Thoughts on youth sport rentention, coaching and coach development

 

Coaches are prominent in youth sport retention. To prevent youth player attrition coaches require specific knowledge about how to coach for enhanced player experience. This is important for 'present' retention as players who are engaged in a positive sporting culture and climate show increased level of enjoyment, motivation and wellbeing. Consequently, a coach that enhances player experience is more likely to foster with their players a longer term appreciation of involvement in sport. 

The most influential factor in dropping out of sport is a lack of enjoyment. The style of coaching factors into the player sense of feeling enjoyment, while also being an influence on youth player development and the youth player sense of themselves as they mature. The coach- youth player relationship is therefore critical in retention of players beyond junior sport. The quality of coaching matters.

       Image from Agnew, D., & Pill, S. (2022). Chapter 10: The Role of the Coach in Player Retention and Attrition. In         Toms, M. & Jeanes, R. (Eds). Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport. Routledge - available here

The pedagogical (teaching) style of the coach may also be a factor in youth sport attrition. For example, boredom from insufficient activity has been found to be a factor in attrition, thus keeping players active through the choice of activity and teaching (coaching) style is an important attrition-retention strategy. Adolescents are particularly sensitive to equal treatment and the perception of fairness. If this means they are not getting game time as an outcome of unequal or fair treatment from the coach, they are likely to pursue other interests. If an adolescent believes the coach ‘doesn’t like them’, they are also likely to withdraw from sport (Agnew et al. 2016). When the coach-player relationship is positive, player motivation is more likely to be high and the sport experiences are more likely to be positive and so the player is more likely to continue to commit to the sport. 

Consistent across the studies we have undertaken, coaches tell us that they want and more highly value coach education by on site in-situ mentoring. Coach development provided by sport courses and associated credentialing is recognised as necessary, but inadequate, non-specific, and not preferred by most coaches in the studies we have conducted (Pill et al. 2023a 2023b, 2024a, 2024b).

It is also consistent across the studies that we have conducted that all involved in coach development consider the voluntary nature of junior and youth community coaching is an impediment to the quality of coaching and possibility limits the value of in-situ coach development by a role such as Coach Coordinator/Coach Developer. 

However, positioning the role of Coach Developer as a legitimate vocation in the community sport landscape we believe would more likely facilitate the provision of comprehensive sport development programs educating, guiding, and training coaches more profoundly from grassroots to elite levels. This would lead to better youth sport retention. However, coach development programs need to be content and context specific, therefore, Coach Developers working with well intentioned volunteers need to have specific sport pedagogical and content knowledge for the sport in which they are operating to compensate for the absence of these knowledge bases in volunter coaches. We believe that the reason why coaches with physical education teaching backgrounds were appreciated in the studies we undertook is because pedagogical knowledge matters in the efficacy of the junior and youth community sport coach. We have therefore suggested that it is not the most effective model having one Coach Developer work with several clubs across several sports where the Coach Developer is not a pedagogical-content expert in some or most of the sports. Unlike a coach developer working in high performance environments with specialist coaches more likely to bring pedagogical and content knowledge from their continuing professional development and experience, at the community level the Coach Developer needs to bring pedagogical and content knowledge expertise to the community sport volunteer coaches to elevate the 'standard' of coaching.

“individualised, contextually and practically relevant learning opportunities are key" (Stodter & Cushion, 2017, p.334-335) for coach development. This is because each coach has a unique biography of experience that impacts upon how they may perceive and reflect upon certain planned and unplanned experiences with their coaching as meaningful, and thus the learning that occurs is unique to the individual and individually unique to how it ultimately influences their coaching practice (Callary, Werthner & Trudel, 2012).

Thanks for stopping by and reading this post. If you would like to connect with me on a project to do with the ideas in this blog or any of the other ideas that I have blogged about, you can contact me by the email link available here

References.

Agnew, D., Pill, S. & Drummond, M. (2016). Investigating the elements that encourage or inhibit the participation of children and youth in Australian football. Annals of Leisure Research. 19 (1), 27-46.

Agnew, D., & Pill, S. (2022). Chapter 10: The role of the coach in player retention and attrition. In Toms, M. & Jeanes, R. (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport. Routledge.

Callary, B., Werthner, P., & Trudel, P. (2012). How meaningful episodic experiences influence the process of becoming an experienced coach. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 4(3), 420-438.

Pill, S., Agnew, D., & Abery, E. (2023a). Parents’ views on coaching in youth community sport settings. Sport in Society, 26(8), 1455-1473.

Pill, S., Agnew, D., & Abery, E. (2023b). Coaches’ perceptions of their work in an elite youth sport setting. Journal of Sport Exercise Science, 7, 12-20.

Pill, S., Agnew, D., & Abery, E. (2024a). Reflections on a community youth sport coach developer initiative. Annals of Leisure Research, 27(5), 645-662. 

Pill, S., Agnew, D. & Abery, L. (2024b). Analysis of a community club coach developer project. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 29(5), 475-490.

Stodter, A., & Cushion, C. (2017). What works in coach learning, how, and for whom? A grounded process of soccer coaches’ professional learning. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 9(3), 321-338.