do youth learn life skills through involvement in sport

CANADIANJOURNALOFEDUCATION31,2(2008):281304

DOYOUTHLEARNLIFESKILLSTHROUGHTHEIRINVOLVEMENTINHIGHSCHOOL

SPORT?ACASESTUDY

NicholasL.Holt&LisaN.TinkUniversityofAlberta

JamesL.MandigoBrockUniversity

KennethR.Fox

UniversityofBristol

In thisstudyweexaminedwhetherandhowyouth learned lifeskills through theirinvolvement on a high school soccer team.We collected data from fieldwork andinterviewswith12malestudentathletesandtheheadcoachfromoneteam.Resultsshowed that the coachsphilosophy involved building relationships and involvingstudentathletes indecisionmaking. Issues relating to three life skills (initiative, respect,and teamwork/leadership)were identified.Althoughweobserved littledirectteachingof these life skills,we saw thatplayersgenerallywereproducers of theirownexperiencesthatsupportedthedevelopmentoftheseskills.Keywords:ecologicalsystems,positivedevelopment Les auteurs ont cherch savoir si et comment les jeunes acquirent certainescomptences de la vie courante en tant membres dune quipe de soccer ausecondaire. Les chercheurs ont colligdesdonnes sur le terrain et interview 12lvesathltesde sexemasculin ainsique lentraneurprincipaldune quipe. Lesrsultats indiquent que lentraneur avait pour philosophie de favoriserltablissement de relations et dimpliquer les lvesathltes dans les prises dedcision.Desproblmesrelistroiscomptencesdelaviecourante(linitiative,lerespectetlespritdquipe/leleadership)onttidentifis.Bienquelesauteursaientobservquecescomptencessontpeuenseignescommetelles,ilsontconstatque

282 N.L.HOLT,L.N.TINK,J.L.MANDIGO,&K.R.FOX

observquecescomptencessontpeuenseignescommetelles, ilsontconstatqueles joueurs taient les producteurs de leurs propres expriences, qui favorisaienteffectivementledveloppementdecescomptences.Motscls:systmescologiques,dveloppementpositif

_____________________TheWorldHealthOrganization (1999)hassuggested that lifeskillsareimportant for healthy development and preparing adolescents for thefuture.Sportpsychologistshaveargued that lifeskillscanbe taught incombination with athletic skills in sport contexts (Danish & Nellen,1997). From thisperspective, life skillshave beendefined as the skillsthatarerequired todealwith thedemandsandchallengesofeverydaylife (Hodge & Danish, 1999). They can be physical, behavioural, orcognitive,andmaybe transferable toother lifedomains (Papacharisis,Goudas, Danish, & Theodorakis, 2005). Furthermore, sport is beingviewedonagloballevelasavehicleforpromotinghealthydevelopment(SportforDevelopmentandPeaceInternationalWorkingGroup,2006).

Sportbased life skills programs have gathered momentum in theUSAsince themid1990s (e.g.,Danish,Nellen,&Owens,1996;Danish,Petitpas,&Hale,1995).Danish(2002)createdtheSportsUnitedtoPromoteEducationandRecreation (SUPER)program,a sportbased intervention intended to teach youth life skills.Workshops are taught likesportclinicsandincludesportspecificskillsaswellasmoregenerallifeskills.AlthoughtherehasbeenlittleevaluationoftheeffectivenessoftheSUPER program, recently Papacharisis et al. (2005) used a quasiexperimental design to evaluate a modified version of SUPER withGreekchildren.Childrenwhoreceivedtheinterventionreportedhighergoal setting, problem solving, positive thinking, and sport skills comparedtochildreninthecontrolgroup.AnotherUSsportbasedlifeskillsinterventionprogramistheTeachingPersonalandSocialResponsibility(TPSR) model (Hellison, 2003). This model was developed to instructteachers and coaches how to teach individual responsibility throughsport andother typesofphysical activities.Case studiesdepicting theemergenceofyouth leadershavebeen reported (Martinek,Schilling,&Hellison, 2006), and the approach is growing in popularity across theUSA,but formalevaluation researchhasbeen limited.Similar typesof

DOYOUTHLEARNLIFESKILLS 283

sportbased,lifeskillsinterventionprogramshavebeendevelopedintheUSA for golf and football (Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte, & Jones,2005),butevaluationsofadolescentslearningexperiencesthroughtheseprograms have yet to be published. Overall then, a number of sportbased life skillsprogramshavemainlyoriginated in theUSA,but fewevaluationsoftheefficacyandeffectivenessoftheseprogramshavebeenpublished.Thus, there is aneed for further examinationsofwhat andhowyouthmightlearnthroughsport(Holt&Jones,2007).

