parents are provided with formal education, and that the effectiveness of this education will be determined by parents’ motivation to learn and the on-going support they receive from key stakeholders (e.g., coaches). The content, structure, and timing of parent education and support in high performance tennis centers are discussed

Evaluating the 'Optimal Competition Parenting Workshop' using the RE-AIM framework : a four-year organizational-level intervention in British junior tennis

The purpose of the current study was to utilize the RE-AIM (i.e., reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to evaluate the national-level scale-out of the Lawn Tennis Association’s “Optimal Competition Parenting Workshop” (OCPW) across a 4-year period. During 2018, 65 workshops were run across the United Kingdom, 1,043 parents registered, and 933 parents attended. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, multilevel analyses revealed significant increases in parents’ (n = 130) task goal orientation and competition tennis parenting efficacy, as well as significant decreases in ego goal orientation and unpleasant emotions. Children’s perceptions of both mother- and father-initiated ego-involving motivational climate and their own ego goal orientation significantly decreased across time. From 2019 to 2021, a further 64 workshops were delivered to 1,110 parents with no significant differences in parents’ satisfaction, enjoyment, instructor evaluation, or transfer intention over time when compared against workshop evaluations in 2018. Overall, the OCPW represents a well-received, practical, and effective brief intervention for enhancing parental involvement in junior tennis

Educating and supporting tennis parents : an action research study

This study examined the effectiveness of an evidence-based sport parent education programme designed to meet the stage-specific needs of British tennis parents. Using an organisational action research framework, six workshops were run over a 12-week period for tennis parents with children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Workshops took place in three high performance tennis centres and had an average attendance of 22 parents. Data were collected using participant diaries, emails, social validation feedback forms, reflective diaries, and post-programme focus groups (n=19). The impact and effectiveness of the programme was evaluated qualitatively using a thematic analysis. Results indicated that the programme was effective in enhancing tennis parents’ perceived knowledge, affective states, and skills across a range of learning objectives. Results also provide a unique understanding of parents’ experiences of participating in a sport parent education programme. Insights are provided for practitioners in relation to the design, content, and delivery of future sport parent education programs

Psychological support for sport coaches:an exploration of practitioner psychologist perspectives

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Sports Sciences on 4 January 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02640414.2018.1423854.In the present study we add to the literature by exploring the degree to which UK practitioner psychologists perceive themselves able to support sport coaches, and how professional training prepares psychologists for coach work across performance domains. Ten participants comprising seven sport and exercise psychologists with Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) practitioner psychologist status and three trainee psychologists studying towards the British Psychological Society (BPS) qualification in sport and exercise psychology (QSEP) were individually interviewed. All participants reported prior experience of working with coaches across all performance domains. We explored: practitioner’s understanding of the challenges coaches face within their job; practitioner’s experiences of coach work; perspectives about the ways in which practitioners could and should support coaches; and, the degree to which professional training prepares practitioners for coach work. Using recommended procedures of Connelly and Peltzer (2016), content analysis revealed practitioners perceived the challenges faced by coaches are different at grassroots level compared to those working with elite athletes, and that practitioners require skills to provide one-to-one coach support and group-based interventions. All practitioners perceived that training programmes do not adequately equip trainees with skills required for coach work. We discuss the implications for enhancing practitioner training in the UK

Parenting experiences in elite youth football: A phenomenological study

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of parents of elite specializing stage youth footballers. Method: A descriptive phenomenological approach guided the study design. Data from interviews with five mothers and five fathers of youth players registered to English football academies were analysed using descriptive phenomenological analysis (Giorgi, 2009). Findings: Three essences characterized the phenomenon of being a parent of an elite youth footballer: parent socialization into elite youth football culture; enhanced parental identity; and increased parental responsibility. Parents’ socialization into the football academy culture was facilitated by their interaction with coaches and parent peers, highlighting the social nature of parenting. Being the parent of a child identified as talented meant that parents experienced enhanced status and a heightened responsibility to facilitate his development. Although parents were compelled to support their son in football, their instinct to protect their child meant they experienced uncertainty regarding the commitment required to play at an academy, given the potential for negative consequences. Together, these findings illustrate that parents experienced a transition as their son progressed into the specialization stage of football. We postulate that formal recognition of a child as talented contributed to this transition, and that knowledge of sport and perception of the parent-child relationship shaped how parents adapted. Conclusions: This study provides a new way of understanding the psychological phenomena of parenting in elite youth football. Implications for practitioners working with parents in sport are provided

Parenting in youth sport: A position paper on parenting expertise

This article was published in the journal, Psychology of Sport and Exercise [© Elsevier] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.03.001Objectives: In line with the aims of this special issue, the purpose of this paper is to forward a position on the concept of sport parenting expertise through the presentation of six key postulates. Design: Literature review and position statement. Method: By adopting methods associated with an academic position paper, a statement is presented that we believe encapsulates sport parenting expertise. Six key postulates of parenting expertise, formulated from critically reviewing and interpreting relevant literature, are then presented. Results: We propose that sport parenting expertise is dependent on the degree to which parents demonstrate a range of competencies; namely that parents, (a) select appropriate sporting opportunities and provide necessary types of support, (b) understand and apply appropriate parenting styles, (c) manage the emotional demands of competitions, (d) foster healthy relationships with significant others, (e) manage organizational and developmental demands associated with sport participation, and, (f) adapt their involvement to different stages of their child's athletic career. Conclusion: Expertise in sport parenting requires parents to develop knowledge and utilize a range of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational skills in order to support their child, manage themselves, and operate effectively in the wider youth sport environment. Recommendations for applied researchers to further investigate these postulates and substantiate the components of sport parenting expertise are offered

Development and Validation of the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate in Individual Sport Competition Questionnaire

This paper presents a series of studies that progresses the development and validation of the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate in Individual Sport Competition Questionnaire (MCISCQ-Parent). Study 1 examined the face and content validity of an initial pool of 26 items based on the principles of achievement goal theory and prior research. In Study 2, data from an adolescent sample of individual sport athletes was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of items pertaining to the perceived task and ego involving characteristics of fathers and mothers in the competition setting. Study 3 tested the factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a further youth athlete sample. Following appropriate CFA-related modifications, good goodness of fit indices emerged for the father- (three factor-model) and mother-related (two factor-model) dimensions of motivational climate. In Study 4, a further CFA was conducted and provided additional evidence for the revised factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent, convergent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Finally, Study 5 provided support for the concurrent validity of the MCISCQ-Parent by demonstrating significant relationships between MCISCQ-Parent subscales and task and ego orientation, athlete engagement, and perceived social support. In sum, we present the MCISCQ-Parent as a measure with promising psychometric properties, and specifically to those applied researchers interested in assessing the quality of motivation-related parental involvement perceived by young athletes in the competition setting