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(-5.3 g -5 y I K ‘\ .LIBRARY Michigan State University This is to certify that the dissertation entitled LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL SPORT PARTICIPATION: HOW LIFE LESSONS ARE TAUGHT AND BROUGHT TO LIFE presented by Sarah A. Carson has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral degree in Kinesiology — -.'.-.-.-.-.-.-.- QM K. may Major Professor’s Signature é/Za/m Date MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 5/08 KIIProleocapreleIRC/DateDue.indd LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL SPORT PARTICIPATION: HOW LIFE LESSONS ARE TAUGHT AND BROUGHT TO LIFE By Sarah A. Carson A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Kinesiology 2010 ABSTRACT LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL SPORT PARTICIPATION: HOW LIFE LESSONS ARE TAUGHT AND BROUGHT TO LIFE By Sarah A. Carson It is widely recognized that sport can foster the development of skills that transcend the fields and courts on which youth participate. These assets can include person growth in areas such as initiative, teamwork, emotion regulation and goal setting (e.g., Danish et al., 2003; Hansen et al., 2003). While sport can benefit athletes through its challenges and engaging nature, participation can also result in negative outcomes such as increased stress and decreased self-confidence (e. g., Dworkin etal., 2003; Eccles & Barber, 1999). One factor that plays a central role in shaping more or less positive sport experiences is the coach (e. g., Hellison & Cutforth, 1997). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the strategies used by high school coaches to facilitate the development and transfer of life skills in their athletes. Additionally, perceived success rates and barriers to this development and transfer were assessed. Using a multiple case study design, three experienced coaches were interviewed. Furthermore, to corroborate the information gathered fiom each coach, 4 current athletes (n=12) from the coaches’ programs (i.e., boys’ tennis, girls’ basketball, softball) participated in focus groups, and 1 former player (n=3) and 1 parent (n=3) of a former player were also interviewed. Hierarchical content analysis was utilized to analyze data from each case separately, then a cross-case content analysis was performed to identify common strategies and other concepts cited among all clusters of participants (e. g., Miles & Huberman, 1994; Yin, 2009). In terms of the cross- case analysis, a total of 825 lower-order themes, 17 higher-order categories and 3 global categories were identified. For example, the global category of Direct Strategies used to develop and transfer life skills included lower-order themes such as providing clear expectations, collaborating with athletes, and early intervention, while the category of Indirect Factors included themes such as establishing a team culture of excellence/class, developing family-like relationships, and being a caring/dedicated coach. Finally, Success Rates and Barriers cited by the informants included themes such as perceptions of mixed success, delayed success, an overemphasis on winning and athlete distractions. A review of the findings indicated that the coaches in the present study were upholding many of the principles for effective asset/character building strategies that have been established in past literature (e. g., establishing positive relationships, reinforcing life lessons consistently and over time, building a system of development). Furthermore, the resulting discussion indicted several additional guidelines available to practitioners who wish to promote positive youth development through ‘naturalistic’ sport participation (e. g., integrating lessons into teachable moments and daily drills). Finally, a discussion about the continued lack of clear implications for life skills transfer strategy and a need for further research is presented. This dissertation is dedicated to Dr. Daniel R. Gould, a mentor who has shown me unwavering faith, inspiration, guidance, and friendship. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express much gratitude and great appreciation to the members of my dissertation committee. To my advisor, Dan Gould, thank you for guiding my research by the unmatched example you set by your meaningful and impact-driven work that is conducted with a great deal of passion and integrity. Also, thank you for your patience and support throughout the writing processes as well as the frequent pushes that were needed along the way. To my other committee members, Martha Ewing, Crystal Branta and Larry Lauer, thank you for sharing with me your insight, for bringing your unique perspectives to this project, for sharing my enthusiasm for this topic, and for being the friendly faces that kept my spirits afloat throughout my years at Michigan State. I would also like to thank my parents who, for as long as I can remember, never placed a single wall in front of me on my journey through life and my academic endeavors. You have both kept me grounded when life seemed hard and provided me with a safe harbor, even when you were hundreds of miles away. And to my friends, who were always only a desk-chair or a phone-call away, thank you for you for your help, and your humor, and your constant reminders that there was always going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. And to Angie Fifer, in particular, thank you for being the best secondary investigator a girl could ask for. Whether it was at a desk, on a couch, on the floor, or on a bar stool, I could always count on your patience, thoughtfulness, terrific suggestions, and encouragement. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 Purpose ....................................................................................... 3 Research Questions .......................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................... 4 Positive Youth Development ............................................................. 4 Developmental Outcomes: Life Skills, Competencies and Assets. . . . . 5 Theoretical Foundation of Positive Youth Development ............................. 9 Positive Youth Development through Extracurricular Activity Participation. . 1 1 Positive Youth Development through Sport Participation ............................ 15 Effective Program Components and Characteristics .................................. 22 The Role of Adult Leaders ............................................................... 24 Positive Youth Development Program Evaluations ................................... 30 Positive Development and Life Skill Transfer .......................................... 34 Conclusion ................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ........................................................................ 41 Participants .................................................................................. 41 Case 1: Participants ............................................................... 41 Case 2: Participants ............................................................... 42 Case 3: Participants ............................................................... 43 Procedure ........................................................................................ 44 Recruitment ........................................................................... 45 Informed Consent and Assent ................................................... 48 High School Coaches Survey and Interviews ................................. 49 Current Student-Athlete Survey and Focus Groups .......................... 50 Former Student-Athlete Survey and Interviews .............................. 52 Parents of Former Student-Athletes Survey and Interviews ................ 53 The Investigator ............................................................................ 53 Data Analyses .............................................................................. 54 Interviews .......................................................................... 55 Focus Groups ...................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS .......................................................................... 58 Overvrew 58 Case 1: Profile 59 Case 1: Life Skills Addressed ............................................................ 60 Case 1: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results ........................................ 63 Direct Life Skill Development and Transfer Strategies ..................... 64 Indirect Factors that Facilitate Life Skill Development and Transfer. . 80 vi Perceived Success with and Barriers to Life Skill Development and Transfer ............................................................................ 92 Case 2: Profile 100 Case 2: Life Skills Addressed ............................................................ 102 Case 2: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results ........................................ 104 Direct Life Skill Development and Transfer Strategies ..................... 105 Indirect Factors that Facilitate Life Skill Development and Transfer. . 124 Perceived Success with and Barriers to Life Skill Development and Transfer ............................................................................ 137 Case 3: Profile .............................................................................. 144 Case 3: Life Skills Addressed ........................................................... 145 Case 3: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results ........................................ 147 Direct Life Skill Development and Transfer Strategies ..................... 147 Indirect Factors that Facilitate Life Skill Development and Transfer. . 163 Perceived Success with and Barriers to Life Skill Development and Brief Cross-Case Analysis ................................................................ 182 Cross-case: Life Skills Addressed .............................................. 182 Cross-case: Hierarchical Content Analyses Results .......................... 184 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ........................................................................ 194 Structural Overview .......................................................................... 195 Life Skill Outcomes in Sport ............................................................. 198 Life Skill Development Strategies in Sport ............................................. 200 Life Skill Transfer Strategies in Sport ................................................... 207 Barriers to Life Skill Development and Transfer ...................................... 209 Implications for Practice ................................................................... 210 Limitations and Future Directions ....................................................... 216 Conclusron221 APPENDIX A: Recruitment Letters ............................................................. 222 APPENDD( B: Consent and Assent Form Documents ........................................ 227 APPENDIX C: Assessment Instruments ......................................................... 234 REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 248 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: 40 Developmental Assets ........................................................... 8 TABLE 2: Respondents and Interview Format ................................................ 44 TABLE 3: Target Life Skills — Case 1: Interview and Quantitative Data Support ....... 62 TABLE 4: Life Skills Strategies, Success Rates and Barriers — Case 1: Hierarchically Arranged Categories and Themes with Frequency Counts .................................. 65 TABLE 5: Target Life Skills — Case 2: Interview and Quantitative Data Support ....... 103 TABLE 6: Life Skills Strategies, Success Rates and Barriers — Case 2: Hierarchically Arranged Categories and Themes with Frequency Counts .................................. 106 TABLE 7: Target Life Skills - Case 3: Interview and Quantitative Data Support ....... 146 TABLE 8: Life Skills Strategies, Success Rates and Barriers - Case 3: Hierarchically Arranged Categories and Themes with Frequency Counts .................................. 148 TABLE 9: Life Skills Addressed: Commonalities Among and Discrepancies Between Cases ................................................................................................ 183 TABLE 10: Brief Cross-Case Analysis Results: Common Themes Identified Between Cases Pertaining to Life Skill Development and Transfer ................................... 185 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Sport can be a valuable training ground for its young participants because of its capacity to instill important life lessons (e.g., how to win and lose gracefiilly, the value of upholding the spirit of the game, and the benefits of teamwork) and teach valuable life skills such as taking initiative, being responsible, solving problems, setting goals, processing feedback, working with others, and regulating one’s emotions (e. g., Danish, Petipas & Hale, 1992; Kleiber & Kirshnit, 1991; Smoll & Smith, 2002). However, it has been convincingly argued that sport does not breed these positive experiences on its own (e. g., Hodge, 1989; Papacharisis, Goudas, Danish & Theodorakis, 2005; Shields & Brederneier, 1995). The expression that life skills (e.g., character) are not ‘caught’ through sport participation, but instead must be ‘taught’ has become widely used and serves as a caution against adopting the previously held belief that in order for youth to develop positively through sport, one must simply throw on a jersey and play. In fact, the skepticism surrounding sport’s fundamental ability to create better people has been questioned for some time now because the catalog of contrary instances uncovered by scientific research and the popular media has been growing with time. For example, it is not uncommon to see reports in the local and national news about altercations between athletes breaking out during youth sporting events and hazing incidents on high school athletic teams. Furthermore, research has indicated that as compared to their peers not competing in sports, athletes have reported greater instances of stress, alcohol use, violence, gambling, negative peer relationships, and exposure to inappropriate adult behaviors on the part of coaches and parents (Dworkin, Larson & Hansen, 2003; Eccles & Barber, 1999; Mahoney & Stattin 2000; Petitpas & Champagne, 2000; Scanlan, Babkes & Scanlan, 2005). These and other negative byproducts of sport participation are believed to be related to the intense competition, unfavorable peer comparisons and pressures, and uncomfortable social evaluation inherent to the experiences of many of today’s youth athletes (Petitpas & Champagne, 2000). Ultimately, many factors have to be appropriately set in place so that the sport experience is structured in a way that makes it possible for these athletic experiences to promote positive youth development. Teams have to be affirming and safe environments, individuals’ roles and responsibilities have to be clearly stated, accepted and valued, and, perhaps of prime importance, young athletes need support and direction from an adult leader who makes the effort to coach beyond the Xs and Os (Smoll & Smith, 2002). Fortunately, when sport is appropriately structured, viewed as a positive experience, and carried out amongst individuals who value the ideals and practices of positive youth development, youth athletes are privy to experiences that can have beneficial and long- lasting influences on their lives (e. g., Eccles & Gootrnan, 2002; Larson, 2000; Larson, Eccles & Appleton Gootrnan, 2004; Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte & Jones, 2005). One critical addition to the positive youth development through sport discussion is that the life lessons and skills learned through athletics can only be considered true ‘life skills’ and lessons and are most valuable and impactful when transferred outside of sport to other contexts (Danish, Petitpas & Hale, 1992). Therefore, coaches and other leaders involved in programs that promote the positive growth of their participants must not only work to cultivate development in the immediate activities at hand, but also do the necessary work to help the involved youth discover the relevance of the skills to everyday life and to promote the transfer of the lessons and skills to other life domains. It is surprising, then, that the transfer of life lessons and skills learned through sport to other life settings has seldom been studied. For this reason, there is a significant need to study life skills development and transfer through sport participation. Purpose The current literature on positive youth development through sport has voiced concerns that more work is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the characteristics of effective coaches and the strategies these individuals have adopted as well as the environments they have constructed to facilitate positive youth development and life skills enhancement through sport. Additionally, a considerable gap exists in the research regarding the transferability of these skills to contexts outside of athletics and the strategies that may be used to best achieve the application of these valuable assets to other life domains. Therefore, the purposes of this dissertation are to: (a) examine the opinions held regarding and strategies used by coaches to develop life skills in high school athletes; (b) assess the approaches coaches use to help transfer these skills and life lessons outside of high school sport; and (c) assess perceived success rates in and barriers to the development and transfer of life skills in high school sports today. Research Questions To address these study purposes three main research questions will be pursued. The first research question is, what strategies do high school coaches use to facilitate the development of life skills in their student athletes? Secondly, the question of what strategies high school coaches use to help transfer the learned skills to life outside of sport will be investigated. A final research question is what are the perceived success rates of and barriers to life skills development in high school athletics? CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE Positive Youth Development Positive youth development is a broad term widely used within many fields of study that describes the process through which children and adolescents progress toward reaching their potential as physical, psychological, and social beings and the various outcomes of this growth (Hamilton, Hamilton & Pittman, 2003; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Throughout their development it is hoped that individuals not only acquire the attributes and capabilities that will lead to better quality of life during childhood and adolescence, but that this growth will continue to have an enduring and positive influence on one’s life into adulthood. In other words, with the passage of time and the accumulation of experiences, people are believed to discover the utility of and knowledge pertaining to how to implement various competencies and skill-sets that include clear communication and the development of connections with others, information processing and critical thinking, emotional awareness and control, service and citizenship, ethical and moral principles, responsibility, persistence, risk-taking, and psychological and physical health (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989; Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1995; Papacharisis et al., 2005). With these enhanced attributes and capabilities, individuals will then be better prepared to meet the challenges of day-to-day living and to be more productive contributors within the society they inhabit during childhood, adolescence and as independent adults. Unlike the more traditional problem-focused approach that was characteristic of many youth-based interventions of the past, those studying and implementing programs to facilitate youth development have more recently adopted a positive growth orientation (Eccles & Gootrnan, 2002; Hamilton et al., 2003). Youth developmentalists adopting this more affirmative and optimistic orientation focus their research, interventions and other efforts toward building on individuals’ strengths and capabilities such as adapting to a variety of contexts and interacting effectively with others (filling the tank) as opposed to methods adopted by the remedial approach that center around removing negative influences and reducing the presence of maladaptive characteristics and behaviors such as substance abuse and violence (changing the water). This more novel approach is believed to be an increasingly effective and holistic approach because it addresses and promotes a wide range of skills, knowledge, and other competencies that benefit individuals throughout their lifespan. Developmental outcomes: Life skills, competencies and assets. Considerable interest from both academic and community-level