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

Domains in the practice of the football learning: comparative study among football athletes of junior category in Portugal and Brazil

This study aims to characterize the specific domains (SPD) and non-specific domains (NSD) of practice on the procedures of learning training in football, quantifying and identifying the experiences in order to find possible links between the estimates of accumulation of spent hours, relating them to the general aspects of practice. In this study, it was used a model of semi-structured interview. The sample (N=40), was composed of male subjects, athletes from junior category (u-20) from different populations - Portugal (pt=20) and Brazil (br=20), enabling comparative analysis of the results. After collecting the data, we analyzed the possible relationship between the profile of practice and the general aspects of training that each athlete analyzed. Regarding the discussion of the data, we made up comparisons of the results between the two clubs where the interviews were applied. The results are summarized having in mind the following aspects: (a) Portuguese Athletes (about 3000 hrs) have more experience in specific areas than Brazilian athletes (about 2600 hrs) up to 18 years old, (b) Brazilian Athletes (approx. 1600 hrs) have more experience in areas than non-specific athletes Portuguese (about 1000 hrs) up to 18 years old

L'utilisation d'entretiens pour quantifier l'implication des parents dans le développement de compétences sportives chez les athlètes

Influence des parents sur la performance sportive de leurs enfants. Proposition d'une méthodologie quantitative pour évaluer les types de comportements parentaux spécifiques, observables et vérifiables tout au long du développement de l'enfant, afin de faire ressortir les différences de comportements entre les parents d'enfants sportifs de haut niveau et les autres (soutien apporté, degré de pression exercé, degré d'implication, apport financier ...). Avec une étude de cas auprès de parents de 3 jeunes champions canadiens de hockey sur glace

Acquisition of expertise in cricket fast bowling: perceptions of expert players and coaches

Objectives: Experiential knowledge of elite athletes and coaches was investigated to reveal insights on expertise acquisition in cricket fast bowling. Design: Twenty-one past or present elite cricket fast bowlers and coaches of national or international level were interviewed using an in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured approach. Methods: Participants were asked about specific factors which they believed were markers of fast bowling expertise potential. Of specific interest was the relative importance of each potential component of fast bowling expertise and how components interacted or developed over time. Results: The importance of intrinsic motivation early in development was highlighted, along with physical, psychological and technical attributes. Results supported a multiplicative and interactive complex systems model of talent development in fast bowling, in which component weightings were varied due to individual differences in potential experts. Dropout rates in potential experts were attributed to misconceived current talent identification programmes and coaching practices, early maturation and physical attributes, injuries and lack of key psychological attributes and skills. Conclusions: Data are consistent with a dynamical systems model of expertise acquisition in fast bowling, with numerous trajectories available for talent development. Further work is needed to relate experiential and theoretical knowledge on expertise in other sports.</p

Perceptual-cognitive expertise, practice history profiles and recall performance in soccer

We examined whether high- or low-performing soccer players, classified based on established measures of perceptual-cognitive expertise, differed in regard to their practice history profiles and ability to recall elements of match performance. In Study 1, we measured perceptual-cognitive expertise in elite (n= 48) and non-elite (n= 12) youth soccer players using empirical tests of perceptual-cognitive skill. We then used a quartile split to stratify elite players into either high-performing (n= 12) or low-performing (n= 12) groups based on their test scores. A group of non-elite soccer players (n= 12) acted as controls. In Study 2, we used an established questionnaire to examine retrospectively the participation history profiles of the three groups. The high-performing group had accumulated more hours in soccer-specific play activity over the last 6 years of engagement in the sport compared to their low-performing counterparts and the non-elite controls. No differences were reported for hours accumulated in soccer-specific practice or competition between the high- and low-performing groups. In Study 3, a novel test was developed to examine episodic memory recall in soccer. Although this test successfully differentiated elite from non-elite players, no differences were evident between high- and low-performing groups, implying that episodic memory recall may not be a crucial component of perceptual-cognitive expertise in soccer

Expert performance in sport and the dynamics of talent development.

Research on expertise, talent identification and development has tended to be mono-disciplinary, typically adopting genocentric or environmentalist positions, with an overriding focus on operational issues. In this paper, the validity of dualist positions on sport expertise is evaluated. It is argued that, to advance understanding of expertise and talent development, a shift towards a multidisciplinary and integrative science focus is necessary, along with the development of a comprehensive multidisciplinary theoretical rationale. Here we elucidate dynamical systems theory as a multidisciplinary theoretical rationale for capturing how multiple interacting constraints can shape the development of expert performers. This approach suggests that talent development programmes should eschew the notion of common optimal performance models, emphasize the individual nature of pathways to expertise, and identify the range of interacting constraints that impinge on performance potential of individual athletes, rather than evaluating current performance on physical tests referenced to group norms