Danish, Forneris, and Wallace (2005) suggested that highschoolsport may be an appropriate context for teaching youth life skills inadditiontoathleticskillswhilesimultaneouslycontributingtotheeducationalmissionofschools.SupportiveevidencefromstudiesofUSyouthhave revealedassociationsbetweenhighschoolsportparticipationandhigher academic performance, greater likelihood of attending college,andgreaterautonomyandsatisfactioninonesfirstjob(Barber,Eccles,&Stone,2001),alongwithhigherlevelsofselfknowledge,emotionalregulation,problemsolving,goalattainment, teamwork,andskilldevelopment (Hansen,Larson,&Dworkin,2003;Marsh&Kleitman,2003).Ontheotherhand,researchershavealsoassociatednegativeoutcomeswithsportparticipation, including increaseduseofalcohol(Eccles&Barber,1999, Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003), use of smokeless tobacco(Melnick,Miller,Sabo,Farrell,&Barnes,2001),andadultsmodelinginappropriatebehaviours (Hansen et al., 2003).Furthermore, ithasbeensuggestedthatsocializationprocessesinsportmaylegitimizeaggressiveaction (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Researchers have questioned thepopularviewthatsportbuildscharacter(e.g.,Fullinwider,2006;Miracle&RogerRees, 1994). Based on a recent review of this literature,Morris,Sallybanks, and Willis (2003) concluded that there is a lack of robustevidenceforthedirect,sustained impactofsportparticipationonpositivedevelopmentaloutcomes.

To summarize,whereas there is some evidence linking sport participationwithpositiveoutcomes,researchershavealsoshownthatsportcanproducenegativeoutcomes. Inseeking toadvance the literature inthisarea,researchershavecalled formore investigations thatgo insidesportcontextstoestablishwhether,what,andhowyouthlearn(Holt&Jones,2007).Mahoney,Eccles,andLarson (2004)argued that thestruc


tureandcontextoftheactivitywere important indeterminingwhetherparticipation led to positive or negative outcomes. Furthermore, in adiscussion of research on youth involvement in afterschool activities,developmental psychologists (Larson et al., 2004) suggested that researchers must assess what goes on within programs; what youthexperience, how development occurs, or what effective youth practitionersdotosupportdevelopment(p.541).Similarly,withreferencetolife skills and school sport, sport psychologists (Danish et al., 2005)suggestedthatresearchersmustestablishwhatsportcanteach,howitcanbetaught,andwhereitbestcanbetaught(p.48).Followingthesesuggestions,thepurposeofthisstudywastoexaminewhetherandhowyouth learned life skills through their involvement on a high schoolsoccerteam.

CONCEPTUALCONTEXT

We approached this study from an ecological systems perspective(Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 2001, 2005;Bronfenbrener&Morris, 1998).Thetheory is based on four main concepts and dynamic relationshipsbetween theconcepts (thepersonprocesscontexttimemodel): individualcharacteristics,proximalprocess,contextualvariables,and the temporallyevolvingnatureofrelationsbetweenpeopleanddifferentlevelsof their environment. People interact with several different levels ofhumanecologicalsystems,rangingfrommoreproximalmicrosystemstomoredistalmacrosystems.Inthepresentstudy,wepursuedan indepthexaminationof themicrosystemof ayouth soccer team tounderstandwhether and how youth learned life skills. Microsystems, the mostproximalhuman ecological system, are considered tobe thepatternedactivities, roles, and interpersonal relations a person experiences in asetting (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). A youth sport team can beregarded as a microsystem (Garca Bengoechea, 2002). Behaviours inmicrosystemsarealso indirectly influencedbymoredistal levelsofhumanecology,suchasmacrosystemsofpublicpolicy,governments,andeconomicsystems.Thus,inadditiontospecificallyexaminingthemicrosystem of a youth sport team,wewere also interested in somemoredistalpolicyinfluences.

Althoughitwasbeyondthescopeofthepresentarticletoreviewthe


historyofthediscipline,ecologicalsystemstheoryrepresentsanimportantcornerstoneofmoderndevelopmentalscience(Lerner,2005).Indeed,modern conceptualizations of Positive Youth Development (PYD) arehistoricallygrounded inanecologicalsystemsperspective.Briefly,proponents of PYD view adolescents as having the potential for positivedevelopmental change, regarding youth as resources to be developedratherthanproblemstobesolved(e.g.,Lerner,2005).Thus,researcherscan examine how people engage in various contexts to gain a betterunderstandingofhow topromotepositivedevelopment.Twomodernconceptions includeLernerandcolleagues (2005)5CsofPYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring/compassion), andLarsonandcolleagues(Dworkin,Larson,&Hansen,2003;Hansenetal.,2003) domains of learning experiences that may be associated withPYD.Thesedomains relate to exploration and identitywork,development of initiative, emotional selfregulation, developing peer relationships andknowledge, teamwork and social skills, and acquiring adultnetworks and social capital. In designing the present study, we wereopentothepossibilitythatsomeofthe5Csordomainsoflearningmayrepresent the types of developmental experiences and/or life skillsreportedbytheadolescentswestudied.

METHOD

ContextandParticipants

Wepurposefullysampledaschoolwithagood reputation forathleticsandacoachwhowasregardedasaneffectiveyouthleader.MetroHigh(a pseudonym) was located in a Canadian city of approximately 1millionresidents.Cateringtogrades10to12,Metrowasa largeschoolthatprovidedprograms for students fromdiverse ethnic backgrounds(which are reflected by thedemographics reported below).Datawerecollectedfrom12malestudentathletesandtheheadcoachoftheseniormenssoccerteamattheschool.Theaverageageoftheparticipantswas17.1years (SD = 1.00), and theyhad an averageplaying experienceof11.3 years (SD = 2.1).Mean selfreportedGPAwas 78 per cent (SD =7.0%).Thestudentathletesselfreportedavarietyofethnic/racialbackgrounds:Caucasian(4),EastIndian(2),Slovakian(1),Italian(1),Japanese(1),Afghanistani(1),Kenyan(1),Moroccan(1).Theteamheadcoach


(towhomweassignedthepseudonymcoach)wasa31yearoldmale.Hehad been a fulltime teacher for four years, and held a position withMetro High for two years. The coach had also played soccer at thehighest amateur level andpossessed several soccer coachingqualifications.