programs and organizations has been demonstrated for the identification and facilitation of these valuable developmental assets and competencies. Often referred to as life skills, these outcomes have been defined as “skills that enable individuals to succeed in the different environments in which they live, such as school, home and in their neighborhoods. Life skills can be behavioral (communicating effectively with peers and adults) or cognitive (making effective decisions); interpersonal (being assertive) or intrapersonal (setting goals)” (Danish et al., 2004, p. 40). As an awareness of the vast number of significant life skills has grown and in order to gain a better understanding of how to best design interventions to facilitate the development of these features, several attempts have been made to outline and categorize the potential areas for this personal gowth in youth and young adults. As a result, several classifications of developmental outcomes (or programmatic goals) relevant to the promotion of positive human development have been established. For example, Lerner and his colleagues (2000) have outlined the Five C’s of positive youth development. In this scheme, each of the interrelating C’s (i.e., competence, character, connections, confidence and contribution) represent a key area of potential human growth that is associated with better fimctioning and overall well-being (Lerner, Fisher & Weinberg, 2000; Pittman, Irby, Tolman, Yohalem & Ferber, 2002). Similarly, the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002) developed a more inclusive list of personal and social assets related to positive youth development that has been categorized into the four domains of physical development (e.g., health habits), intellectual development (e.g., critical thinking and decision-making skills), psychological/emotional development (e. g., coping skills, realistic optimism, and moral character) and social development (e.g., connectedness and attachment to prosocial institutions). One of the earliest, but arguably one of the most comprehensive efforts made to identify and classify critical areas for positive youth development was implemented by the Search Institute, an independent, non-profit organization that conducts research and provides services related to the promotion of youth and their communities (Benson, 1997). The resulting list of 40 developmental assets closely parallels the catalog developed by the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth, although some terminology discrepancies exist between the two conceptions. Additionally, the Search Institute’s listing differs from the previous categorizations in that it distinguishes between those assets that are located external to (e.g., support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time) versus those situated within (e.g., commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and positive identity) the individual. For a complete listing of the Search Institute’s 40 developmental assets see Table l. A closer look at the various lists of developmental assets (especially those internal to the individual) reveals the undeniable connection between and cyclical nature of the process and product of human development. As described by the Search Institute and others (Benson, 1997; Hamilton et al., 2003; Scales & Leffert, 1999), personal assets are not only the qualities, experiences and skills that are characteristic of happy, healthy, and well-functioning individuals (i.e., the developmental outcomes), but are also those factors that can further help an individual continue on the path of positive growth throughout one’s lifespan (i.e., features of the developmental process). For instance, the internal asset of ‘school engagement’ is not only a desirable trait for a young individual to acquire, but is also a factor that can lead to further growth in terms of enhanced learning, the development of close ties to adults and peers, etc. Similarly, the asset of self-esteem is a quality often targeted as an outcome of interventions, but can also be viewed as an attribute that, if possessed, helps individuals engage more effectively in their undertakings, which, in turn, can lead to additional growth and development. While this overlap in terms can make the discussion of positive youth development a bit muddied, the efforts made to identify and categorize these outcomes has proven fruitful for the real world application of this information because it has provided practitioners with a set of concrete objectives and programmatic goals that can direct efforts made to enhance the positive development of young people. Table 1 40 Develoflnental Assets Location Category Asset Label and Description External Support Family support - high levels of familial love and support Positive family communication - communicate positively and seeks advice and counsel from parent(s) Other adult relationships - support from three or more non- parent adults Caring neighborhood - experiences caring neighbors. Caring school climate — caring, encouraging school environment Parent involvement in schooling - parent(s) involved in facilitating school success Empower- Community values youth - perception that community adults ment ' value youth Youth as resources - provided useful roles in the community Service to others - serve in the community l+ hour/wk Safety - feel safe in the home, school, and neighborhood Boundaries Family boundaries —clear and monitored family rules and and consequences Expectations School boundaries - clear school rules and consequences Neighborhood boundaries - neighbors monitor youth behavior Adult role models - adults model positive, responsible behavior Positive peer influence - fi'iends model responsible behavior High expectations - parent(s)/teachers encourage youth Constructive Creative activities - 3+ hrs/wk in the arts Use Of Time Youth programs - 3+ hrs/wk in school/community programs Religious community - spend 1+ hrs/wk in religious activities Time at home — out with fiiends "with nothing special to do" 2 or fewer nights/wk Internal Commitment Achievement motivation - motivated to do well in school to Learning School engagement - actively engaged in learning Homework - reports doing at 1+ of homework on school days Bonding to school - care about school Reading for pleasure - read for pleasure 3+ hrs/wk Positive Caring - place high value on helping other people Values Equality and social justice - place high value on promoting equality and reducing hunger and poverty Integrity - act on convictions/stands up for her or his beliefs Honesty - tell the truth even when it is not easy Responsibility - accept and takes personal responsibility Restraint - not sexually active or using alcohol/drugs Table 1 (cont) Social Planning and decision making - know how to plan ahead and Competen- make choices. cies Interpersonal competence - empathy, sensitivity, and fiiendship skills Cultural competence - knowledge of and comfort with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds Resistance skills - resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations. Peaceful conflict resolution - resolve conflict nonviolently Positive Personal power — perceptions of control over things that Identity happen to them Self-esteem - report having a high self-esteem. Sense of purpose - report "my life has a purpose" Positive view of personal future - optimistic about one’s future Copyright © 2000 by Search Institute. All rights reserved This chart may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial use only (with this copyright line). N 0 other use is permitted without prior permission from Search Institute. Theoretical Foundation of Positive Youth Development To theoretically ground the principles of the positive youth development movement, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective has been frequently adopted (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). According to the ecological perspective, human development is not linear, but instead is experienced through both the progression and regression of growth. This waxing and waning experienced in personal development is impacted by many interacting micro- (e.g., family, neighbors and peers) and macro-systems (e.g., culture, religion and the media) that exist in one’s environment as well as personal factors such as past experiences, personal values and an individual’s perceptions of certain life events. Depending on the relative strength of a particular system, a person’s development may be facilitated or impeded, and the direction of this development is susceptible to change with time. For instance, an adolescent may be engaged in an intrinsically motivating extracurricular activity such as the debate team that 9 provides her with a sense of belonging and facilitates the development of her communication skills amongst a supportive and prosocial group of peers. However, if after a while, she receives pressure from her family to spend more time at home to take care of her younger siblings and is scolded for not being the dutiful young woman who is seen and not heard, the resulting experiences of guilt may create decreases in the aforementioned assets this individual had previously cultivated. A strength of the ecological perspective for supporting the research and practice of positive youth development is that it helps to illustrate the complex nature of this developmental change (Hamilton et al., 2003). It also speaks to the difficulty one will face when attempting to facilitate such change through limited exposure in terms of fi'equency and time. A single experience, although powerful, may not be as efficacious in promoting positive development as repeated exposures to certain skill building and perspective changing experiences. In fact, development is best facilitated by “engagement in activities that are regular and enduring and that are challenging in the sense of increasing complexity as people gain competence” and that provide exposure to positive and reciprocal relationships with others (Hamilton et al., 2003, pp. 13-14). In a study of over 1,800 adolescents engaged in organized extracurricular activities, the amount of time spent in a given activity was found to be a significant and linear contributor to understanding why programs were more or less successful at providing positive developmental experiences for their participants (Hansen & Larson, 2007). In other words, youth who reported spending more time (per week) engaged in a given organized after-school activity were also more likely to perceive they had experienced higher rates of developmental opportunities in these activities. Nevertheless, it is still 10 probably not enough to have extended exposure to meaningful developmental experiences in a single activity. For children and youth to acquire significant developmental gains, they must be exposed to complimentary experiences across their various micro-systems (Roth, 2004). Several other theories [i.e., learning theory, constructivist theory, collaborative learning theory, relationship theories (e.g., attachment theory), and sociological theories] have been proposed by Larson and Walker (2005) as useful means of structuring youth development research and programming. For example, the constructivist theory (e.g., Piaget, 1965) would help provide a framework based on the belief that youth are active participants in their developmental activities who are central in the meaning-making, experimentation and outcome interpretations of their own experiences. On the other hand, sociological theories [such as the aforementioned Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory of development] would be valuable for underlying any argument about the power of social norms and social capital in positive personal growth of children and adolescents. While Larson and Walker (2005) do stipulate that it is likely no single theory is most useful for explaining the process of all positive development and that a particular theory may best fit a given population or developmental activity, further research is needed to substantiate the utility of these theories for better understanding and implementing positive youth development initiatives. Positive Youth Development through Extracurricular Activity Participation In order for youth to be motivated to do the difficult work required for personal change in a given program, information provided and modeled behaviors must be viewed as meaningful, attractive and beneficial by the involved youth (Hamilton et al., 2003). ll Because of their engaging nature and the vast amount of time children and adolescents spend in free-time endeavors (i.e., more than 50% of their waking hours), extracurricular programs have been judged to be potentially useful arenas for the promotion of life skills development (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1992; Danish, F azio, Nellen, & Owens, 2002; Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 1993; Eccles & Barber, 1999; Eccles & Gootrnan, 2002; Eccles & Templeton, 2002; Larson, 2000; Larson & Verma, 1999; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). These activities are considered fruitful for facilitating positive growth in their participants because their benefits do more than simply preoccupy youth during their free-time and provide alternatives to the risky behaviors that many young individuals choose to engage in during unstructured time. It is within these pastimes, ranging fiom community-based service, drama, and art programs to school-sponsored music and sport activities, that children and adolescents can be exposed to unique, diverse and appealing growth opportunities and the teaching, demonstration, and modeling of desirable behaviors and qualities by positive adult role models and prosocial peers. Therefore, extracurriculars, if appropriately structured and implemented, are useful modes for carrying out the objectives central to the positive youth development movement. These objectives are achieved in many settings through the provision of opportunities that expand the horizons of participating children and adolescents through tasks and challenges that grow competencies and help the youth accumulate resources. As a result of their participation, youth engaged in out-of-school programming experiences have exhibited several of the positive outcomes believed to help them thrive in their present environments as well as prosper in their future adult endeavors. More specifically, engagement in extracm'riculars has been linked with positive development in 12 areas such as academics (e.g., increases in academic expectations and grades, graduation rates, post-secondary schooling), interpersonal skills (e.g., effective communication with significant others, prosocial behaviors, multicultural awareness and competence), the accumulation of beneficial skills and resources (e.g., initiative, motivation, responsibility and social capital), and the avoidance of or decreased engagement in risky and problem behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, antisocial behavior, crime, etc. (Bodilly & Beckett, 2005; Grossman & Tierney, 1998; Larson et al., 2004; Mahoney, 2000; Mahoney, Larson, Eccles, & Lord, 2005; Scales, Benson, Leffert & Blyth, 2000). In a series of focus groups conducted with adolescents participating in a variety of out-of-school activities, Dworkin, Larson and Hansen (2003) identified six domains of development youth perceived to be characteristic of extracurricular activity participation. These developmental experiences included identity work and exploration (e. g., tried new things and learned about my personal limits), initiative development (e.g., learned to set goals and take responsibility for myself), emotional regulation (e.g., learned to block out negative emotions that could interfere with attention and performance), peer relationship development and knowledge (e.g., experiences of empathy and loyalty for others), teamwork and social skills (e.g., learned about leadership and how to take and give feedback) and adult networks and social capital (e. g., received support from group leaders and community members). Additionally, youth surveyed in another study conducted by Hansen and his colleagues reported that several of these benefits (e. g., opportunities for the development of initiative, emotional regulation, teamwork skills, and fonning ties with members in one’s community) were more likely to come from their various extracurricular activity experiences as compared to other daily activities such as 13 participating in academic classes and spending unstructured time with their peers (Hansen, Larson & Dworkin, 2003). Beyond generating a list of the types of experiences had throughout extracunicular activity participation, these researches also learned that the various extracurricular activities provided youth with unique opportunities through which they were allowed to direct their own personal growth (Dworkin et al., 2003). This finding is in line with an aforementioned foundational belief espoused by the positive youth development movement: youth can and should be active participants in their own development. It should not go without saying; however, that positive transformations are more likely to occur if people are given the chance to experiment with and cultivate their skills and ideas in a safe environment amongst supportive significant others. One’s proactive participation in growth experiences is certainly a crucial element, but is alone, not sufficient. More so than other activities available in other facets of young peoples’ lives (e. g., school and unstructured free time with fiiends), extracuniculars can provide youth with engaging activities that create especially effective opportunities for growth experiences. Additionally, because these programs are often self-selected, youth are more likely to become deeply involved both cognitively and emotionally and exhibit higher states of motivation and attention when participating (Eccles, Barber, Stone & Hunt, 2003; Larson, 2000; Larson et a1. 