Research update: can sports promote competence? Coaches, parents and administrators need to foster emotional growth for youth through sports.

Participating in sport provides many opportunities for enhancing psychosocial growth and development in children (Horn, 2002; Smith & Smoll, 1996). In fact, sport can play an extensive role in determining if children will be lifelong participants, be physically fit, have positive social and emotional development, learn moral values, and have an increased sense of self (Ewing, Gano-Overway, Branta & Seefeldt, 2002). Development in these areas is linked to the perceptions that youth form regarding their level of competence in sport.

The concept of learning emotional Competence through sport has received little attention by researchers. While sport participation alone does not automatically enhance one's emotional competence, it can be said that sport does provide ample learning opportunities. Children will be successful if coaches, administrators and parents assist them with positive development of healthy perceptions regarding their competence, understanding the value of their participation, and realize the full range of benefits associated with sports.

The extraordinary growth in youth sport participation over the last several decades has not been matched by the number of trained coaches working with these children (Turman, 2003). In 1995, an estimated 38 million children participated in sports (Seefeldt & Ewing, 2000) by an estimated 3.5 million coaches (Seefeldt, 1999). Of those coaches, about 90 percent have no formal training from a coaching education program for developmentally appropriate practices and expectations, first aid, prevention and care for injuries, or emergency management (Seefeldt, 1992; Seefeldt & Ewing, 2000).

The significantly small percentage of trained coaches calls into question the integrity of the educational opportunity that sport is providing our youth, particularly if we are counting on sport to help foster positive social and emotional development. Therefore, we must investigate how coaches can assist in the development of emotional competence.

Emotional Development

Emotional development in sport can be associated with two phrases in psychology literature--emotion regulation and emotional competence. Emotion regulation can be defined as the process of adjusting (increasing and decreasing) or redirecting emotional responses (Spinrad, Stiffer, Donelan-McCall & Turner, 2004), in order to reach a goal (Cole, Teti & Zahn-Waxler, 2003). For example, coaches could manipulate the emotions of their players by giving a "win one for the Gipper" speech similar to Knute Rockne's famous diatribe while coaching the Notre Dame football team to a second half win.

Contexts in which sport are acted out are not limited to the regulation of emotional display by its participants. Therefore, the concept of emotional competence may better define the objectives of youth sport programming. Cervantes (2003) defines emotional competence as "learning to reflect on, label and explain feelings in precise language; learning to regulate feelings in socially appropriate ways; and learning to recognize, understand and respond appropriately to one's own and others' feelings" (p.139) (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Saarni, 1999). Sport has the potential to provide young athletes with opportunities to learn about appropriate internalization and social integration of their emotions, and interpreting and responding to other's emotions.

For example, athletes will deal with winning (learning appropriate display of excitement in the face of the opposition) and losing (learning to balance sadness with perspective for lessons learned). By learning to control one's emotions (emotion regulation) during competition, children will benefit from learning socially acceptable behaviors during a myriad of sport experiences (emotional competence), including tryouts, meetings, practices, games, tournaments, team parties or social gatherings.

Role of Coaches

Children collect information from various sources in order to formulate perceptions of their own abilities and that of their peers. Amorose and Weiss (1998) stated that, "evaluative and informational feedback provided by adults are salient sources of information used by children to judge their own or others' ability in various achievement domains" (p.399). In fact, no one source may be more important than that of their coach (Amorose & Weiss, 1998). Research has consistently proven that feedback provided by coaches plays an important role in the perceptions that youth athletes form regarding their own competence in sport (Allen & Howe, 1998; Amorose & Horn, 2000; Amorose & Weiss, 1998; Black & Weiss, 1992; Horn & Harris, 1996; Smith & Smoll, 1996; Solomon, 1998; Solomon, DiMarco, Ohlson & Reece, 1998; Solomon & Kosmitzki, 1996; Solomon, Striegel, Eliot, Heon, Maas & Wayda, 1996; Weiss, Ebbeck & Horn, 1997).

Hatter's (1978, 1981) competence motivation theory links high self-perceptions regarding competence, to having high satisfaction, continued participation and an enhanced self-concept. Satisfaction with one's performance in skill mastery should lead to continued participation, which, in turn, would provide opportunities to learn emotional competence through the interactive and dynamic nature of sport.

Coaching effectiveness research has consistently conveyed the importance of using constructive feedback tactics by coaches in every aspect of their communication behavior, including management, instruction, performance appraisal and social support. Coaches who provide positively framed feedback to their athletes assist in increasing intrinsic motivation (Amorose & Horn, 2000; Horn & Harris, 1996; Stipek, Recchia & McClintic, 1992), perceived competence (Allen & Howe, 1998; Amorose & Weiss, 1998; Black & Weiss, 1992; Horn & Harris, 1996; Stipek, Recchia & McClintic, 1992), identification with their coach (Reynolds & Allen, 2003), their motivation to continue participation (Black & Weiss, 1992; Horn & Harris, 1996; Smith & Smoll, 1996), their motivation to perform (Black N Weiss, 1992) and the athlete's self-concept (Black & Weiss, 1992; Smith & Smoll, 1996).