DataCollection

We collected data over the course of a single season,which ran fromApril to June. The team held two practices and one game per weekthroughout the season.Research Ethics Board approvalwas obtained,alongwith ethical permission from the school board, the school principal,athleticsdirector,headcoach,andallparticipants (and theirparents/guardians),whoprovidedsignedinformedconsent.

Fieldwork. This study was based on an ethnographic approach(Wolcott, 1994).Two researchers engaged in fieldwork.The lead fieldworkerwasa33yearoldCaucasianmalewhohadbeenauniversityandhigh performance soccer player and coach. He attended trainingsessions, occasionallyhelped the coach to organizedrills (e.g.,puttingout thepylons),andgenerallyhelpedoutwithoutspecificallycoachingtheteam.Hestoodwiththecoachduringgamesandsometimesactedasa sounding board for the coachs ideas. The lead researcher had noinvolvementinteamselectionanddidnotmakeanystrategicdecisions.But,whereas the leadresearcherwasnot formallya teamcoach, itwaslikelythathebecameviewedbythestudentathletesasafullparticipantin the setting, andwas probably regardedmore as an assistant coachthanaresearcherperse.

The cofieldworker was a 22 yearold Caucasian female who hadreceived training in ethnography, observation, and interviewing. Sheattended training sessions and games, but she had fewer direct interactions with the studentathletes and coach than the lead researcher.Rather, she tookabackseatandhermain role involvedmakingnotesabout salient interactions among teammembers and specific incidentsthat occurred, and later conducting the interviews. Thus,whereas thelead researcherwasmoreofaparticipantobserver (an insider) the coresearcherwasmoreofanonparticipantobserver (anoutsider),whichhelped tobalanceeach researchers individualbiasesandmaintain the


type of analytic distance often associated with realist ethnographicaccounts(Holt&Sparkes,2001).

In total the researchersattended10practicesand10gamesduringthe season, representing approximately 60hoursofdirectobservation.Information obtained during fieldwork included notes from directobservations, informal and formal conversations, and documents (i.e.,national, provincial, and school policy documents). All data wererecorded in a fieldwork log. Notes were initially made in notebooksimmediatelyfollowinggamesandpractices,andthecoresearchermadenotesduringgames.After eachgameorpractice the fieldworkersdiscussed their initial interpretations, then recorded fullernotes (electronicallyusinglaptopcomputers)thefollowingmorning.

As Wolcott (1999) explained, the observation process initiallyinvolvestakingabroadlookateverythingbeforetakingacloserlookatsome things. In the present study, the process initially involved describing all aspectsof the situation (includingdiagramsof thephysicallayout of school, soccer fields, signs, profiles of each player, and descriptions of team interactions) before more closely exploring certainissuesrelatingtothemainresearchquestions(i.e.,specificincidentsthatappearedtoberelatedtolearninglifeskills).Wefocusedonthecoachsbehavioursduringpracticesandgamesaswellas interactionsbetweenthecoachandthestudentathletesandamongthestudentathletesthemselves. These data were useful for identifying psychosocial processes,interpersonal interactions, and participants behaviours in detail overtime(Wolcott,1994).

Interviews.Thecofieldworkercompletedformal interviewsduringatwoweek period at the end of the season. The interviews, lastingbetween30minutesandonehour,wereaudiorecorded.Aftercompleting a brief demographic questionnaire, participants were read thefollowingexplanation(basedonHodge&Danish,1999):

Wewanttoknowabout lifeskillsyou learnedthroughsport.Lifeskillsaretheskillsthatarerequiredtodealwiththedemandsandchallengesofeverydaylife.They can be physical (e.g., taking the right posture), behavioural (e.g.,communicating effectively), cognitive (e.g., making effective decisions), social(e.g., teamwork), or emotional (e.g., coping with anxiety). The life skills youlearnedmaybedifferenttotheexampleswehaveprovided.Therearenorightor


wrong answers. We are interested in your own experiences. (directions forinterviewprotocol)

They were then asked a series of questions about the life skills theylearned through their involvement on the team (e.g., What life skillshaveyoulearnedthroughyourinvolvementonthisteam?Howhaveyoulearnedtheseskills?Dotheseskillstransfertootherareasofyourlife?).Thesequestionsweremodifiedfortheinterviewswiththecoach.