2004). In these elevated states of engagement, the participants are then more likely to be active agents in their own development, experience greater learning outcomes and demonstrate hardier resilience in the face of adversity within the developmental process. Furthermore, extracurricular activities often 14 embody powerful elements such as the provision of a consistent schedule, positive adult leadership, a demand for high levels of sustained attention, and opportunities for personally meaningful and relevant participation in a school-based activity (Fredricks & Eccles, 2005). Beyond the intrinsically motivating nature of extracurricular activities, other programmatic characteristics typical of out-of-school programming that have been associated with healthy development are opportunities to: (a) make a difference in and gain a sense of connectedness with one’s community; (b) cultivate diverse social networks of individuals who can offer support in the present and future; (c) develop a clearer sense of identity in regards to one’s group membership; and ((1) practice self- regulation and responsibility for oneself and others (Eccles et al., 2003; Larson, 2006). Furthermore, these programs not only allow the participating youth to acquire skills that are pertinent to the parameters and demands of the activity at hand, but also provide opportunities to practice these skills that are also utilized in the adult world (e.g., working with others, dealing with stress, tackling ethical dilemmas) within a supportive environment that provides guidance through the various challenges of the learning process. Positive Youth Development through Sport Participation Because of the considerable number of participating youth (approximately 45 million children 18 years and younger each year in the United States) and because of the value society places on these activities, it has been suggested that among the various extracurricular programs, sport can be a particularly powerful promoter of positive youth development (e.g., Danish, Petitpas & Hale, 1990; Ewing, Seefeldt & Brown, 1996; 15 Smith & Smoll, 1996). Some of the outcomes sport and physical activity programs have been found to cultivate have been identity exploration and formation, increased self- confidence and internal locus of control, goal setting, persistence, problem solving, teamwork, managing emotions, time management and leadership skills (Arimond & Petrick, 1998; Danish, Taylor & Fazio, 2003; Petitpas & Champagne, 2000). Others have identified the development of attributes such as self-esteem, initiative and responsibility, prosocial attitudes and enhanced character and moral reasoning, and achievements such as improved academic success through sport participation (e. g., Bredemeier, & Shields, 1986; Hansen, Larson, & Dworkin, 2003; Hellison & Cutforth, 1997; Miller, Bredemeier & Shields, 1997; Papacharisis et al., 2005; Smoll, Smith, Barnett, & Everett, 1993). As mentioned previously, Larson and his colleagues compared the various developmental experiences of youth participating in sport and other extracurricular activities with those experiences had in alternative involvements such as school (i.e., math class) and unstructured free-time (i.e., hanging out with fiiends) across several large scale studies (Hansen, Larson & Dworkin, 2003; Larson, Hansen & Moneta, 2006). Even after controlling for factors such as gender, year in school, ethnicity, and parents’ educational and employment histories, significant differences in developmental experiences of the different activities were reported. As compared to the alternative activities, extracurricular activity, in general, was more likely to provide opportunities for the development of identity, initiative, emotional regulation, teamwork and social skills, positive interpersonal relationships, and supportive adult networks (Hansen et al., 2003). When sport participation was isolated and compared with involvement in the alternative activities, athletes rated sport as more likely to promote the development of self- 16 knowledge, emotional regulation, and physical skills than the alternate activities. Unfortunately, sport participation was also judged to be more likely to expose youth to negative peer interactions (e.g., social exclusion) and inappropriate adult behaviors (e. g., feeling pressured to do something they did not want to do by an adult leader). Furthermore, out of all activities represented, athletics was the only one for which participants reported having greater negative experiences than those had in the academic setting and during time spent with friends. In a follow-up study (that also controlled for the frequency of participation and geographical region), slightly contrasting results were found (Larson et al., 2006). More specifically, as compared to hanging out with fiiends and participating in an academic class, adolescents reported greater experiences of initiative work (e.g., using effort, setting goals and learning time management), but lower rates of identity-related experiences and the cultivation of positive peer relationships. As compared to other extracurriculars, athletes in this sample perceived that sports were more likely to provide developmental experiences for initiative, teamwork and emotional regulation, but were also more likely to expose the youth to stress due to the achievement focus and public tests of abilities inherent to the sporting context. While the identification of positive developmental outcomes has occurred across activities and participant groups, the single line of research conducted by Larson and his colleagues clearly highlights the inconsistent findings of past youth development through sport research. On the one hand, evidence for the power of sport participation to enhance well-being and to provide skill building opportunities and outcomes has been thoroughly documented. For example, research exploring the effectiveness of moral development 17 interventions that used sport and physical activity as vehicles for disseminating the programs’ lessons has demonstrated moral reasoning can be enhanced in young children through well-structured training programs (Bredemeier, Weiss, Shields & Shewchuck, 1986; Gibbons, Ebbeck, & Weiss, 1995). More specifically, a six-week sport camp designed to convey lessons regarding fairness, sharing, verbal and physical aggression, and distributive and retributive justice was found to be effective in promoting growth among the five to seven year old participants who took part in the training programs (Bredemeier et al., 1986). This program utilized various techniques including teacher and peer modeling, reinforcement, group discussions, teachable moments, and direct instruction of appropriate behavioral responses to given situations to convey the target lessons and achieve skill development. Sport participation has also been linked with development in the cognitive and intellectual realms, with observed outcomes associated with sport participation including improved academic achievement, attitudes and aspirations (e.g., Eccles & Barber, 1999; Fej gin, 1994; Marsh, 1992; McNeal, 1995; Whitley, 1999) as well as related behaviors and characteristics such as better school attendance, being in an academic track, taking more demanding coursework, increased time spent on homework, and improved academic self-concept (Marsh, 1993). For instance, several projects using the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions database (MSALT - a large-scale database that contains data from a cohort 10 school districts around southeast Michigan) have concluded that many extracurricular activities (including sport) were positively related to several educational outcomes (e.g., increased liking of school in grades 10 and 12, better than expected high school GPAs in grade 12, and a greater than expected likelihood of 18 attending college full time at age 21) even after controlling for factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, mother’s level of education, and prior intellectual aptitude (Eccles & Barber, 1999; Eccles, Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003). Similarly, results from a longitudinal project conducted by Whitley (1999) indicated that athletes were more likely to report higher grades, maintain better attendance records, and accumulate fewer discipline referrals than their non-athlete counterparts. Even more recently, Barron, Ewing, and Waddell (2000) used two large-scale nationally representative data sets to illustrate the attainment of higher education levels among athletes as compared to non-athletes after controlling for the intellectual ability and prior educational attainment of those surveyed. Interestingly, a review of the A literature conducted by F eldman and Matkj asko (2005) concluded that the more recent research has consistently uncovered these encouraging results among both males and females, whereas earlier work tended to show more preferential outcomes for males. On the other hand, research has also indicated that the inherent structure of the sporting context and inappropriate involvement of peers, parents, adult leaders and community members can just as easily promote the development of negative attitudes and behaviors (e. g., violence, substance abuse and gambling) and perpetuate negative experiences in its participants (e. g., Dworkin & Larson, 2007; Hanson et al., 2003; Larson et al., 2006; Petitpas & Champagne, 2000), with a number of investigations having identified negative outcomes correlating with participation in sport. For example, as compared to their non-athlete peers, youth participating in sport have reported experiencing increased pressure, stress, and alcohol use, and exhibiting lower levels of moral reasoning (e.g., Eccles & Barber, 1999; Larson et al., 2006; Shields & Bredemeier, 19 1995, 2001; Stephens, Bredemeier, & Shields, 1997). Moreover, sport participation has also been associated with negative physical outcomes (e. g., sport-related injuries and eating disorders), lowered self-confidence due to excessive pressure to win and unfavorable peer comparisons and interactions, experiences of burnout, and the legitimization of aggressive and/or violent acts (Anshel,.2004; Coakley, 1992; Gardner & Janelle, 2002; Reel & Gill, 1996; Wankel & Mummery, 1990). In an investigation of the potential risks (and benefits) associated with participation in extracurricular activities, Eccles and Barber (2001) examined the risky behaviors of drinking, getting drunk, skipping school and using drugs as reported by 1,259 adolescents in the tenth and twelfth grades (note: data were taken from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions dataset, which was collected longitudinally from 1983). The data demonstrated that while participating in team sports was linked to positive academic outcomes, participation in these activities in the tenth grade was also significantly related to an increased risk of using alcohol and becoming drunk by the twelfth grade. These results remained significant even when level of maternal education, athlete gender, and intellectual ability were statistically controlled. Using qualitative methodology, Dworkin and Larson (2007) outlined some of the negative developmental experiences reported by youth in a variety of organized extracurricular activities. While results were organized by themes and not by activity type, many of the direct quotes within the vast majority of the data came from youth recounting experiences related to sport. Those negative instances mentioned by youth athletes included negative peer behavior (i.e., unsportsmanlike behavior), cliques that disrupted productivity and produced stress in teammates and coaches, peer pressure to 20 use (what the researchers deduced was) alcohol, favoritism on the part of coaches, coaches who were disrespectful or demeaning, coaches’ unrealistic expectations, poor adult leadership, and inappropriate adult behavior (e.g., cheating). Others reported experiencing performance anxiety, stress after poor performances, guilt from letting teammates down, disappointment in one’s own behaviors (e.g., losing captainship because not fulfilling the role), pressure from parents, and inappropriate fan behavior from their experiences in sports. While the smaller sample size of this research project (n=55) limits the generalizability of the results to all sport participants, the themes identified in the study were in line with the previous examining negative experiences associated with sport involvement (e. g., Eccles & Barber, 2001). Furthermore, the dominance of sport-related examples within the recounted themes speaks to the growing concern that sport involvement poses many potential risks in addition to the benefits young athletes can incur. With some sport programs apparently cultivating positive developmental outcomes and others promoting the adoption of more maladaptive attitudes and behaviors, it has become clear that mere participation in athletics does not guarantee positive development. In order for sport to provide participating youth with the means to develop valuable skills that extend beyond the playing field to life outside of sport, programs must be appropriately structured, supervised and consistently implemented over a significant period of time (Hodge, 1989; Mahoney & Stattin, 2000; McCallister, Blinde & Weiss, 2000). Therefore, the question of which qualities distinguish the more versus less effective programs has been regularly raised. 21 Effective Program Components and Characteristics Looking across youth experiences in various extracurricular activities and evaluations of current life skills development programs, several factors have been identified as being useful for facilitating positive youth development. For example, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development (1995) identified program characteristics such as lessons in forming productive relationships with others, opportunities for learning and practicing decision making skills, exposure to support systems and other resources, and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as being essential for promoting personal and social growth in adolescents. Summarizing the literature on effective youth development through sport practices, Petitpas and Champagne (2000) also recommended programs provide their participants with caring adult mentors, facilitate the process of identifying and developing transferable life skills, involve youth in leadership experiences outside of sport and involve parents and other significant others in efforts to promote positive youth development. In another initiative, the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth developed a list of factors embodied by programs and initiatives that were judged to be more likely to promote positive development in their participants (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002). More specifically, program features that were regarded as having the most potential to facilitate exposure to, effective instruction of, and the adoption of developmental assets were: (a) physical and psychological safety; (b) appropriate structure; (c) supportive relationships; (d) opportunities to belong; (e) positive social norms; (f) support for efficacy and mattering; and (g) integration of family, school and community efforts. A program that provides physical and 22 psychological safety is one that protects the bodily well—being of its participants by reducing and/or eliminating dangers such as insecure meeting spaces and dangerous means of getting to and from its facilities. Additionally, a program that upholds this standard cultivates psychological safety through the provision and support of positive peer and participant-leader interactions that lead to feelings of satisfaction and self-worth as opposed to fear and dej ection. Appropriate structure refers to the communication and the consistent reinforcement of roles and expectations. Additionally, this factor suggests leaders should have age-appropriate expectations of participants’ abilities to remain within the delineated boundaries. Similarly, the program feature of positive social norms is believed to help foster positive development. This factor is characterized by the establishment of clear expectation of behavior and the promotion of an explicit set of morals and values. By providing supportive relationships, programs are fostering a sense of warmth, caring, closeness, guidance, support and effective communication between its members. When surrounded by compassionate, trustworthy and encouraging peers and adults, adolescents are more likely to successfirlly navigate though the exploration and development of their personal grth and asset building experiences. The fourth feature of positive developmental settings as proposed by the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth illustrates the need for opportunities to belong (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002). More specifically, by giving members a sense of inclusion within a specific group, youth are able to not only develop and refine social skills, but also work on identity development in reference to their group-relevant peers. Some of the most successful youth development programs also facilitate efficacy building and mattering amongst their 23 young participants. To achieve this objective, the counsel recommends youth leaders utilize strategies that empower, grant responsibility to and challenge the youth as well as provide feedback pertaining to personal imprOvement to help establish a sense of perceived competence. These efficacy beliefs, in turn, promote individuals’ motivation to continue to engage in the learning and performance of the positive, group-relevant behaviors and activities. In addition to increasing the belief that one is an important and capable being, opportunities to actually become a more physically, intellectually, psychologically, emotionally and socially skilled individual are a central and necessary component of a program aimed at positive youth development. More successful programs not only help those involved strengthen skills directly related to the activity at hand, but also promote the advancement of skills that enable the participants to be well- rounded, prepared, and well-resourced individuals in general life. This last component mentioned by the committee (i.e., the integration of family, school and community efforts) is one of the most difficult objectives for a program to achieve (Hamilton et al., 2003). Efforts can certainly be made to involve, educate and incorporate the various systems surrounding individuals participating in a particular program; however, it is overly ambitious to expect a single group to achieve system-wide coordination and change amongst all of its members. The Role of Adult Leaders These powerful initiatives and environmental factors rarely, if ever, come to fi'uition without the intentional efforts on behalf of invested and competent adults. In fact, when considering the sport context, coaches are believed to be the individuals with the most powerful influence over youth athletes’ behaviors (LeUnes & Nation, 1983). 24 Additionally, the vast majority of the variables identified as being essential for the promotion of positive development in youth sport and physical activity participants (e. g., establishing clear set rules, expectations and individual roles, providing consistent leadership, showing care and concern and emphasizing the value of group membership) are under the direct control of a program’s adult leader (Hellison & Cutforth, 1997). Therefore, the identification of the qualities, skills, and knowledge requirements of effective youth development professionals and the recruitment of competent individuals to youth-based activities and programs should be an utmost priority. While not specifically focused on life skills per se, a powerful line of sport psychology research has been conducted by Smith, Smoll and their colleagues (1979, 1992, 1993, 1995) examining how the actions and training of volunteer youth sport coaches influenced the psychosocial development and well-being of youth athletes. The initial investigation examined how certain coaching behaviors and feedback influenced the attitudes athletes had and/or developed relevant to themselves, their coach, and their sport participation in general (Smith, Smoll & Curtis, 1979). From the results of this study, the researchers created a training program that utilized a set of practical guidelines designed to teach coaches how to improve their interactions with athletes in order to facilitate positive outcomes such as increased self-esteem, motivation, and liking of the coach, their teammates and their sport participation. This program, titled Coach Effectiveness Training (CET), focused on improving coaches’ abilities to successfully implement techniques relevant to encouragement, reinforcement and skills instruction, and adopting a positive coaching perspective. More specifically, coaches were taught to foster a commitment to and focus on individual effort and skill development as opposed 25 to an overemphasis on winning. This objective was carried out through the use of consistent reinforcement for effort and performance. Furthermore, coaches were persuaded to decrease their use of punishment (which has been associated with increases in stress and decreases in sport enjoyment) and to instead provide encouragement after mistakes and give instruction focused on technique in a manner that was encouraging and supportive. In a follow-up study, the CET program was evaluated in terms of its efficacy for producing the intended positive outcomes in the athletes of trained coaches (Smoll, Smith, Barnett & Everett, 1993). It was determined that coaches who completed the training, as compared to coaches who were not exposed to the CET program, had athletes who were more satisfied with their coaches, teammates, and the competitive season. Additionally, athletes of trained coaches were found to have greater increases in self- esteem across the season and demonstrated higher levels of motivation in the athletic context. Further empirical support has been gathered for the value of training coaches to use a positive approach, with trained coaches having lower levels of competitive anxiety amongst their athletes and lower drop-out rates on their teams as compared to untrained coaches (Barnett, Smoll & Smith, 1992; Smith, Smoll & Barnett, 1995). Overall, it appears that coaching behaviors and relationship—building skills are critical for fostering a climate necessary for athletes to engage in and benefit from potential growth experiences in sport. In a recent study, Gould and Carson (2007) further highlighted the importance of the quality of coaching on the development of youth athletes. More specifically, 190 university freshmen and sophomores who self—reported as former high school athletes 26 completed a battery of surveys that included the Youth Experiences Survey-2 (Hansen & Larson, 2005) and the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (COté, Yardley, Hay, Sedgwick & Baker, 1999). These instruments assessed participants’ perceptions of positive and negative developmental experiences they had in their primary high school sport and various behaviors the coaches of these sports performed. Results indicated that, on the one hand, athletes who reported having coaches who facilitated competition strategies and goal setting practices, developed a positive rapport with athletes, and talked about how sport lessons related to life were more likely to also report they had experienced developmental opportunities related to emotional regulation, cognitive skills, feedback, pro-social norms, and links to community through their high school sport participation. On the other hand, athletes who reported greater negative rapport with their coach were less likely to perceive their coach as someone who helped them work on mental preparation, goal setting, competition strategies and motivation to work hard on one’s own. These athletes were also more likely to indicate they had experienced stress, social exclusion, and negative group dynamics while participating in their primary high school sport. These findings highlight the central