After-school sport for children: Implications of a task-involving motivational climate

Abstract

It could be argued that youth sport is one of the most pervasive and popular activities engaging girls and boys in their “free time ” in contemporary American society. Youth sports are those involving young people between the ages of 6 to 18 years that are adult organized and/or supervised. After-school youth sports encompass extracurricular (interscholastic) athletic activities, agency-sponsored community sports (e.g., Little League), club sports, and recreational sport programs organized by recreation departments. Less than 20 years ago, it was estimated that 25 million out of approximately 47 million youngsters participated in some type of organized/supervised youth sport in the United States. Today, participation estimates suggest that 47 million boys and girls (from what census data indicate to be a population of close to 52 million) have joined, at one point or another, an after-school sport program (Ewing & Seefeldt, 2002). Although more boys still engage in after-school sport than girls, the greater involvement of females in sport over the past two decades has certainly contributed to the observed increase in overall participation percentages. With respect to other issues of diversity, the world of after-school sport is multi-racial/ethnic with young people from various cultural backgrounds represented among participants. Females o