DataAnalysis

Theoriginalinterviewertranscribedinterviewtapesverbatim,assigningeachparticipantacode(P1throughP12).DatawereanalyzedusingtheDescriptionAnalysisInterpretationapproachdescribedbyWolcott (1994).Qualitativemethodologists (e.g.,Patton, 2002) argue that analysisnormally involvesamixtureof inductionanddeduction,and it isnaive toassumethatpureinductionispossiblebecauseeverystudyisguidedbycertainconcepts.Inthepresentstudywewereneitherpurely inductivenorpurelydeductiverather,wewereguidedbycertainprinciples(i.e.,theworkofBronfenbrenner,2005;Larson,2000;Lerneretal.,2005),butsoughttobesensitivetounanticipatedissuesthatarosefromconductingresearchinanaturallyoccurringsetting.

According to Wolcott (1994), Description addresses the questionWhat is going on here? and itprovides the foundation for the subsequentanalyses.Toobtaina completedescriptionof the life skills reportedduring the interviews,weused content analysis tounderstandthesedataaccordingtothestepsprovidedbyTesch(1990,pp.142145).Once these themes had been identified, we created a data matrix tosummarizethedataandfacilitatethecomparisonandfurtheranalysisofthefindings(Miles&Huberman,1994).

Analysis involves the identification of essential features and patterned regularities in the data and the systematic explication of interrelationships among them. Analysis involves answering the question:How do things work in this setting? Interpretation involves askingquestionsaboutthemeaningandcontextofthedata.Whereasanalysisisconcernedwithspecific featuresandexplorationof thedata transformationprocess,interpretationishowweconstruedthetransformeddata.Thekeyquestionduringtheinterpretationwas:Whatdoesitallmean?


Trustworthiness

A typical concern in this type of research is that the fieldworkersentrance into a subculture may influence participants in an unanticipatedmanner(Patton,2002).Thisproblemmadeit importantthatweconduct the research in a responsive and critically reflective manner.Accordingly, both fieldworkers maintained reflexive journals andregularlydebriefedwitheachother tohelpmonitorhowourpersonalbiasesmayhavebeeninfluencingtheresearchprocess(Holt&Sparkes,2001). The triangulation of data sources (i.e., studentathletes and thecoachs perspectives) and data collection techniques (i.e., observationand interview) helped to establish the trustworthiness of the analysisandfindings(Patton,2002).Anongoingmembercheckingprocesswiththeheadcoachwasalsocompleted.Duringthesemembercheckingdiscussions the lead investigatordiscussedhis interpretations andunderstandingof thedatawith thecoach throughout thestudy (includingatleast eight specific conversations that were recorded in the fieldworklog). The head coach also received a full, written copy of the results,which he discussed with the lead researcher. These membercheckinginterviewshelpedestablish theaccuracyofour interpretations (Lincoln&Guba,1985).

We produced a realist account of our findings (Sparkes, 2002).Accordingly, followingHolt andSparkes (2001), readers are invited toask someof the followingquestionsofa text: Isenoughevidencepresentedtoenablethereadertojudgetheresearchersinterpretations?Areinterpretationsmade ina fairandbalancedmanner?Does theaccountrepresentacoherentandmeaningfulpictureaboutparticipatingon theteam?Do the findings of the studymeaningfully connect to previousresearchandtheory?

RESULTSANDDISCUSSION

Framing our findings from an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner,2005),webeginwithmoredistalissuesbeforediscussingmoreproximalissues.Accordingly,we firstpresentpolicies related to schoolathleticsonanational,provincial,andschoollevel.Wethendescribethecoachsphilosophyandsomesalientaspectsofhiscoachingapproach.Finally,wepresentdatarelatingtothreelifeskills(initiative,respect,andteam


work),anddiscusstheextenttowhichtheseskillswerelearnedthroughsoccerandmayhavetransferredtootherlifedomains.

AthleticsPolicies

DocumentsobtainedduringfieldworkrevealedthathighschoolsportinCanadaispromotedasanextensionoftheclassroom.Atanationallevel,theCanadianSchoolSportFederation(n.d.)hasembeddedvaluessuchasfriendlyrelationships,goodsportsmanship,citizenship,crossculturalunderstanding,andrespectaspartoftheirCodeofEthicsforallmembersof a school community involved with school sport. Provincial schoolsport organizations reflect similar values. For example, the AlbertaSchoolsAthleticAssociation(ASAA,20062007),anonprofitvoluntaryorganizationgoverninghighschoolsport intheprovince,promotesthefollowingmissionstatement:Toadvocate involvement inschoolsportasanintegralpartofeducationandtoprovidegovernanceofinterschoolsport activities for high school students through fair play and equalopportunity (n. p.) Some of the ASAAs specific objectives includemaintaining good sportsmanship, integrity, and goodwill within andbetweenhighschoolsparticipatingininterschoolathletics,andpromotingawarenessamongstudentsthattheprimaryaimofschooliseducation,butathleticsprovidesignificantphysical,social,cultural,andemotionalvalues.Beyond thisrhetoric, itseemed that themain functionoftheASAAwastoorganizeprovincialchampionshipsforvarioussports(which was actually the reason why the organization was firstestablishedin1956).

The athletics program at Metro High was consistent with thesenationalandprovincialpolicies.ThemissionoftheMetroHighAthleticsprogram (which will be referred to as the Cougars) was to provideopportunitiesforstudentathletestolearnlifeskillsandbecomeresponsible citizens. Some of these life skills included respect, responsibility,andintegrity.