importance of a coach’s ability to first build positive relationships with his or her athletes before any significant developmental progress can occur. Literature in other fields can also help inform the process of how coaches influence the development of life skills in young people. For example, through a review of the literature, organizational research and her professional practice knowledge, Yohalem (2003) developed a model for successful youth development professional competencies. In terms of knowledge and skills, it was suggested that program leaders be 27 competent in relationship building with youth and their families. More specifically, it is beneficial if adult leaders are proficient in developing positive rapport, respect, open communication and trust with the youth and their parents. Strong and reciprocal relationships are an essential ingredient for the establishment of safe developmental environments and will send the message that the children and/or adolescents are valued and seen as capable of positive growth and change. Of course, these relationships take time and effort to develop, so programs that allow for more contact hours and extended participation are even more likely to produce desirable developmental outcomes (Hansen & Larson, 2007). Youth professionals should also have an awareness and understanding of pertinent educational, ecological and social theory as well as the current and most pressing issues facing the young individuals with whom they are working (Y ohalem, 2003). Program structure, practices and goals are more focused, relevant and meaningful if established principles from the fields of child and adolescent development are applied and if the contexts of those individuals in the programs are taken into consideration. While the provision of supportive relationships for youth is necessary for positive development, they alone are not sufficient for optimal growth. So, it is also crucial that an adult leader be aware of and be able to implement those program qualities previously discussed that help facilitate optimal growth and positive experiences amongst the youth (e.g., safe environment, clear and meaningful roles and responsibilities, challenge for exploring new behaviors and experiences, etc.). Yohalem (2003) suggested that in addition to possessing relevant knowledge and skills, it is perhaps of equal importance that youth professionals have a set of 28 characteristics that are related to successful work in the youth development field. These qualities include optimism, consistency, flexibility (which is not exclusive of consistency), and passion for youth and the work that is required to empower these individuals to develop into capable, positive and involved members of their communities. It is more than likely that the qualities and skills of more versus less successful youth development professionals are dependent on the context in which one is operating. To assess the adult leaders’ role in life skills development in the sporting context, Gould, Collins, Lauer and Chung (2007) interviewed 10 former National Football League High School Coach of the Year nominees. As nominees for this prestigious award, these individuals were recognized for both their teams’ successes on the field and for making a real difference in their player’s lives and personal development off the field. To better understand how these highly successfirl practitioners made such a significant impact on their players, they were asked about their perceptions of and experiences with using the coaching strategies deemed most critical for the personal development of high school, football student-athletes. The resulting themes demonstrated the intricate role a coach plays in facilitating the personal growth of his or her athletes and the care these individuals must take to implement the strategies that will help promote the desired personal growth. More specifically, a coach who was effective at developing life skills in his or her student athletes was found to have a clear philosophy regarding the importance of and ways to achieve desired developmental outcomes and makes these objectives a priority on and off the field. These individuals also have and communicate clear expectations for players, maintain a select group of rules, consistently hold players accountable for upholding these rules, and use flexibility and ‘tough love’ practices when 29 rules are broken and punishment must be applied. Finally, these coaches felt it necessary to continually emphasize and highlight lessons in discipline, teamwork, individual roles and emotional control when working with the youth on their teams. While interesting, this study included only 10 coaches from one sport and no female coaches were interviewed. Future investigations are needed to further support and extend these findings. Positive Youth Development Program Evaluations With a better understanding of what elements should be in place for a program to be most effective in facilitating the positive development of its young members, a significant amount of the research in the positive youth development through sport area has focused on the effectiveness of intervention-based programs that have used sport and physical activity as vehicles for promoting the development of their youth participants. While these programs differ significantly in terms of the degree to which they integrate actual physical activities and resemble more naturalistic sport involvement, youth participants across all of these programs are exposed to life skills lessons that tend to be more highly structured and intentionally implemented than what occurs on a typical junior high or high school sport team. A highly successful and nationally recognized youth development sport initiative is the National Football Foundation’s Play it Smart program. This comprehensive and long-term intervention focuses on the promotion of the academic, athletic, career and personal capabilities of inner-city high school athletes through lessons in and the development of skills related to teamwork, sportsmanship, respect for rules, and the value of community service. The specific goals of Play it Smart are to enhance among 30 l disadvantaged student-athletes their: (a) academic involvement and performance (i.e., GPA, number of students taking the SAT or ACT, standardized test scores, graduation rate, access to higher education opportunities); (b) development of life Skills; (c) opportunities for community service; and (d) ties to family and significant others (“About Play It Smart”, n.d.). This program is carried out by a well-trained “Academic Coach” who works with a particular team for a full year, functions much like one of the assistant coaches, and focuses primarily on the off-the-field development of the participating adolescents. The objectives of the academic coach’s involvement are the identification of the values, needs, interests and skills of the particular team through group activities and one-on-one meetings. This coach also helps establish a goal setting program and provides tangible support such as monitoring students’ academic progress, providing resources for college preparation, structuring community service opportunities, and offering the support needed to overcome goal roadblocks. Throughout the year-long program, true system-wide change is pursued through the education of the local coaching staff and the involvement of athletes’ families and the community at large. An assessment of the Play it Smart program indicated that this intervention does indeed have the potential to facilitate positive development in its young participants (Petitpas, 2000; Petitpas, Van Raalte, Cornelius & Presby, 2004). More specifically, participants of a pilot program exhibited increases in GPAS, significantly higher SAT scores than the general school population, a 98 percent graduation rate, 83 percent of participants pursuing higher education, and almost 2,000 hours of community service completed across teams from the four schools assessed. 31 A framework commonly used to structure sport-based life skills programs is Hellison’s (1995) Personal and Social Responsibility Model. This approach encourages youth to become more aware of and apply strategies related to respecting others, self- regulation, effort and motivation, and taking responsibility for one’s own and others’ well-being. Hellison and others have used this concept to structure physical activity and sport programs for underserved youth, with the purpose of teaching these individuals a sense of personal respect and responsibility and facilitating the development of related outcomes such as resiliency, a sense of belonging and ownership. Project Effort is one such sport-based developmental program that utilizes Hellison’s model to promote positive growth amongst middle school and high school adolescents attending one of two sports clubs (Martinek, McLaughlin & Schilling, 1999). Participants in these clubs attend weekly sessions that follow a highly structured format designed to engage the youth in physical activity as well as discussions and reflective activities centered on the program goals (i.e., resiliency and academic success). More specifically, lessons of personal responsibility and responsibility for others are interwoven throughout sport club practices that involve unstructured free-time (to promote the practice of self-direction), group discussions of club goals, expectations and activities, structured games (e.g., basketball, martial arts, etc), competitive games, group debriefings concerning personal and group performances and progress, and individual reflection activities. Youth who are members of the Project Effort sport clubs are also given access to one-on-one, in-school mentoring sessions. An evaluation of the Project Effort Program uncovered slight increases in participants’ GPAS and improved behavioral indicators (i.e., decreased frequencies of teacher reprimands and in-school office referrals). Furthermore, through 32 interviewing, program participants offered confirmation that they perceived personal growth in the areas of responsibility both inside and outside of the sport program. Steve Danish and his colleagues of the Life Skills Center at Virginia Commonwealth University have developed and assessed the effectiveness of several well-known programs whose objectives have been to increase the awareness and development of certain life skills. However, unlike those initiatives previously mentioned, the participants of these programs do not actually engage in sport or physical activity as part of the structured intervention. Instead, sports are used as a contextual backdrop for the teaching and review of the programs’ lessons. One of these programs is Going for the Goal (GOAL; Danish, Meyer, Mash, Howard, Curl, Brunelle, & Owens, 1998). The aim of this IO-hour, lO-session program is to help adolescents gain a more positive perspective of their future and to help cultivate a sense of personal control and confidence through the application of goal setting strategies. Using positive peer role models (trained high school students) as the program instructors, middle school and junior high students are exposed to goal setting lessons (i.e., the importance of dreams and goals, how to set effective goals, how to manage obstacles and setbacks, available support for goal achievement, how to find and utilize these resources, the importance of rewarding goal achievement, and the identification of present strengths which one can cultivate and extend) and are challenged to work through relevant case scenarios. In an evaluation of the effectiveness of the GOAL program with a sample of 20 adolescents (ranging from 14 to 16 years in age), Fomiers, Danish and Scott (2007) concluded that with proper implementation, youth participating in the GOAL program experienced increases in their abilities to set and work toward obtaining goals, to solve problems 33 through reflection and identifying viable options for overcoming obstacles, and to identify and seek out appropriate and relevant sources of social support. Positive Development and Life Skill Transfer A foundational assumption of the positive youth development through sports discussion is that the growth that occurs within the sporting context is eventually transferred to and utilized effectively in other life domains. Of course, it makes intuitive sense that if skills such as goal setting, problem solving, effectively processing feedback, demonstration of hard work ethic, and emotional regulation can be applied to the challenges of physical training and competition they should also be available to the individual in contexts such as school, the workplace, family, and various other social contexts. However, it is more likely that this transfer of skills happens haphazardly, if at all, because athletes may not be aware that they have acquired skills that may be of use to them outside of sport and/or may not have the requisite knowledge or confidence for carrying out the actual transfer if a later opportunity should arise (Danish, Petitpas & Hale, 1993). Unless initial learning experiences are structured in a way that transfer is addressed and practice of the skills outside of sport is encouraged the likelihood that sport skills will become life skills is small at best (Danish, 2002; Paparacharisis et al., 2005). More specifically, Petitpas, Cornelius, Van Raalte and Jones (2005) have suggested that for transfer to take place, learning and development must take place in an appropriate context, be carried out by caring adults and within a positive group, and must encompass the skills that are particularly meaningful and important for youth to most effectively meet the challenges of their specific environments. 34 One program that has been found to be particularly successful at facilitating the development of life skills in its participants as well as the transfer of these skills to other life arenas is First Tee (The First Tee, 2005), a developmental program that utilizes the sport of golf as a means of providing participants with lessons and opportunities to practice and develop skills in the areas of honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, courtesy, judgment, confidence, responsibility and perseverance. In an evaluation study of the First Tee program, Weiss (2006) interviewed 95 children and adolescent athletes (ages 11 to 17 years), 24 parents of participating athletes and 26 First Tee Coaches as to the knowledge pertaining to and implementation of behaviors related to the program goals at home, in school, in various social situations and at the workplace. The interviews revealed promising results that included citations from all 95 participants of instances when they had transferred the ‘meet and greet’ skills and were able to manage negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors in other contexts (e.g., school, home, other sports, or with Siblings, peers, and parents). In addition, 94 percent of the youth cited examples of when they had transferred respect to others and 95 percent demonstrated controlling negative emotions in other life contexts. Finally, over 90 percent of all interviewed youth could clearly define and verbally apply the concept of wellness and recounted experiences of how their participation in the First Tee program led them to adopt a greater appreciation and understanding of diversity. Unfortunately, even well-designed and carefully implemented pro grams often find difficulty in aiding the transfer of the lessons and skills acquired during activity time to life outside of the program’s immediate context. For example, Martinek, Schilling and Johnson (2001) not only evaluated the effectiveness of their Project Effort program for 35 developing social responsibility within its elementary-aged participants, but also assessed whether or not the youth were transferring the use of these skills to their academic lives (a central goal of the program). Transfer was evaluated by the degree to which the four central objectives (i.e., effort, self-direction, self-control, and caring) were applied in the classroom setting according to information gathered from pro gram mentors, classroom teachers and exit interviews with each participant. More specifically, if an individual exhibited behaviors within all four target areas some or most of the time (as judged by the classroom teachers), they were considered to have achieved high transference. If two to three behaviors were demonstrated some or most of the time, the child’s behavior was designated as medium transference. Finally, a label of low transference was given if only one or none of the program goals were consistently performed in the classroom setting. Analyses of the data indicated that of the 16 participants involved in the program, 10 (or 62%) were rated as having demonstrated medium to high levels of skill transfer, while six (3 7%) youth exhibited only low levels of transference. Furthermore some behaviors were more successfully transferred to the school setting than others (e.g., effort was more easily and frequently applied in the classroom than behaviors such as setting personal goals and showing care and concern for others). One caveat that must be considered, however, is that the transfer of these skills and attitudes is not a quick process. Although the evaluation of Project Effort was carried out over a six month period, perhaps greater levels of transfer would have been observed if the youth had been tracked over a longer period of time. While research on the transferability of life skills is only now beginning, it is fortunate that professional practice literature from other disciplines has provided coaches 36 and other practitioners working with youth in sport contexts strategies that can be adopted to increase the likelihood of the application of the capabilities acquired through participation in athletics to life outside of sport. For example, the conditions outlined by Gass (1985) for the transfer of skills gained through experiential education can be easily modified for use with youth coaches and their athletes. A central objective of any program aimed at promoting positive development should be to structure activities and lessons so that participants are aware fiom the beginning of their involvement that the skills they are developing can be utilized in other contexts. Furthermore, the idea of and instructions for skill transfer should be consistently reinforced throughout the duration of their involvement and opportunities for follow-up should be provided. Another factor that enhances the likelihood of successful skill transfer is if the learning environment and other applicable contexts share similar aspects. In other words, the positive attribute of initiative, if learned in sport, may easily transfer to another activity that requires physical discipline such as participation in physical education classes or doing chores when asked, but may not transfer to a cognitive activity such as doing one’s homework on time. Clear similarities between contexts may not always exist or may not be obvious to the young learner, so an important task of a program leader is to engage the youth in discussions during which parallels that exist between the contexts are highlighted. Other suggestions proposed by Gass (1985) to facilitate skill transfer are to provide ample opportunities for individuals to practice adapting the skills to different activities and between different contexts. The learner should not be expected to only engage in this practice on his or her own time, but should be given the opportunity to test out this transfer in situations during which he or she can receive guidance and feedback. 