These athletes reported higher perceptions of their coach's competence (Horn & Lox, 1993), and increased cognitive learning (Horn & Harris, 1996) and satisfaction (Allen & Howe, 1998, Black & Weiss, 1992; Smith & Smoll, 1996). Furthermore, these coaches are indicative of successful individuals and teams (Black & Weiss, 1992), and these positive and constructive feedback tactics are preferred coaching behavior (Sherman, Fuller & Speed, 2000; Smith & Smoll, 1996).

Not all experiences in sport are positive. In fact, competitive sport participation has the potential to be associated with many negative outcomes. Research indicates that competitive sports are associated with anger (Fredericks, Alfred-Liro, Hruda, Eccles, Patrick & Ryan, 2002), increased levels of stress and anxiety (Fredericks et al, 2002; Smoll & Smith, 1996), negative group dynamics/peer interaction (Hansen et al, 2003; Eccles & Barber, 1999; Mahoney, 2000) and negative interactions with leaders (Hansen et al, 2003; Smoll & Smith, 1989). Coaches who provide negative or no feedback to an athlete's efforts at task mastery, whether successful or not, will cause that athlete to report lower levels of self-esteem, perceptions of competence and intrinsic motivation. They also report increased anxiety (Horn, 2002).

The impact of a coach's spoken or unspoken word can be far-reaching. "Coaches not only occupy a central and influential position in the athletic setting, but their influence can extend into other areas of the child's life as well" (Smith and Smoll, 1996, p. 125). Coaches have the ability to be the most potent factor for enabling, empowering and encouraging the aspirations of a child, or they may serve to disable or potentially destroy them.

Youth Activity Programs

Positive youth development programs often seek to enhance emotional competence through fostering abilities that help youth in the regulation of their feelings, control of impulses and management of stress (Catalano, Berglund, Ryan, Lonczak & Hawkins, 1999; Dworkin, Larson & Hansen, 2003). Dworkin et al (2003) found that adolescents participating in youth activities reported experiences associated with learning emotion regulation. Several themes emerged from these learning experiences including learning to control anger and anxiety, managing stress, preventing emotions from inhibiting performance standards, and using positive emotions constructively.

Other findings included an increase in empathy and understanding, and intimacy for peers that were not previously within the child's social circle, as well as gaining self-knowledge. In a similar study, youth sport participants reported greater rates of self-knowledge and emotional regulation than participants in non-sport activities (Hansen, Larson & Dworkin, 2003).

It is debatable as to whether or not adolescents are the producers of their own emotional development, or if it is a product of the activities that they are involved in (Larson, 2000; Silbereisen, Eyferth & Rudinger, 1986). Participants consistently portrayed themselves as the producers of their own development (Dworkin et al, 2003), citing processes that originated from them. But other times, their observations were actually selective information provided by leaders, teachers, coaches, parents and peers. Most striking was the fact that adolescents were describing themselves as the agents of their own development, not the program, activity or adult leader.

Conclusions

Through the review of literature, there are several recommendations that should be made in order to maximize the opportunity that sport provides in fostering positive emotional competence. First, there is overwhelming evidence that positive feedback and communication behavior leads to greater overall experiences in sport by youth participants (Allen & Howe, 1998, Black & Weiss, 1992; Smith & Smoll, 1996). Coaching philosophies should be founded on the ideology that sport is a place for positive and constructive teaching and learning.

Second, research also indicates that the quantity of positive communication does not mean quality (Black & Weiss, 1992; Sinclair & Vealy, 1989). Coaches should not patronize athletes with unnecessary compliments to overly inflate one's self-concept; rather they should comment and instruct each athlete as though they are striving to be successful at sports not just to feel successful.

Last, athletes' attribution for learning emotional competence was centered on themselves as the agents rather than on the coach or sport (Dworkin et al, 2003). Coaches should be aware that they are merely facilitators of learning opportunities, and that ultimately, youth will learn the meanings and messages, regulation of, and social appropriateness of emotions through trial and error.

References

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Edited by Mary Parr, Ph.D.

Research Into Action: Recommendations for Community Involvement

Researchers must continue to study and document inconsistencies and best practices from the field. They must also work with professionals in the community to assist in the application of effective and efficient sport management philosophies. Funding must be sought and made available for a national certification program for volunteer coaches at no cost to them.

Administrators must ensure that all coaches who will be working with youth athletes are certified in First AID/CPR and, minimally, have entry-level coaching credentials. While certification processes vary from city, county, state and sport organizing agency, it is imperative that the 90 percent of untrained coaches, many of whom are volunteers, have access to free or reduced-rate clinics. Technology should be used to make these short courses available so as to reach the masses in a time and manner most convenient to their situation.

Coaches must commit themselves to education before, during and after their seasons. They must pressure administrators for support, including financial resources and reference material. They should also ask for training workshops to enhance and further their knowledge in their sport. Networking with other coaches is also an important and necessary method for gaining insight and recommendations for training sessions and certification procedures.

Parents must be made aware of the educational background, qualifications and certifications that their coach has or lacks. Parents must be the catalysts with which this change begins to take shape. They need to take an active role in assisting coaches to seek and complete certification courses. By raising the standard of acceptable credentials, parents will do what administrators have not been held to: ensure the safety and security of all children during their sport participation, physically and psychologically.

Stephanie Diaz is a doctoral student at North Carolina State University in the Parks, Recreation mid Tourism Management Department. Diaz has worked professionally as an athletic director, teacher and coach. Her current research interests include coaching effectiveness and parental involvement in youth sports. She can be reached at [e-mail], or [phone].