Our fieldwork showed that these charactervirtueswere communicated through thesemioticsystemrather than throughdirect teaching.The semiotic system, part of amicrosystem, represents peoples interactions with the world of symbols and language (Bronfenbrenner &Morris,1998).AtMetroHigh,awallof theschoolgymadjacent to the


soccerteamroomandvisiblefromthemainhallwaywascoveredwithlarge signs depicting the Cougar character virtues. These virtues includedhonesty, respect, responsibility, fairness,and integrity.Studentathletes would see these signs every day. Additionally, the athleticshandbookwasavailabletothestudentsthroughtheschoolwebsite.Wedidnot,however,observeanyexampleswhenthesecharactervirtuesorthemissionstatementwereverbalizedtothestudentathletes.Thecoachadmitted thathewasawareof thevirtuesbutdidnotdirectly seek toreinforce them on a daytoday basis. Furthermore, the last interviewquestion asked of the studentathletes was Can you list the Cougarcharactervirtues?Althoughallthestudentathleteswereabletorecallacoupleofthevirtues,onlyonewasabletolistallofthem.

Anotherpolicy issuewas that the coach could enforceavarietyofmeasures if studentathletes were performing poorly in school. Forexample,ifstudentathletesmarkswerepoortheycouldbeplacedonaprobationaryperiod,which initially involvedhaving theirclassattendance recorded. If their academicperformancedidnot improve, and/ortheirattendancewasunsatisfactory, theycouldbe suspended from theschoolteam.Althoughnoonewassuspendedforpoorgrades,onestudentwas suspendedduring the season foronegamebecause the coachlearnedhehadbeenskippingclasses.ThestudentinquestionhadaveryhighGPA,and thecoachhadbeencontactedbyanother teacheraboutthestudentserraticattendance.Theathletewastoldthat ifhestoppedskipping classes he could play soccer again. The coach told the researchers that thiswas an unwritten policy,whichwas not employeduniformlyacross the schoolorother localhigh schools (fieldwork log,May 20). Thus, sport participation was used as an indirect means ofcontrollingstudentsacademicachievement.

CoachsPhilosophyandApproach

Thecoachsgeneralphilosophywasthat[Metro]isconsideredasportsschoolwhereexcellenceinathleticsisatthecoreoftheschoolsreputation. . . .Mymain focus is tohave theplayersappreciate that theyarepartofatraditionofexcellenceandthattheydotheirbesttorepresentthat tradition. In addition to his performanceorientation,Coach alsobelievedthat:


...socceritselfcanteachmanythings.Itendtotalkaboutthetoolsthatwearegiven to complete tasksand Ioften refer toelementsofadversity.Myhope isthat students can [get] better at accepting new challenges even if failure is apossibleoutcome.Iwantthemtoadoptanattitudeofperseverance.Ultimatelyitgoes back to a little quote by Victor Frankl [coach then read the followingquotation]:Everythingcanbe taken fromamanbutone thing: the lastof thehumanfreedomstochooseonesattitudeinanygivencircumstances,tochooseonesownway.Idobelievethatifthefreedomtochoose[onesattitude]isstilltherethenachancetofightandovercomestillexists.(Coachsinterview)

The coachs philosophy played out in soccer by his telling studentathletes that, although they could not change the situation (e.g., thereferees call), they could change their attitude in that situation. Hebelievedthatthisprovidedthestudentathleteswithasenseoffreedom.

The first thingwenotedabout coachsapproachwas thathewentoutofhiswaytodeveloprelationshipswitheachofthestudentathleteson the team. Mostly, this involved interacting with studentathletesbefore or after games/practices, and (as he told us) during breaksthroughout the school day. He would use humor, join in with thestudentathletesbanter,andoftenaskthemabouttheir livesoutsideofschool. Inparticular,hewould talk tostudentathletesabout theirclubteams, other coaches, and other studentathletes.Rarelydidhe talk tostudentathletes about their schoolwork.However,wediscovered thatmany of the studentathletes had chosen to take coachs classes. Hethought that thiswasdue, inpart, to the fact that theyknewhim fromsoccer.

We also paid attention to the behaviours coach displayed duringpracticesandgames.Wedescribedhimasaquietsortofcoachwhorarely raisedhisvoice to the studentathletes.Forpracticeshe arrivedearly to set updrills andprepared his sessions thoroughly.He beganpracticesbyexplainingwhatwasgoingtohappen.Althoughwedidnotsystematicallyassess this,a featureofhiscoachingwas thatheconsistentlyprovidedperformancecontingentfeedback.Thatis,afteraplayermadeamistake,coachwouldprovidecorrectiveinformation.Coachalsodemonstrated the same types of behaviours during games. However,during games he was more animated, and he was mindful of this.Duringaninformalconversation,hetoldtheleadresearcherthathetried


tomakesurethathedidnottalktoomuchduringgamesbecausehedidnotwanttobecomeadistractiontothestudentathletes,andhetriedtoensure that his comments were helpful rather than just descriptive(notefromfieldworklog,June3).Researchhasshownthatcoacheswhoprovided more mistakecontingent technical instruction, less general(nonspecificfeedback),lesspunishment,andengagedinfewercontrolling behaviours had athletes with higher levels of sport enjoyment,perceived competence, and interest in sportparticipation in the future(Smith, Smoll, & Curtis, 1979). Consequently, we thought that coachdisplayed many of the characteristics associated with effective youthsportcoaches.