37 Additionally, the participants should be encouraged to reflect on their practice and experiences of transferring skills so that their awareness is increased and their learning is more thoroughly solidified. Finally, if possible, having new learners interact with peers who have previously practiced and implemented the skills in other contexts provides the young learners with vicarious experiences of the desired transfer. When implementing life skills training in their youth developmental programs, Danish and his colleagues have adopted several of the strategies outlined by Gass (1985) (Danish, Taylor & Fazio, 2003). In their various programs, these researchers and practitioners facilitated the development and transfer of life skills outside of athletics within the physically-skill based lessons by: (a) having discussions with participants about the importance of physical and ‘mental skills’ (or life skills) to sport performance; (b) providing examples and demonstrations of how these mental skills are practiced and cultivated both inside and outside of sport; (0) creating opportunities for athletes to practice these skills within the sport setting; (d) helping athletes develop a plan for and carry out the plan to utilize the skills outside of sport; and (e) debriefing with athletes the successes and failures of using the skills in the sport and other life contexts. These strategies have been deemed useful in terms of involving life skill lessons within an athletic context, while still distancing the skills enough from the sport environment so that participants can appreciate how the assets are usefirl beyond their sporting experiences. Conclusion As an increased presence in the literature reveals, there is a considerable interest in life skills through extracurricular activity participation research. While the efficacy of 38 out—of—school programming for facilitating the development of these assets has been questioned, most researchers and practitioners have seemed to come to the conclusion that the potential benefits of extracurricular and sport participation outweigh the potential detriments (Gould & Carson, 2008). However, if advocates for these programs have hopes for maintaining the programs’ positive reputation of being worthwhile and beneficial endeavors for growmg and developing youth, they must be more purposeful and comprehensive in their approach to structuring opportunities that can positively influence the development of the young participants. Adult leaders in the activity contexts (e.g., coaches), therefore, play a crucial role in the extracurricular-life skill development link. These leaders must not only foster a supportive and caring program environment, but also provide supportive relationships and conditions and use intentional strategies to foster exposure to important life lessons and facilitate the development of life skills. Currently, a gap still remains in the literature in terms of an explanation of the processes coaches and other adult leaders use to teach life skills to the youth with whom they work (e.g., Benson & Saito, 2000; Mahoney, Larson, Eccles & Lord, 2005; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002). While the Gould et al. (2007) study is compelling and is one of the first to specifically focus on the process through which coaches develop life skills in their athletes, it is not without limitations. In particular, coaches involved in this project were interviewed only once and did not get a chance to reflect on and possibly clarify or give further details about their comments. Similarly, the study would have been strengthened if the results could have been triangulated by verifying the coaches’ views through other informants’ perspectives (e.g., the coaches’ 39 athletes and the parents of these players) and via on-the-field observations of how coaches actually behaved and interacted with the adolescents on their teams. Finally, studying coaches over time would provide a better picture of the life skills development process and the influence coaching behaviors and strategies have on this growth than the quick snapshots provided by the initial Gould et al. (2007) project. All in all, it is clear that more methodologically sound studies are required before a clearer understanding of the coaches’ role in the process of positive youth development is better understood. The present study addressed some of these limitations by employing strategies such as interviews with coaches as well as giving voice to those athletes undergoing the life skill development, former athletes who can attest to past development, and parents, who along with the former athletes, can speak to the transfer of sport-leamed psychosocial skills to life outside of sport. This last point highlights another need in the literature. There must be efforts made to take a more active approach to teaching the transfer of these assets and to assess the effects of doing so. Regrettably, past studies have typically neglected to investigate the reality of this transfer assumption, leaving questions surrounding the true impact of sport participation on the life skill development and positive growth of its participants. Until further work is done to assess whether or not extracuniculars, including sports, impact participants on a global level, the claims that these programs have any meaningful impact beyond behaviors and attitudes exhibited within the activity context remain on shaky ground. 40 CHAPTER 3: METHODS Participants The participants for the current study were members of three case study units, with each unit comprised of a high school coach, four of his or her current athletes, a former athlete and a parent of a former athlete. Information for the participants belonging to each case is presented separately below. Case 1: Participants. Coach 1 [C1] was a 56-year-old Caucasian male who was coaching a boys’ varsity tennis team at the high school for which he also served as the athletic director. C1 had been coaching tennis for 35 years and also had 12 years of experience coaching high school girls’ tennis and 1 year of experience coaching girls’ high school volleyball and basketball. Cl had earned a Master’s degree and reported having attended various tennis related workshops as his formalized coaching education background. In terms of his own sport background, C1 played tennis at the high school and collegiate levels and club volleyball while in college. The current athletes [Cal] for Case 1 were 4 males who ranged in age from 17 to 18 years (m = 17.5 years), 2 of whom were Caucasian, while 1 was African American and 1 self-identified as multiracial. These boys had an average of 2.53 years experience playing for C1, with the boys also reporting that they participated on their high school baseball, basketball, track, football, soccer, swimming, and/or cross country teams. All of these participants reported involvement in other extracurricular activities that included student council, high school and special interest clubs, part-time jobs, and work with community service organizations. Finally, all four athletes reported being a captain for at least one of their high school teams. 41 The former athlete for Case 1 [F al] was a 42-year-old Caucasian male who had 4 years of playing experience with C1 and who served as a captain for at least 1 of these years. This participant also reported playing basketball and cross country while in high school, but did not indicate engaging in any other extracurricular activities. The parent of a former athlete in Case 1 [Pal] was a 42-year-old Caucasian female who reported having 1 child who played for CI for 4 years. In total, this participant had 4 children, all of whom were involved in sport (i.e., tennis, volleyball, softball, cheer and wrestling). Her children were also involved in student council, a high school special interest club, and church youth groups. Case 2: Participants. Coach 2 [C2] was a 68-year-old Caucasian female who was coaching the girls’ varsity softball and basketball teams at the high school for which she also served as the athletic director. C2 had been coaching these two sports for 44 years each. C2 had earned a Master’s degree and reported having attended various sport- related seminars, clinics and high school association sponsored coaching education programs. In terms of her own sport background, C2 played softball and basketball at the high school level. The current athletes for Case 2 [Ca2] were 4 females, all 17 years of age. Three of the athletes self-reported as being Caucasian, while one indicated a Hispanic background. These girls had an average of 2.53 years experience playing for C2 (1 participant was coached by C2 in 2 sports), with the girls also reporting that they participated on their high school volleyball, soccer, hockey and/or dance teams. Three of these participants reported involvement in other extracurricular activities that included student council and 42 high school and special interest clubs. Finally, three of the four athletes reported being a captain for at least one of their high school teams. The former athlete for Case 2 [F a2] was a 23-year-old Caucasian female who had 4 years of playing experience with C2 in both softball and basketball. This participant also served as a captain for at least 1 of these years. The former athlete did not report playing other high school sports, but was engaged in student council, special interest clubs and served as a volunteer basketball coach while in high school. The parent of a former athlete in Case 2 [Pa2] was a 45-year-old Caucasian female who reported having 2 children who played for C2, for two years each (although she explained her daughters had 5 years of additional playing experience with C2 in summer camp programs). In total, this participant had 3 children, all of whom were involved in sport (i.e., basketball, soccer, track and field and swimming). Her children were also involved in student council, high school music and theater programs and volunteer coaching and umpiring. Case 3: Participants. Coach 3 [C3] was a 49-year-old Caucasian female who was coaching a girls’ varsity softball team at the high school for which she also served as the athletic director. C3 had been coaching softball for 25 years and also had 14 years of experience coaching high school girls’ tennis and volleyball. C3 had earned a Master’s degree and reported having attended several high school coaching education clinics and seminars sponsored by the state’s high school athletic association as well as sport governing bodies. In terms of her own sport background, C3 played high school softball, volleyball, tennis and basketball as well as softball at the collegiate level. 43 The current athletes for Case 3 [Ca3] were 4 Caucasian females who ranged in age from 15 to 17 years (m = 16 years). These girls had an average of two years experience playing for C3, with three girls also reporting that they participated on their high school basketball, tennis, and/or volleyball teams. Three of the girls reported involvement in other extracurricular activities that included student council, high school and special interest clubs, and work with community service organizations. Finally, all four athletes reported being a captain for at least one of their high school teams. The former athlete for Case 3 [F a3] was a 25-year-old Caucasian female who had 4 years of playing experience with C3 in 2 varsity sports (softball and tennis) and served as a captain for at least 1 of these years. This participant also reported playing basketball, tennis and volleyball, but did not indicate engaging in any other extracurricular activities. The parent of a former athlete in Case 3 [Pa3] was a 47-year-old Caucasian male who reported having 2 children who played for C3, with 1 of his daughters playing for C3 for a total of 4 years. In total, this participant had 4 children, all of whom were involved in sport (i.e., softball, basketball, track and field, soccer, volleyball, and football). His children were also involved in student council, high school and special interest clubs, church groups, music programs and community service organizations. Procedure To address each of the study purposes and to validate the information accumulated, a multiple case study design that included several participant groups (i.e., coaches, current athletes, former athletes and parents of former athletes) was employed in order to triangulate the information gathered throughout the research project (Denzin, 1978; Patton, 1990) [see Table 2]. More specifically, demographic surveys, the Youth 44 Experiences Survey-2 (Y ES-2; Hansen & Larson, 2005), semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were utilized to provide glimpses of the focal phenomena from several different vantage points (i.e., data sources and methods). This approach helped the investigator establish a sense of trustworthiness or ‘believability’ in the qualitative data collected when certain patterns and relationships were discovered from multiple sources measured in multiple ways (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Table 2 Respondents and Interview Format Individual Focus Group Respondent Type Interview (n) Interview (11) Survey Coach 3 n/a Demographic Current Athlete n/a 12 (3 groups of 4) Demographic YES-2.0 F orrner Athlete 3 (l per coach) n/a Demographic YES-2.0 Parent of 3 (1 per coach) n/a Demographic Former Athlete Recruitment. Purposeful sampling of the participants was performed in order to obtain a pool of individuals who were similar on defining characteristics that made them effective candidates for addressing the research questions at hand (Patton, 2002). The process of recruiting these participants and the qualities on which the sampling decisions were made are outlined in the following sections. Recruiting coaches. The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MSHAA) organizes and oversees all high school sports in the state of Michigan. Because of this charge, its staff has close associations with scholastic coaches through various endeavors such as running tournaments, observing contests, conducting rules meetings and 45 providing educational seminars. The MHSAA staff, then, interacts with countless numbers of coaches from different schools across the state and is in an excellent position to identify more versus less effective individuals. For this reason, three high school coaches were identified by staff members of the MHSAA based on selection criteria that focused on these coaches’ success with facilitating the learning and transfer of life skills among their student athletes. More specifically, coaches were nominated based on their reputation for not only developing athletes’ physical skills, but also for developing strong character and life skills (e.g., time management, persistence, initiative, teamwork, communication, etc.). It was also required that these coaches had no less than five years of coaching experience (with preference given to those coaches with more years of experience). This standard allowed the participating coaches to recommend former athletes who could attest to the types of life skills development experienced while working with them and the transfer of these capacities outside of sport post-graduation. Based on the aforementioned conditions, the MHSAA staff members each recommended at least four Michigan high school coaches. From the pool of recommendations (n=22), 4 coaches were contacted via written letter and/or email (see Appendix A) based on fi'equency of staff nominations, years of experience (with more years preferred), and an intentional stratification of individuals embodying various demographics (e.g., sex, sport, sex of athletes coached, high school region, etc.). The final three coaches were selected after one coach declined to participate due to scheduling conflicts. Recruiting current athletes. To provide another source of information regarding life skills development experiences through participation in high school sport and the transfer of these skills to life outside of athletics, focus groups were conducted with four 46 ll athletes on the teams of each of the three selected coaches (n = 12). These 12 student- athletes had at least 2 years of athletic experience under the selected coach and were sampled based on coach recommendations of qualified athletes who also gave consent/assent to participate and for whom parental consent was also obtained when necessary. These athletes were recruited by a letter (see Appendix A) that was sent home from the investigator and the coach of the respective team, asking for volunteers and permission for the student-athletes’ participation. See Appendix B for consent and assent documents utilized in the present study. Recruiting former athletes. Each selected coach also nominated one former athlete who would be able to attest to the transfer of life skills learned through sport over time. Beyond being a former athlete of one of the target coaches, these individuals also had to be beyond five years post-high school graduation and have at least two years of athletic experience under the selected coach. This individual was also required to be available for an in-person or telephone interview. Again, each coach nominated one former athlete based on the participation qualifications, and one former athlete was selected for an interview (n = 3) based on availability and responses to an email and/or recruitment letter (see Appendix A). Recruiting parents of former athletes. Finally, a parent of a former athlete from each selected coach (n = 3) was recruited and interviewed. These individuals were contacted via a letter (see Appendix A) sent home from the investigator and the coach of the respective team, asking for the parent’s consent to participate. While interviewing the parents of the former athletes who participated in the interviews described earlier would serve as a source of relevant information and a confirmation of the information gathered 47 from the former athletes, it was not deemed necessary that the parents interviewed were parents of those athletes participating in the study. Any parent of a former student-athlete was eligible for participation because the goal of the interview was to gather information about the life skills development and transfer practices and outcomes experienced by the athletes of the chosen coaches in general, not necessarily the experiences of any one particular athlete. The selection criterion, therefore, were that these individuals be parents of any former student-athlete who met the above former athlete selection criteria. Informed consent and assent. In order to protect the rights and privacy of the participants involved in this research project, several measures were taken to ensure these individuals were best informed about their involvement and responsibilities as participants. The participants were assured that their identities and the information they divulged would be kept confidential and secure. Before data collection took place, the project was submitted and approved by the Michigan State University Institutional Review Board (see Appendix D). Before participating in the study, participants each read and signed an informed consent (or assent) form that explained the purposes of the study, the benefits and risks of participation, the responsibilities of the participants, information regarding confidentiality procedures, and the rights of the individuals to terminate participation at any time without penalty. See Appendix B for the Coach Consent form, Current Student-Athlete and Parent Assent and Consent form, Former Athlete Consent form, and Parent Consent form. Participants read and completed their respective consent form the day of the interview or focus group. Two exceptions to this procedure were that student-athletes under the age of 18 years received and completed the Current Student Athlete and Parent Assent form prior to the day of the scheduled 48 focus group and former student-athletes and the parents of former athletes contacted by email or telephone were mailed their respective consent form to be completed and returned in a provided self-addressed and stamped envelope. High school coaches survey and interviews. To evaluate the characteristics (e. g., age, race/ethnicity, years coaching, estimated win loss record), coaching objectives, and perceived importance of life skill development on their team(s), the three selected high school coaches completed a demographic questionnaire (see Appendix C). Coaches then participated in individual, semi-structured interviews that lasted between 48 and 86 minutes in order to gather information on philosophies regarding, strategies for, and perceptions of success rates and barriers to life skills development and transfer in high school sport. The semi-structured interview format was selected because this approach created consistency between interviews with the use of a standardized set of questions. At the same time, the interviewer was permitted to pursue a fuller exploration of the interviewees’ experiences with the use of probes and follow-up questioning (Gould, Collins, Lauer & Chung, 2007). Before interviews with each coach began, the participants were provided with Danish and colleagues’ (2004) definition of life skills and a partial list of the Search Institute’s 4O Developmental Assets (Search Institute, 2000) to establish a basic understanding of the concepts central to the investigation (see Appendix C). Subsequently, the interviewer followed the semi-structured format addressing questions such as: (a) To what degree do you place importance on teaching life skills to your athletes?; (b) What life skills do you focus on developing in your athletes?; (0) Can you give an example of a successfirl attempt at developing life skills in your athletes?; and (d) 49 What strategies do you use to help athletes use these life skills outside of Sport? Coaches were also asked to provide coaching recommendations for facilitating the development of life skills in those youth participating in today’s high school athletics environment (e. g., What are the obstacles to teaching life skills to today’s student athletes?) See Appendix C for the High School Coaches Interview Guide. To further reinforce the validity of the interpretations that resulted from the investigator’s extrusion and categorization of interview themes, member checks were conducted (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In other words, the coaches were given the opportunity to review the interpreted categories and to provide feedback relating to whether or not their statements were accurately