LifeSkillsAssociatedwithParticipationontheTeam

Initiative.Ninestudentathletes(75%)reportedbehaviours/attitudesthatwere consistent with the concept of initiative (Dworkin et al., 2003;Hansenetal.,2003;Larson,2000),whichinvolveslearningtosetrealisticgoals, learning to manage time, and taking responsibility for oneself.Studentathletes were not directly taught any of these skills in sport.Rather,ourdatawereprimarilyabouthowthestudentathletesdemonstrated personal responsibility.P7 explained how studentathletes hadlearnedtoberesponsibletoadheretothestructurecoachcreated:

Youhave toget thereon time [togames/practices].Youhave tobeable tobeprepared,readytogo.Ifyoucantgoyougottaletthecoachknowwhatsgoingon.Ifhetellsyoutoputupthenetyougottagoputupthenet,itsyourresponsibility.Ifyougottagopickuptheballsitsyourresponsibility.Andbeingontheteamisaresponsibilityfromyourselftotheschool.(Interview,StudentP7)

These responsibilities were markedly different to the studentathletesexperienceswiththeirclubteamsbecausealltheclubteamshadseveralcoaches/parents(oftenincludinganequipmentmanager)totakecareofsuchdetails(fieldworklogentry,basedondiscussionwithP10,May17).By contrast, parentswere rarely involvedwith the highschool soccerteam.

Coachexplainedthathelookedforinputfromplayers,whetheritsoneononeorwiththegroup.IhopethatthewayIdothingswillallowplayers toaskmequestions. Indeed, inone instanceduring the earlypartoftheseason,theoppositioncancelledontheThursdayforaprac


ticegamescheduledforaFriday.Coachinformedthestudentathletesofthecancellationat theendofpracticeon theThursday.Thisannouncement prompted two grade12 studentathletes to ask if instead of thegame the team would have a practice session. Coach responded bysaying,Illbehere ifyouwantme tobehere,but itsup toyouguysbecause there is no point running a session for a couple of guys(fieldnote entry, April 20). At this point the two grade12 studentathletestookastrawpolloftheteamanditwasagreedthattherewouldbeapracticethenextday.Thisexamplereflectedasituationwherebythecoachprovidedanopportunity for thestudents toshow responsibility,butwewouldarguethathedidnotspecificallyteachthestudentsaboutthislifeskill(ordiscusshowitmaytransfertootherdomains).

No studentathletes reported that they learned initiative directlyfromplayingon thesoccer team.Rather, itseemed that theyexpressedinitiative through soccer. However, we were unable to establish justhow,why,andwherethestudentathletesdidlearnaboutinitiative.Wespeculated that the ideaof takingpersonal responsibilityandworkinghard to achieve goalsmayhave beenprerequisites for soccer involvementatthislevel.Wealsothoughtthatthecoachcreatedastructureforyouth todisplay thesequalities, rather than specifically teaching thesequalities.

Respect.ThesecondmainlifeskillweidentifiedreflectedtheLerneret al. (2005) concept ofCharacter,which involves learning respect forsocietal and cultural rules. However, we did not find examples ofstudentathletesdemonstratingrespectinthecontextofbroadersociety.Rather,theytalkedaboutrespect inregardtothesubcultureofsoccer.Elevenstudentathletes(91.7%)reporteddataconsistentwiththistheme.P11saidthathehadlearnedtorespectotherstudentathletes....Afterthegamewhenwegooutandshaketheirhandsevenifwelost,westillhave toshake theirhandsandbe respectful. Interestingly, thisbehaviouralmanifestationofshowingrespectaftergames(i.e.,shakinghands)hasbeenaproblem insomeCanadianhighschoolsoccer teams. In theOttawaarea,theathleticsboardactuallybannedpostgamehandshakesaftermalesgamesbecauseitwascausingtoomanyfights(Egan,2006).

P8explainedhowcoachmodeledrespect:

[H]e never ever like looks down at any other teams.He always shows them


respect....Healwaysteachesiflikearefisreffingagame,aspoorlyashemaybereffing,aspoorlyashemaybedoing,regardlessyourealwaysrespectfulofhimandyourenevertalkingback.Andthesecondyoumakeamistakeandyoudosomethingthatlikeaffectstheoverallimageof[Metro]Highonthepitchhelltakeyourightoffnomatterwhoyouare.(Interview,P8)

Despite interviewdatadescribing the coachmodeling respect, ourobservations revealed some contradictions.During a game (which theCougarswon)against the teamwhicheventuallybeat them in thecityfinal,thefollowingentrywasmadeinthefieldworklog(May8):

[Coach]wasalsogetting frustrated,andyelledat therefacoupleof times.Hedidntsayanythingrude...,[but]heyelledthingslikewhatisthecall?andhewalkedabout15yardsdown the touchline toask therefaboutan inconsistentyellowcardhehadjustnotgivenforshirtpulling.(Fieldworklog,May8)

Modeling is a powerful means of transmitting values and attitudes;learning canoccurvicariouslywhen adolescentsobservemodels (Bandura, 1986).Thus, rather than the coachdirectly teaching the studentathletesaboutrespect,hetendedtomodelrespectfulbehaviours.However,becausethecoachdidnotconsistentlydemonstraterespectforthereferee, the fact that the studentathleteswere also inconsistent in thisregardisnotsurprising.