depicted, understood and explained. Coaches were emailed the thematic organization of the categories fiom their case only. Furthermore, all identifying information relevant to the source and frequencies of themes were removed from the copy that was emailed to each coach. Current student-athlete survey and focus groups. The 12 current student- athletes also completed a demographic questionnaire to gain illustrative information concerning this sample (e.g., age, sex, years competing under selected coach, other extracuniculars, self and perceptions of coach’s ranking of sport objectives; see Appendix C). To assess experiences associated with life skills development in sport, the athletes also completed the Youth Experiences Survey - 2 (Hansen & Larson, 2005; see Appendix C). The questionnaire asked the participants to respond to items concerning positive developmental experiences (i.e., identity work, initiative, basic skills, teamwork, and social capital) they had when playing for the target coach of their particular case. The scale is comprised of 70-items in total; however, the 17 items that assessed negative 50 experiences related to participation in an activity were dropped due to their irrelevance to the research questions of the present study. Using a four-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“yes, definitely”) to 4 (“not at all”) to describe the degree to which they felt a given experience was characteristic of their sport involvement with the coach in question, the athletes rated the degree to which they had experiences such as “leamed to push myself,” “learned to find ways to achieve my goals,” “learned about developing plans for solving a problem” and “became better at dealing with fear and anxiety”. Note that the scale values were reversed before data analysis to make interpretation of the results more intuitively sensible, with lower values then indicating an experience that was less characteristic and a higher value representing perceptions of a more characteristic experience. Overall, the subscales of theYES-2 have been judged to have robust reliabilities, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .75 to .94. The instrument’s validity was also found to be adequate, with students’ and leaders’ reports of student extracurricular activity experiences being significantly and moderately correlated for 14 of the 17 YES-2 subscales. Furthermore, the selectiVe use of the positive developmental subscales of the YES-2 was supported by the survey’s creators, who verified that the integrity of the measure would not be compromised if only a subsection of the instrument was to be administered. Student-athletes also participated in small group (n = 4) focus groups (with members of their teams) to address perceptions of their coach’s philosophies regarding and strategies and approaches for life skills development and transfer. The groups discussed questions such as “which of these life skills does your coach talk about or teach the most,” “can you give an example of when you use in sport,” and “how does 51 your coach teach you these skills?” Additionally, these focus groups assessed the athletes’ perceptions of the life skills development and transfer that had taken place for them on their respective teams as well as the success rates of and barriers affecting these processes. Questions for this portion of the focus group included, “can you use these same skills in other areas of your life” and “does your coach talk about using these skills outside of sport?” See Appendix C for the Current High School Athletes Focus Group Guide. Focus groups were the selected method for this participant group because of the sample size and the nature of the targeted population. More specifically, conducting focus groups decreased the number of contact hours needed to gather information from these participants. Also, it was hoped that the focus group context would promote more open and honest self-disclosure from the participants (as compared to traditional interviewing) because the moderator was taken out of a position of power and the adolescents were amongst those with whom they were familiar and with whom they perceived relevant commonalities and a shared experience (Krueger & Casey, 2000). Former student-athlete survey and interviews. The unique perspective this participant group brought to the investigation was related to their perceptions about the transfer of life skills developed through high school sport that had occurred over time. In addition to completing a demographic questionnaire and the YES-2 (which was either emailed or mailed to these individuals along with the consent documentation), these individuals were asked about perceptions of their coach’s philosophies and strategies regarding life skills development and transfer, with an emphasis on information relevant to the transfer of life skills and areas in which these capacities had been used (see 52 Appendix C). Furthermore, these interviews assessed the former athletes’ perceptions of the success rates of and barriers that affected their personal life skills development and transfer. The interview guide for these interviews paralleled the guide used for the current athletes, with a few wording changes made to reflect the passage of time since these individuals had been athletes of the target coaches. Parents of former student-athletes survey and interviews. The parents of former student-athletes completed a demographic questionnaire and participated in a semi-structured interview (see Appendix C). Because parents could provide a unique perspective of the student-athletes’ behaviors and attitudes outside of the sport setting, these interviews targeted the issue of the transfer of athletes’ life skills to contexts outside of high school athletics. Parents were also questioned about their perceptions of the life skills developed by their children through sport as well as the success rates of and baniers affecting the development and transfer of these capacities. More specifically, parents were asked questions such as “What are some of the important lessons your son/daughter has learned from coach _,” “Has your son/daughter learned about these skills fi'om other people or in other activities” and “Does your son/daughter use these same skills in other areas of life (e.g., in school, when interacting with parents and friends, etc.)?” The Investigator The theoretical orientation adopted by the investigator was phenomenological in nature. The primary use of qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups during which participants articulated their experiences with life skills development and transfer were chosen because of the recognition that those who are the main stakeholders 53 in high school sport are those who are in the best position to shed light on their personal experiences and explanations of these experiences (Patton, 1990). Consequently, under this broad orientation, a constructivist framework was utilized. This perspective dictates that the understanding of a phenomenon is best achieved through the reconstruction of others’ interpretations of their relevant experiences (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). Because the investigator offered her interpretation of the stakeholders’ experiences and statements, it was assumed that the researcher and those from whom the researcher gathered knowledge engaged in a collaborative effort to shape the interpretation of the participants’ reality or truth. It should be understood that the informants were not to be simply interpreted. Instead, they were active agents in the creation of the study’s resulting interpretations and conclusions. Constructivism also highlights the importance of transactional knowledge (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000), which can be understood as the pursuit of knowledge to be applied back into practice. This element was inherently important to the purpose of this research project due to the hope that these findings would be disseminated to other researchers and those who can apply these findings into practices used directly with athletes, coaches, and parents to increase the positive impact high school sport has on its participants today. Data Analyses In terms of the quantitative data collected in this study, demographic information and data from the YES-2 collected from the participant groups were analyzed (using the 14th version of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and summarized, with reports of means and standard deviations provided when applicable. In addition, data analysis of the qualitative data gathered from the interviews and focus groups followed 54 the procedures described by Yin (2009), Gould, Collins, Lauer and Chung (2007), Miles and Huberrnan (1994) and Krueger (2000). Interviews. Each interview was audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. To develop a more holistic understanding of the coaches (who were the main focus of the research project) and his/her thoughts, experiences, and contexts, the transcripts were read several times and a ‘case profile’ was created for each coach (Gould et al., 2007). Working with each case separately, the investigator, who was trained in qualitative methodology and data analysis through academic coursework and previous experiences working on both interview and focus group research, then utilized inductive content analysis to segregate the transcribed interviews into raw data themes (i.e., direct quotes or paraphrased quotes that represent a single and meaningfirl thought or statement) (Miles & Huberman, 1994). A secondary investigator with comparable qualitative research experience also reviewed the interview and focus group transcripts for raw data themes before meeting with the primary investigator to discuss major impressions and to resolve discrepancies and inconsistencies in the raw theme selection. In collaboration with the secondary investigator, the primary investigator then labeled and organized the coded data within each case into lower-order themes according to similarities among each segrnent’s content. These themes were then grouped into higher-order categories if similarities or relationships between the themes were identified. Finally, the information for each case was presented in a hierarchical manner (i.e., higher-order categories, sub- themes, individual meaning units) and organized based on the study’s original research questions. 55 Throughout the data analysis process, the hierarchically presented themes and categories at each stage in the analysis were reviewed by the secondary investigator, who served as a validity check of the primary researcher’s inductions and categorizations. If discrepancies in meanings or organizations of the material were identified, the two researchers discussed the data until agreement was met. Finally, as stated previously, the interviewed coaches reviewed the final, hierarchically organized themes of his/her case as a second check on the validity of the data analysis. The results were presented in a multiple case study format, with the information from each coach and his or her respective athletes and parents summarized independently of the two other cases. Because of the small participant numbers, generalizations across the case studies were investigated informally and presented in a brief cross-case analysis, with interesting observations of similarities between the case studies highlighted. Focus groups. Procedures nearly identical to those carried out for the interview analyses were utilized to analyze the focus group data. Each focus group was audio taped and the resultant data were transcribed verbatim. Inductive content analysis was used to segregate the transcribed material into individual meaning units (segments of the raw data) across participants. These units were coded and organized into categories (along with the interview data from the relevant case) according to similarities among each segrnent’s content. These categories were then grouped into higher-order categories if similarities or relationships between the themes were identified. Finally, the information was presented in a hierarchical manner (i.e., higher—order themes, sub-themes, individual meaning units) and organized based on the study’s original research questions. 56 The original transcriptions and final, hierarchically presented categories were reviewed by a second investigator, who served as a validity check of the primary researcher’s inductions and categorizations. If discrepancies in meanings or organizations of the material were identified, the two researchers discussed the data and categorizations until agreement was met. 57 I CHAPTER 4: RESULTS Overview One of the strengths of case study research is that it allows for an extensive investigation into, and resulting understanding of, a phenomenon in a way that preserves the distinctiveness of the particular case being studied (Yin, 2009). This feature of the methodology proved to be especially useful for the present study because of the nature of the cases represented. While all coaches were purposefully sampled based on their extensive coaching background as well as (and more importantly) similar reputations for being among the most highly skilled area high school coaches in terms of developing positive life skills and attributes in their athletes, each coach also possessed characteristics and operated within specific circumstances that distinguished him/her fiom the others. Therefore, in order to fully illustrate the rich descriptions of the life skills development and transfer experiences recounted by each coach and his or her respective informant groups (i.e., current athletes, a former athlete, and a parent of a former athlete), the three cases are first presented separately. More specifically, results from each case are laid out in the following sections: (a) a descriptive case profile that highlights key individual characteristics of the coach and his/her athletes as well as contextual factors in which the life skills experiences were embedded; (b) a list of the life skills the case’s participants perceived to have been addressed in their shared sport experiences; and (c) the results of the hierarchical content analysis relative to the life skills building and transfer strategies utilized by the coach as well as the perceived success rates and barriers of the developmental processes. Additionally, a final section of the results identifies those themes that were common across all three cases in order to bring to light the concepts that 58 could be considered most usefirl for developing future theory and a more general understanding of a coach’s role in the life skills developmental processes of high school athletes (i.e., those concepts considered most analytically generalizable; Yin, 2009). Case 1: Profile Coach 1 [Cl] was a 56-year-old male who was the head coach of a boys’ high school tennis team as well as the athletic director of the public high school at which he worked. While C1 had coached both boys’ and girls’ tennis teams throughout his career, at the time the study was conducted, he had been coaching his high school boys’ team for the previous 35 years. In addition to coaching tennis, C1 also had previous experience coaching girls’ high school and middle school volleyball and girls’ basketball at the middle school level. The high school at which C1 was coaching was a small rural school (grades 9 through 12) with an enrollment of 828 students during the 2007-8 academic year. The student population at the high school was relatively evenly split between males and females (boys n=404; girls n=424); however, the racial/ethnic make-up of the students was skewed, with 92.1% of the students (n=763) being Caucasian and the remaining 8% of the student body being African American (n=28), Hispanic (n=l9), Asian (n=11), and American Indian (n=7). Overall, some of the more defining characteristics of this case were that Cl was an experienced male coach who worked with athletes of the same gender competing in an individual (versus a team) sport. Additionally, Cl reported that he had earned a master’s degree and completed formalized coaching education in the form of various workshops. Finally, when surveyed about his coaching objectives and how he would rank developing his athletes psychologically and socially among the other objectives of developing physical skills, winning, and having 59 fun, Cl ranked the psychosocial development of his players as his top priority, followed by the objectives of fun, developing physical skills and winning. Overall, the participants within this case often described C1 as a dedicated, caring, motivating and inspirational coach who was highly respected for his successes on the court as well as his ability to work effectively with his student-athletes. While the skills and talents of C1 were brought to the forefront, it was also acknowledged that he was very humble about his accomplishments and primarily focused on developing his athletes as skilled tennis players and positive and productive individuals. Case 1: Life Skills Addressed When questioned about the coaching strategies used to develop and transfer life skills, all informant groups discussed not only the strategies utilized, but also mentioned the particular life skills that were targeted. See Table 3 for a summary of the target life skills addressed by Coach 1. This information is particularly valuable because the skills addressed provide a meaningful context for the strategies applied. In most cases, the informants discussed a particular strategy in light of the life skill that was targeted for development or transfer to some life domain outside of sport. With discussion of the life skill building and transfer strategies so highly contextualized, the thematic structure of the data collected was also organized according to life skill addressed in further analyses. In addition to the presentation of the qualitative data support for Coach 1’s target life skills, quantitative data relative to the current and former athletes’ perceptions of life skills developmental experiences were also collected and summarized. See Table 3 for means and standard deviations from the Youth Experiences Survey-2 subscales of the Case 1 athletes. It should be noted that due to the low sample size, the value of the 60 descriptive data gathered on the athletes’ life skills developmental outcomes is limited, and the information is presented only to serve as a rough reliability check of similar data obtained from the qualitative focus groups and interviews. Any further references made to the quantitative data are merely illustrative and meant to serve as a marker of the qualitative data’s validity, and any statements that reflect a comparison between scores have been avoided to prevent misrepresentation of the data collected. Furthermore, when comparisons have been drawn, they have been done so for a particular subscale mean in relation to its position within the instrument’s range of possible scores (e.g., a score of 1.2 would be referred to as relatively low on a YES-2 subscale score, which can run from 1 to 4). As indicated in Table 3, data gathered from interview and focus groups identified self-confidence/self—esteem, maintaining emotional regulation, goal setting, putting forth hard work and eflort, taking personal responsibility, and leadership and responsibility for others as the life skills addressed by Coach 1. In addition to these life skills that received specific mention by several of the informant groups in Case 1, those life skills that were not directly mentioned as being target life skills, but were nonetheless discussed in other portions of the interviews as meaningful developmental experiences and outcomes are indicated as well. A look at Table 3 reveals that nearly all skills identified as target life skills using the qualitative methodologies were also assessed by the YES-2. This parallel is not surprising seeing that the YES-2 subscale labels, as well as a partial list of Benson’s (1997) 40 developmental assets, were used as discussion prompts for participants in the interviews and focus groups. The only exception to this trend in Case 1 61 was the additional discussion of self-confidence/self-esteem as a target life skill by many of the informant groups during qualitative data collections. Table 3 Target Life Skills — Case 1: Interview and Quantitative Data Support Interview Data Support Quantitative Data Support Life Skill (y/n) (m/SD YES-2 subscale score) Goal Setting y 3.00/0.00 Leadership and Responsibility y 2.87/0.18 Effort y 2.87/0.18 Emotional Regulation y 245/0362 Self-Confidence/Self-Esteem y -- /-- Linkages to the Community n* 2.90/0.22 Problem Solving n* 2.87/0.18 Group Process Skills (e.g., teamwork) n* 2.76/0.33 Physical Skills n* 2.40/1 .34 Feedback n* 2.40/0.89 Diverse Peer Relationships 11 280/045 Time Management n 2.60/0.28 Prosocial Norms (e.g., helping others) 11 240/038 Identity Exploration n 227/0.55 Identity Reflection n 2.20/0.69 Integration with Family 11 180/091 Linkages to Work/College 11 167/131 Cognitive Skills (e.g., academic skills) n 1.28/0.52 “ life skill not assessed using the YES-2 survey * life skills discussed in the informant group interviews, but not specifically cited as target life skills While no formal comparative analysis was run, another finding of interest is that those life skills that were qualitatively supported as being C1 ’3 target skills also had some of the highest mean quantitative scores (with high subscale scores on the YES-2 representing experiences the current and former athletes perceived to be more representative of the positive developmental experiences they had when working with Cl). Again, only one life skill did not follow this tendency. While the informant groups in Case 1 did not discuss exposure to diverse peer relationships as being a target life skill from their sport experiences during the interviews, this YES-2 subscale received a relatively high score (m = 2.80). One potential explanation of this contradiction is that while the athletes believed statements such as “I made friends with someone of the 62 opposite gender,” and “I learned I had a lot in common with people from different backgrounds” were relatively representative of their high school sport experiences with Cl , the participants did not think the term ‘diverse peer relationships’ (the label presented to them on the life skills prompt sheet) represented the athletes’ sport experiences or did not consider this ‘external asset’ to be a life skill. Another possibility could be that the informant groups perceived ‘diverse peer relationships’ to have been important life skill lessons targeted by C1, but the interview discourse simply did not explore that particular topic. Along similar lines, while the development of time management was not a meaningful discussion topic within the qualitative data sources, the Case 1 informants perceived that this skill was characteristic of their sport experience when working with C1 based on data gathered qualitatively. Again, this discrepancy was not further explored, so explanations (such as the possibility the interview and focus group discussions did not converge on this topic in depth) are simply speculatory. Case 1: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results Table 4 summarizes the major higher- and lower-order themes that emerged from interviews and the focus group conducted across the four informant groups for Coach 1 [C1]. These themes were organized within the three global categories of direct life skill development and transfer strategies, indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer, and perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. In order to provide a more complete picture of the prevalence (a rough indicator of concept ‘importance’) of each theme with the general discourse of the data collections, Table 4 also indicates the frequency with which each informant group identified a given 63 category/sub-theme. Finally, the total number of themes in each higher- and lower-order category was tallied and reported. While tabulating theme frequencies was an approach taken to provide a “means to survey the whole corpus of data ordinarily lost in intensive, qualitative research. . .