We found that thestudentathletescouldbepunished for failing todemonstraterespect.P6recalled:

LastyearintheCityfinalgameIgotayellowcardandIgotcalleddownbytheathleticpersonhere,Ms.H.andshesatmedowncauseshesaidshewasgonnasuspendmefromschoolcauseshethoughtIsworebutIexplainedthesituationand sheobviously forgavemebutat the same time like those little things likethatyouhavetowatchwhenyourea[student]athleteratherthanjustaflatoutstudentso....ImeantheyarenotlenientIguessyoucouldsay.(Interview,P6)

Another example of studentathletes being reprimanded for failing toshowrespectwasobtainedduringagamewhenoneoftheCougarsstarplayerswasgettingfrustratedwiththeopponentsphysicalplayandtherefereescalls.Coachpulledtheplayertothetouchlineasplaycontinuedand sternly told him to calmdown and stop arguing or hewould besubstituted. It is possible that other studentathletes learned throughtheseexamplesthattheyshouldactwithrespect.But,wefoundnoevid


ence to show that respectwas directly taught or positively reinforced(e.g., studentathletesbeing commended for showing respect).Furthermore,wefoundnoevidencetoshowthatrespecttransferredoutoftheimmediate soccer context. Rather, respect was a policy valued by theschoolathleticprogramandstudentswerereprimanded iftheydidnotdemonstraterespectinsportingsituations.

Teamwork/Leadership.Ourthirdthemerelatedtohowstudentathleteslearned towork togetherasa team,and learned about leadership andcommunication (Dworkin et al., 2003;Hansen et al., 2003).This themealsoreflectedtheCofConnection(Lerneretal.,2005).WhereasLerneret al. characterized connection as bidirectional exchanges between theindividualandpeers, family,school,andcommunity,ourdata focusedmoreon exchangesbetween studentathletes rather than connection towidersocietalinfluences.Therefore,forthisparticularteam,connectionoccurred at thepeer level, rather than atwider institutional and communitylevels.

All12 studentathletes reported that theyhad learnedabout teamworkand leadershipthroughtheirinvolvement intheteam.P6said:IknowalotofmyteammateswilllistentomesoItrytokindatakethatonmyshouldersabitand try to lead [and] lendahelpinghand.P12said,

Tomake it in lifeyouactuallyhave tocooperatewithotherpeoplesometimes,like maybe coworkers or like students in your class or whatever cause noteverythingisindividualsohelpsout...intermsoflearningtoworktogetherasateam.(P6interview)

In fact, teamwork and leadershipwere the only concepts that studentathletesthoughttransferredtootherareasoftheirlives.However,ratherthan the coach directly teaching the studentathletes about teamwork/leadership,theyseemedtobeproducersoftheirownexperiencesinthisrespect(Larson,2000).

Thesefindingsmirrorresultsofarecentsurvey.Berrett(2006)foundthat76.6percentofAlbertastop100corporateChiefExecutiveOfficers(CEOs)and80percentofMembersoftheLegislativeAssembly(MLAs)participatedinhighschoolsport.Fiftyfourpercentoftheseindividualsreported that theirhigh school sportparticipationhad a significant orextensive effect on their future career development, with teamwork


being theskill that theyassociatedmostwithhighschoolsportparticipation.Teamwork and leadership skillsmay arise from sport involvementbecauseoftheuniquedemandsofteamsport.Thatis,individualsmust learn to work together to achieve team and personal goals (cf.Hansenetal.,2003).

Oneparticularlysalientaspectof the teamwestudiedwas that thestudentathletes were drawn from a range of ethnic and racial backgrounds.However, theydidnot talkabout learning tobridgeethnicorracialdifferences through their involvement on the team.Rather, theytalked aboutdeveloping friendshipswith younger (or older) students.Forexample,P10said,

Ithinksoccerlikebondsyou....IdontthinkIdinteractalotofthegrade12sItalktonow,butalotofthemarelikemoreclosefriendsnow[becauseweareonthe soccer team]. So its likewe have a common interest and common goal Iguess.(P10interview)

Other qualitative work of adolescents experiences in ethnicallydiversecommunityprogramshasfoundthatpeerinteractionsprovidedyouthwithopportunitiestobridgeindividualdifferences(Watkins,Larson,&Sullivan,2007).Thefactthatwedidnotobtaindataaboutyouthlearningtobridgeethnicdifferencesmayreflecttheideathatitisnotthepresence ofdiverse peers in a setting but the conditionsunderwhichyouth interact that influence theirbehaviourandattitudes (Hansenetal., 2003; Eccles & Gootman, 2002). That is, the coach did not createconditionsthatpromotedunderstandingofindividualdifferences.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how youthlearned life skills through their involvement on a high school soccerteam. By adopting an ecological systems perspective (Bronfenbrenner,2005),wewereabletocategorizedataatmoredistalandproximallevels.Overall,wefoundthatpolicyissuesreflectedtheimportanceofstudentathleteslearninglifeskillsthroughtheirinvolvementinsport.Thecoachdevelopedrelationshipswithathletesandsoughttheirinputondecisionmaking.Wedidnotfindevidencethatthestudentathletesweredirectlytaught about the life skills that were reported (initiative, respect, andteamwork/leadership).Rather, thestructure thecoachcreatedprovided


opportunities for the students todemonstrate initiative.Studentswerepunished or reprimanded for failing to demonstrate respect. Finally,youth appeared to be producers of their own teamwork/leadershipexperiences. They thought that only this skill transferred to otherdomains.