[and to] gain a sense of flavor of the data as a whole” (Silverman & Marvasti, 2008, p. 270), it should be noted that themes cited by a single source or less frequently than others are not labeled as unimportant. Rather, a theme may not have been corroborated across several informant groups simply because the topic did not arise in the less structured conversations typical of qualitative inquiry and may not address participants’ perceived importance of the issue at hand. Direct life skill development and transfer strategies. When asked about the specific strategies used by C1 to develop life skills in his athletes and to facilitate the transfer of skills outside of sport, 104 relevant raw meaning units were collected throughout the case’s interviews and focus group. These raw meaning units were then categorized into seven lower-order themes, which collapsed into the two higher order themes that represent strategies focusing on the development of and the transfer of life skills. More specifically, strategies were categorized as developmental if they illustrated attempts the coaches made to teach the use of the skill within the sport context. On the other hand, a strategy was categorized as demonstrating instruction for transfer if it was perceived that the coach’s intent was to facilitate the use of the skill or attribute in life domains that were separate from sport (e.g., in school, work, or family settings). 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When asked about the strategies utilized to facilitate the development of life skills, all informant groups except for the former athlete’s parent provided specific examples of ways in which C1 developed the asset of confidence or self-esteem. These strategies included using encouragement, instilling in athletes a sense of control, building trust with the athletes, and intentionally developing this life skill at an early age. For example, C1 illustrated the point by indicating: We really work on rules. On rainy days we will do rules tests, and we will go over different situations. I tell them that when you walk out on the court I want you to know more about this game than your opponent. So when there is a question. . .knowledge is power, and you can go out there with confidence and say; no, this is the way the rules are. And again that is part of being assertive, confident, and controlling the situation. When describing how C1 impacted the development of his self-esteem, the former athlete explained the cultivation of this asset was a long-term process that began when the coach worked with younger children in his summer tennis camps: Definitely! That’s a big thing for him when you’re younger as kids. . .you know if a kid hits a good shot, he’s more excited than the kid is. So, that builds along the way. To where he gains, as a young kid, he would gain that kid’s respect because hey, if I did something good, he was very good at praising him and patting him on the back, giving him a high-five, those kinds of things. You see that big smile on a kid’s face. When you see that, that’s huge. Huge. Huge! 67 Strategies for developing emotional control. Another lower-order theme focused on the strategies C1 used to teach his athletes how to remain under control when facing adversity on the court. The strategies applied to these lessons ranged from discussing with athletes the value of maintaining control of one’s emotions on the court, and setting and enforcing clear expectations for emotional control, to providing simulated training to practice emotional control skills. C1 described his commitment to facilitating the grth of this skill by stating: I tell my guys. . .if you know someone else made a bad call you can question them, but if they choose to stand with it, at least at first, how are you going to handle it? Are you going to let one point cause you to lose two, three, and four, even the match? You do not want to get into a personal thing with your opponent. I guess one of the things I really emphasize is that you have to control yourself. While both the former athlete and parent also spoke of ways in which C1 held his athletes accountable for maintaining emotional control, the parent of a former athlete told a particularly illustrative story about a time when Cl made it very clear to her son (pseudonym: Paul) that losing one’s temper on the court was not permissible on his team: There was another time that Paul was playing, and Cl was way over on these other courts. And Paul again, attitude, temper. ..C1 yelled across the court for a game penalty. Paul had won the first set and needed that second set in order to win, and that was like match or game point. Paul ended up losing that second set because of that penalty that Cl gave him. Cl didn’t care that Paul was going to lose, he didn’t care what the score was, he didn’t care what was going on, so he went ahead and gave Paul that game penalty. And then he told me later, ‘I don’t even know if there was even a possibility of a game penalty, but Paul needed to know he wasn’t going to get away with that’. So, I think as far as Paul’s experience, having C1 as a coach taught him I’m not going to be able to get away with anything. You know, I can have my moments, but if it gets out of control and it has a bad reflection on me or [high school] or what ever, I’m going to be taken care of. This experience not only recounts the use of a life skill building strategy, but also highlights the dedication C1 had to facilitating this development, even at the cost of 68 favorable competitive outcomes. In addition to enforcing expectations for controlling one’s emotions, C1 had a great understanding of what types of emotional challenges his athletes would face in competition and set up practice situations so that the players could rehearse their emotional control skills before they were expected to use them in emotionally charged competitive settings. The former athlete of C1 explained how emotional control strategies were not only discussed, but were facilitated through the use of simulated situations in practice: ...as far as working through a difficult time or a difficult opponent, those kind of things, and keeping your cool, he’s very good at trying to keep you calmed down and understanding why you calm down. Preparation in practice. He’ll go through things in practice and try to and do you know, you’re trying to explain to the player, ‘hey this is what may happen in a match.’ He knew sooner or later, this is what’s going to happen and he’d explain it to you. And then when you get to a match that you’re in, he’ll say, ‘hey you remember when we worked on and prepared yourself for this situation, here it is.’ And he’ll remind you that and then work you though it. He doesn’t really overlook anything. This quote further illustrates the systematic nature in which Cl approaches his life skills development strategies and his method of stressing the importance of the various skills he taught. Strategies for developing goal setting. While the development of goal setting was not discussed by C1 himself, both his current and former athletes provided examples of the ways C1 shaped their goal setting practices in tennis. More specifically, the athletes talked about how C1 encouraged them to set goals that were both individual and team- based, to focus on short- and long-term goals and to strive toward optimally challenging goals. A common theme across both groups was how C1 encouraged them to continually set the bar higher to reach more challenging long term goals once short term goals were achieved. For instance, one of his current athletes explained, “. . .and then for the goal 69 setting, ever since I was a fi'eshman, we just strive higher, strive higher. Even if you accomplish it, then you go even higher,” and followed up with, “at the beginning of the year. I mean it’s not about winning this match today, it’s not about that, it’s about the one down the road.” Another current athlete shared his similar impressions by stating, “[Cl is] always saying, ‘work like where you want to be, where you want to be and how you can get there. All the matches lead up to the big one. Play like you would for those ones.”’ These excerpts made it clear that goal setting was a focal skill for C1 and his current players who have experienced a great deal of competitive success. Interestingly, decades earlier, when C1 ’3 former athlete was playing for him, this coach made teaching effective goal setting a priority when successes in terms of wins were harder to come by. The former athlete recounted, “as far as goal setting as a team, he always made goal setting okay. Yes, we’re going to be playing this team that we probably won’t beat, but our goal is to play as best as we can and win as many games as you can.” It was made apparent that Cl made goal setting a priority for his athletes, regardless of their level of competitive success. Strategies for developing hard work and ejfort. A third group of life skill building strategies cited by all informant groups in Case 1 were those dedicated to the development of a hard work ethic and the motivation to put forth high levels of effort in practices and competitions. This lower-order theme included meaning units that illustrated the following strategies that were directed toward the inspiration of hard work and effort: promoting a love of the sport, setting goals, showing dedication to athletes, and setting expectations for effort. Both C1 ’3 current and former athletes discussed how 70 he promoted a hard work ethic in his players by modeling and nurturing a passion for the sport. When asked to firrther elaborate on what C1 did to inspire 100 percent effort on the court, one of the current athletes explained: You can tell how much he loves it. He will come just so angry at life, sick of everything. And then he’ll come and hit with us and he’ll have a smile from ear to car. You can just tell, you can just tell, like he puts everything into making us better, it’s not about winning, it’s about making us better, making us better people. And when you see him out there smiling. . .it’s just cool. As a follow-up, another current athlete explained seeing how much time and energy C1 invested in the sport and in his athletes inspired a drive to work hard. It was stated that, ‘you don’t want to let him down you know, he gives you like some like so much, you know. He makes you want to be your best.” As with some of the other life skills, a few of his current athletes also described how C1 set clear expectations for effort when they were on the tennis courts. One athlete expressed how C1, “just expects if you are there you play hard, and you care and put everything you have into it, and you don’t leave.” To elaborate, another athlete stated, “leave everything on the court, you know, just play every point like it is the last point of the mate .” Strategies for developing personal responsibility. One of the most highly emphasized categories of direct life skill development strategies was the group of themes that depicted ways in which C1 promoted behaviors related to taking responsibility for one’s actions. This lower-order category contains 33 (nearly one third) of the raw meaning units within the higher-order category, which were derived fi'om participants representing all informant groups. This prevalence suggests that taking personal responsibility was one of the more highly emphasized life lessons C1 facilitated among 71 his athletes. Sub-groups of strategies within this lower-order theme included setting expectations for responsible behavior, regularly communicating expectations for personal responsibility, holding athletes accountable for taking personal responsibility, reinforcing personally responsible behaviors, and modeling taking responsibility for one’s actions. The various expectations for demonstrating personal responsibility were expressed by all informant groups and included examples such as emphasizing personal responsibility for being punctual, giving athletes personal responsibilities during practices (e.g., monitoring their own progressions through warm-ups and drills), emphasizing punctuality, encouraging athletes to seek out team information on their own, discouraging blaming behaviors, and keeping expectations of athletes simple. One of C1 ’5 current athletes demonstrated that the expectation to take responsibility for one’s actions was made clear through the following statement, “. . .you have to be responsible for your own actions. If you do something wrong, take responsibility for it, if you do something right, take responsibility for it. You know what I’m saying, life is all about choices.” Other athletes later followed-up on this point by explaining, “he wants to make sure that you understand when you are off the court, everything that you do. . .that you are going to be responsible for the thing that is right or wrong,” and “yeah, and you are responsible for your positive actions and the consequences.” C1 ’3 former athlete expressed an interesting approach Cl had toward holding his athletes accountable to expectations for taking personal responsibility. Because many athletes worked with C1 as younger children through attending his summer tennis camps, they were exposed to his rules and expectations at an early age. The former athlete elaborated on this phenomenon by explaining: 72 .. .there wasn’t a lot of misunderstanding of what he expected. Just when you got older, there was no question about what he expected. When you were younger he knows maybe you don’t quite understand what we’re expecting here yet. So he would have a little more leniency. Well, when you'got older, there wasn’t no leniency. Cause you knew it. You know. If you’ve been in the program since you’ve been a young child, he already expected you to know his expectations. So, there was a window. . .a little less cushion as you got older. Because obviously you’re older, you understand more, so he expected you to abide by those rules or expectations a lot quicker than if you were younger. In other words, C1 had clear expectations for his athletes and held them accountable for upholding certain rules and standards. However, he took a developmentally appropriate approach to this particular life lesson when be adjusted his expectations to the age and experience of his various players. C1 also made a point to model responsible behaviors in order to encourage his athletes to do the same. One of the current athletes offered the following story: Another thing about that. . .we were talking about taking responsibility. So if we do get nipped in the butt by a ‘little dog’, it’s not ‘it’s your fault, your fault, your fault,’ [Cl] goes ‘it’s my fault’. And that gets you, cause you are sitting there and someone will lose 0 in 1 and the next day at practice he’ll go, ‘it’s not your fault, it’s my fault. . .for not getting you prepared.’ Several of the other current athletes confirmed this statement by explaining after C1 demonstrated taking personal responsibility for his athletes’ performances, “the next day you go out and run the hardest that you have ever run before,” and “so then you [emphasis] have to take responsibility and you get thinking that well maybe I [emphasis] should have put in more effort or I [emphasis] should have tried harder.” Strategies for developing leadership and responsibility for others. Similarly, another life skill category that Cl emphasized when working with his players was leadership and taking responsibility for others. In most cases, these lessons revolved around encouraging athletes to understand the impact their individual actions had on 73 those around them (e. g., teammates, young people who looked up to them, etc.) and teaching the boys ways in which they could behave in a manner that kept the best interests of others in mind. More specifically, Cl was perceived to develop the skills of leadership and taking responsibility for others through discussing how actions impacted others, setting expectations that focused on putting the team before oneself, encouraging athletes to be peer leaders and role models, requiring athletes to support teammates, and discussing the importance of athletes giving full effort for their team. In addition to holding discussions about how one’s choices and actions impact others, many of the participants recounted ways in which athletes were encouraged to monitor their behaviors and decisions in a way that was becoming of a young leader or a role model to their peers and younger players who looked up to them. C1 ’3 current athletes provided several examples of this concept when they discussed how he expected them to be leaders on and off the court and to be responsible for communicating and teaching younger athletes the various team expectations. For example, one athlete explained this expectation by stating they were required to, “set a good example. . .don’t do anything stupid, and that translates to the next group of kids and just keeps going and going.” The parent of one of C1 ’5 former athletes described how she first noticed the emphasis C1 placed on his athletes acting as a role model to those around them. And I do think that [Cl] wants the kids to be good role models for other kids. In fact, there was the summer tennis awards that they have, they give out MVPs, they give out lumberjack awards, they give out various awards and [my son] has always been a very good tennis player and won the 18 and under division he played in every year, but there were numerous times when he didn’t get the MVP, which confused me for quite a while, not knowing what MVP meant. Well, MVP meant to them most valuable player as far as ability, coachability, the way you treat others, the way you bring others up... So, I had to really understand that as 74 his parent, and looking at MVP not as the kid that’s won the most. . .but you also had these other kids that are very very good tennis players that were given the award because of their ability to deal with other kids. This story not only highlights the fact Cl had expectations for teammates being good peer leaders, but also demonstrates