Indevelopingourinterpretationsofthesedata,wewerecognizantoftwo important limitations.The first related to the samplebeing a selfselectedgroupofhealthyyouth forwhom their involvement in soccerworked.Therewasnodropoutfromtheteam,andthestudentathleteshadplayed inprevious years.Thus,wemay have studied an alreadyresilientgroupofadolescentsbecausetheyhadbeenabletograduatetotheircurrentpositionashighschoolstudentathletes.Thisconcernlimitsthe generalizability of any interpretations to contexts beyond similartypesofhighschoolsoccerteams.Futureresearchthatassesseswhetheryouth who dropped out of sport learned any life skills would be animportantadditiontotheliterature.Oursecondconcernrelatedtosocialdesirabilityresponsebias.Thatis,theparticipantsobviouslylikedcoachandmayhave attempted toportrayhim inapositive lightduring theinterviews.To thisend, itwas important tohaveobservationaldata toestablish the coherence between the studentathletes words and theiractions.

AsDanishetal.(2005)havesuggested,nothingmagicalaboutschoolsportwill teachadolescents life skills.Rather,how sportprogramsarestructuredanddelivered is likely to influenceadolescents experiences(Mahoneyetal.,2004).The current findingsprovide some informationabouthowoneschoolsportteamwasstructuredanddelivered,andhowthisexperiencerelatedtostudentsacquisitionoflifeskills.

We suspect that somepolicy levelclaims for thebenefitsof schoolsportmaybeoverstated.Ifschoolsportprogramsaretrulydesignedasanextensionoftheclassroom,thenitseemsthatsportprogramsshouldembracedirectinstructionandcurriculadesignedtoteachlifeskills.Tothis end, intervention programs like SUPER (Danish, 2002) and TPSR(Hellison,2003)mayprovidesomeusefulguidelines.However, furtherevaluationworkisrequiredtoestablishtheefficacyandeffectivenessoftheseinterventions(Holt&Jones,2007).Additionally,ourfindingsabouthow the coach developed relationships with the studentathletes may


provideusefulinformationforotherteachersorcoaches.Strengthsofthisstudywerethatweexaminedasingleteamoverthe

course of its entire season. We were able to assess some aspects ofinteractionsbetweenstudentathletesandtheircontext.Wewereabletoprovideadescriptionofproximalanddistal influenceson thestudentathletesinvolvementinthemicrosystemofayouthsportteam.Assuch,this study contributes to the literature by looking inside youth sportsystemsandassessingsomecharacteristicsofthesesystemsthatcouldbemanipulated topromotePYD.However,adolescentsengage inarangeofmicrosystemsinadditiontoschoolsport,includingpeers,family,andwork.Wewereunable toshowanyconnectionsbetween their involvement in thesedifferentcontexts.Tobuildon thepresentstudy, longerterm evaluations are required, and it is important to establish howsporting involvementfits intothewidersocialmilieuthatyouthexperience.Weneed tounderstandmoreaboutwhatadolescents learn fromtheirparents,peers,andthroughinteractionsindifferentcontexts.Suchstudies will enable researchers, practitioners, and policymakers toobtainabetterunderstandingoftheroleofhighschoolsportinthelivesofadolescents,andtoassessif ithelpssomepeoplebecomeproductivemembersofadultsociety.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the studentathletes, staff, and Edmonton Public School Board forenablingus to conduct this study.This studywas fundedbyaSocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCounciloperatinggrantawardedtoNickHolt,JamesMandigo,andKenFox,andaPopulationHealth InvestigatorAward from theAlbertaHeritageFoundationforMedicalResearchheldbyHolt.

NOTES

AuthorContactInformation:NicholasHolt,PhD,AssociateProfessor,FacultyofPhysicalEducationandRecreation,UniversityofAlberta,Edmonton,AB,T6G2H9.Email:[email protected];(780)4927386.

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NicholasL.HoltisanAssociateProfessorintheFacultyofPhysicalEducationandRecreation at the University of Alberta, and a Population Health InvestigatorfundedbytheAlbertaHeritageFoundationforMedicalResearch. AtthetimeofthisstudyLisaN.TinkwasafinalyearundergraduatestudentintheFacultyofPhysicalEducationandRecreationattheUniversityofAlberta.JamesMandigoisanAssociateProfessorintheDepartmentofPhysicalEducationand Kinesiology and CoDirector for the Centre for Healthy Development atBrockUniversity.Hiswork focusesupon the role thatphysical education canplayinthedevelopmentoflifeskills.KenFox,apastteacherandcoach,isaprofessorattheUniversityofBristolandadvises theUKgovernmentonphysical activity andhealth and specializes inresearchrelatingphysicalactivitytopsychologicalwellbeing.