that he made a point of recognizing and reinforcing those leadership behaviors that may not be most commonly recognized in most sporting contexts. One of the most frequently cited sub-groups of this lower-order category depicted the ways in which Cl required his athletes to support one another. His former and current athletes mentioned on several occasions that Cl had clear expectations that players support one another during competitions. For example, one current athlete expressed, “. . .even when your match is done, he expects you to go over there and watch and support your teammates instead of just wandering off and doing whatever you want.” Furthermore, the parent of a former athlete explained C1 emphasized that his athletes should not, “pick on somebody that might not be playing as well. And maybe take them under your wing and teach them something you were taught at the time.” Overall, the importance and benefits associated with supporting teammates was a consistent theme throughout many of the interviews in Case 1. In order to teach this life lesson in a less conventional manner, C1 structured practices so that his athletes played an active role in supporting one another. More specifically, he explained that he wanted the young men to learn how to coach each other: I try to have twelve coaches on the court. In our practices I’ve got the guys coaching each other, because I cannot be every place. So what I can do is train them and let them know the things that I think are important and I expect you, if you are a doubles player, a lot of times I’ll have doubles teams practice against each other. When you are working with me, you have got something at stake here. If you make me better, we are better as a team. So we will do a lot of that. 75 Singles players, if it is quiet out there tell them they made a good shot, tell him he did not get his racket back. You have got to do that, because then when it is match time and it is a crucial point in the match you can say something constructive and it will be received that way as opposed to a personal attack. While C1 had several rationales for teaching his athletes to coach one another, he expressed that the underlying purpose of requiring these behaviors was to convey to the players the importance of and skills involved in working with others and taking responsibility for their well-being. General life skill development strategies. Throughout the individual and focus group interviews with the informant groups in Case 1, there were instances when Cl mentioned other strategies that were decontextualized from any particular target life skill. Mention of these approaches was deemed important due to clarity and specificity in which the strategy was described regardless of its more general nature in light of the core concept of the present study. These supplementary strategies included making life skills development a collaborative process, using teachable moments to teach life skills, using personal experiences to teach life skills, providing athletes a rationale for life skill lessons and evaluating life skill development. When explaining how life skills development should be a collaborative process, Cl described one-on-one conversations with athletes in the following manner, “I always start with, ‘this is bothering me because... This is what I see and what can we do.’ Usually it is a “we” thing. Okay, what can I do, tell me what I can do to help you deal with your situation? Again, partially to get them thinking about it, while also trying to connect with them.” Another important aspect of Cl ’5 coaching life skills strategies was that he did not put all the onus of acquiring the skills on the shoulders of the athletes, but instead 76 collaborated with the athletes in a way that both pushed and supported their developmental efforts. For example, Cl discussed how he worked with athletes to help them develop strategies to more effectively take responsibility for their actions (e.g., providing suggestions for how to improve punctuality) and was watchful for situations when he could step in and support an athlete who was struggling with carrying out a particular life skill. C1 also highlighted how he used his own personal experiences and behaviors as a way of conveying life lessons to his athletes. More specifically, he explained: There has been more than once when I have gotten a little more excited than I probably should have. And I’ve gone back, and after I have reflected, I’ll come back either that practice or the next day and I’ll apologize for that because what I do not want them to do is see [blowing up] as a valid way of handling problems. And doing that shows you can make mistakes, and how you handle it. Sometimes I use myself as the example to try to get those things across. You know, I let you down and we talk about those things. By allowing himself to be the focus of a particular life skills lesson, C1 not only demonstrated to his athletes that no person was perfect, but he also provided them with a clear model for how he would expect them to handle a similar situation or utilize a particular skill. C1 also recounted ways in which he found it useful to explain to his athletes the rationale behind why they work on developing life skills through sport. When instructed to work on a firm handshake and to spend time learning the intricacies of the rules of tennis, Cl recalled that some of the athletes questioned his intentions. In order to attain their buy-in and encourage them to put forth effort into adopting these skills, he explained, “we talked about that. It is about being confident and in control, the rules thing. By knowing that, when you have got a conflict, resolve it with knowledge as 77 opposed to emotion because emotions can get in the way sometimes.” This statement highlights the contention that a coach’s intentions may not be clear to his or her athletes, and a coach is less likely to get full cooperation and investment from the athletes until they understand the rationale behind the expectations. Direct life skill transfer strategies. While it was apparent that Cl ascribed to the belief that life skills transfer should be addressed with athletes and should be done so in an intentional manner, the content of the lower-order themes in this category eluded to the probability that discussions about using skills learned in sport in other life domains were carried out, but not in an optimally effective manner. More specifically, when asked what strategies C1 used to facilitate the transfer of life skills to life outside of sport, two categories of responses emerged: (a) life skills transfer is discussed with athletes and (b) life skills transfer is not taught systematically. An additional trend that deserves mention is that while specific experiential evidence of life skills transfer was discussed amongst all informant groups in Case 1, all but one meaning unit that directly addressed the question of what specific strategies were used to transfer these life skills were derived from the interview with C1 himself. This lack of case-wide support further reinforced the idea that life skills transfer either was not made a priority in Cl ’8 program or it was not carried out in a way that C1 ’3 intentions and/or actions were made clear to others. Life skill transfer is discussed with athletes. While this category of strategies was not discussed in great breath within Case 1, C1 talked about this topic in relative depth, citing examples of both his use of the general strategy of discussing life skills transfer as well as more specific examples of the types of life skills transfer conversations that have been carried out on his teams. Overall, Cl reported that he discussed the importance of 78 transferring life skills outside of sport and made an effort to draw connections between the sport skills and their other life domain counterparts. Specifically, he recounted, “as far as always making that connection to what we are doing here and the outside, we talk about, ‘these are good life skills, these are important’. I talk about things happening in the classroom, these are life skills. We are not remembering facts, but here are some things you can take with you.” In addition, Cl also cited specific life skills transfer discussion topics that included drawing parallels between the sport skills of a confident handshake to the career domain, working with teammates to other significant relationships, and conflict management skills to working with high school teachers. For example, C1 recounted how he has discussed with his athletes ways they could constructively approach a teacher about resolving a conflict: .. .sometimes I counsel students, here is the way you need to approach things. If you want somebody to listen to you, you don't come in and get on the defensive. You do not attack. You present your case, here is what happened, and then they make a decision. And you accept that decision. I have had that situation with a teacher, or administrator. Like with Saturday school, [an athlete] did something to deserve this. Now here's what's going on, ‘is there a way that I can meet the requirements or is it my responsibility as far as I deserve the consequences? If they say no, that is the end of the discussion. Interestingly, transfer lessons that were addressed did not correspond to the life skills that were discussed most frequently when questions about developmental strategies were posed. These missing parallels may be another reflection of the unsystematic way in which transfer was addressed in this program. Life skills transfer is not taught systematically. This lack of systematic instruction when it came to helping athletes transfer skills from sport to other life contexts was directly confirmed by C1 and his former athlete. Cl explained that while discussions 79 about transfer were carried out, they were not done so frequently, were probably not as specific as they should have been, and were situation dependant. He explained, “No. I do not think I [intentionally address life skills transfer] enough. I hope that by doing these things, they do transfer. Should I do more of that? Probably, but I do not.” C1 further elaborated by stating, “yeah, but in one year, [discussions of life skills transfer] may not happen. It just depends on where we’re at what the situation is. . ..I do that, but not really anything specific.” Corroborating C1 ’3 admission that life skills transfer strategies tended to be situation specific, his former athlete also stated that athletes who were more ‘troubled’ were the ones who benefitted most from life skills transfer lessons. In other words, those athletes who were perceived to be in the greatest need of the internal and external assets cultivated through sport were the ones who received the most attention from C1 when transfer discussions were implemented. Finally, one of C1 ’8 closing comments about his strategies was that he sincerely hoped the life skills would be transferred outside of sport, even if his direct intervention was limited. Indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer. Across the various individual and focus group interviews with Case 1 participants, a great deal of the discourse centered on factors that influenced life skill development through sport that did not fall under any direct developmental strategy category. In other words, these individuals made mention of many environmental, interpersonal, and individual coaching factors that indirectly facilitated the development of life skills in C1 ’3 athletes (117 raw meaning units were included in this global category). The hi gher-order categories of themes that illustrated the existence of these factors included establishing a positive and 80 productive team environment, cultivating positive relationships, and facilitative coach characteristics. More than likely, embedding these factors within the sport experience was not done so for the sole purpose of life skills development and/or transfer, but the concepts were mentioned and deemed as important features that significantly contributed to the positive developmental experiences of Cl ’3 athletes. Establishing a positive and productive team environment The lower order themes within this category spoke to the team climate that was established in Cl ’5 programs that encompassed factors believed to promote life skills development and transfer. These factors were representative of some of the teams’ central values and expectations. More specifically, the three relevant lower—order themes that emerged from the data were a team culture of excellence and class, an emphasis on personal improvement over winning, and a fun sport experience. A team culture of excellence and class. All four informant groups in Case 1 recounted perceptions that C1 ’8 team climate was characterized by an expectation that players behave in a manner that upholds values of playing with excellence and class. C1 and several of his current athletes spoke directly to this ideal, with one of the current players explaining they were instructed to, “just keep class, try new things, learn new shots, watch how [your opponent] reacts to different shots” even when they were outplaying an opponent. A second current athlete elaborated by stating, “and even if we know that we are going to rile ‘em, we still keep our class and make sure we are the best people and we don’t, I mean we aren’t like snobby or anything.” These statements make it quite clear that Cl had instilled in his athletes an understanding that regardless of the 81 score or opponent, there was an expectation that if a player was on his team, he performed at his best, and did so without belittling the other player across the net. Also included in this ‘team culture’ category were responses from the former athlete and the parent of a former athlete who clarified that expectations were also communicated regarding the importance of upholding the team’s and larger school’s reputations. For example, Cl ’3 former athlete recounted the following experience: . . .never give up, that was always a key. . .we made it to the top 10 in the state, were we going to win the state? Probably not. We all knew that. He knew that, but the point was you’re going to go there, represent your community, do the best you can and there’s nothing else you can ask for. Not surprisingly, themes that depicted the expectation to uphold a sense of excellence and class were discussed with a great deal of pride, and were expressed as factors that predisposed athletes to adopt and maintain other more specific positive assets and life skills. An emphasis on personal improvement over winning. This lower-order theme was discussed exclusively by C1 and several of his current athletes, and was related to the idea that personal improvement in the form of developmental growth and performance was reinforced by C1 more so than competitive outcomes of any given match. For instance, Cl recounted the type of post-match conversation he would have with his players whether or not they had just walked away with a victory: ...when kids come off the courts, 1 will ask, ‘how did you do’? ‘Well, I won.’ ‘No, did I ask you that, how did you do?’ And if it was a bad loss, okay. ‘First thing you have to do is tell me some good things that happened out there. We will deal with the other stuff, but you have to tell me some good things that happened out there and some of the positives’. And then we get to some of the things we can do differently and improve on. So it is not always did you win or lose but more how did he play, did he try as hard as he could, did he do the things we worked on in practice? 82 Interestingly, C1 ’3 program was one that had experienced a great deal of success (in terms of season records and titles) for many years, even without placing a heavy emphasis on wins and losses. A few of the current athletes provided an explanation for this phenomenon by describing how C1 taught them to understand that if the little performance details were done correctly along the way, the wins would come. A fim sport experience. The final lower-order category that depicted an important life skill influencing aspect of C1 ’3 team environment was simply to make sport fun. C1 was the only contributing informant to this lower order theme, but mentioned this factor several times, expressing sentiments such as, “some people tell me you cannot have fun and be successful. I think having fim has helped us become more competitive and win more,” “if you can let them have fun and sneak the other things in [laughs], you know, then I think things go much better,” and “I try to make it so [players] want to be there on time. As opposed to, some coaches will say, ‘what do you do about kids who missed practices?’ I don't have kids who missed practice. Once you make it fun, they want to be there”. In other words, C1 believed that within a fun team climate, athletes were more likely to experience success, be open to life lessons, and have an intrinsic desire to be involved in the sport and its demands. Cultivating positive relationships. The largest hi gher-order category representing factors that indirectly supported the development and transfer of life skills included six lower-order themes that ranged from establishing close family-like relationships with athletes, and establishing long-term relationships, to treating athletes as individuals, treating athletes equitably, maintaining open and positive communication, and involving families and the community. 83 Establish close family-like relationships with athletes. Raw meaning units in this category were expressed by members from all informant groups and represented the ideas of C1 being a father-figure and establishing relationships with his players that were perceived to be close, positive, and family-like. For example, one of the current athletes described his relationship with C1 by stating, “to me, he’s kinda like another dad” and the former athlete depicted the team as being, “a big family-oriented type atmosphere.” Additionally, the parent of a former athlete explained her perceptions of C1 ’3 team environment: . . .if you’re involved in [high school] tennis, you’re in a family. And it’s just nice to be a part of it. And knowing that you’ve got a good person at the top means a lot because my kids play other sports and I look at the head coaches of those programs and, you know, that’s nice, they do okay. Some of the coaches I don’t really care for, some of the parents. But, like I say, you have kids that have a choice of playing one sport or the other and they want to play tennis because of that togetherness. And, again, it’s all because of [C1]. Establish long term relationships with athletes. Another group of themes that was discussed repeatedly among the informant groups was the fact that Cl established relationships with his athletes at an early age, before they came to play with him on the high school team. In addition, Cl was known for maintaining relationships with his athletes after they graduated from his program. For example, one of the current athletes explained that he had been working with CI for 13 years. Furthermore, the parent explained how this high school student-athlete was able to work with CI for such an extended period of time when she stated, “he’s taken [the tennis program] from little, tiny tots, tiny tykes I think is what they call it, three and four year olds, all the way up to the high school level. And even works with, you know, he likes to see the kids after high school.” The latter portion of the quote also illustrated C1 ’3 tendency to remain engaged 84 with his athlete after they have left the high school and are no longer playing for him competitively. Treat athletes as individuals. A third lower-order theme related to positive relationships illustrated C1 ’3 tendency to treat his athletes as individuals and to adapt his coaching to meet their unique needs and circumstances. C1 expressed that he first makes it a priority to learn from each athlete what they need from him as a coach and then adjusts his coaching practices accordingly: I get to know the kids pretty well and what buttons to push and which ones not to and how to deal with some of those things. Part of what I do is: I adjust strategies based on the team and then individually, because there are certain teams where you know where they are at, you know some of the strengths and weaknesses. How do we build on that? He then went on to say: Individually, what will work for one player may not work for another. And so you try to get to know the kids in summer, you tend to get a better idea of what will work, how to reach them and what strategies to use. Some people like challenge, some people I pat on the back. One thing I have learned in talking to kids, when I get feedback from them [I ask], ‘what would you have liked me to say during this match and I did not say, or what works and what did not?’ I need to know, so we talk about those things. Other informants shared their personal impressions of how Cl treats his athletes as individuals. One of his current athletes elaborated on this point by stating: I need to hear something. [Player A] needs to hear something different, [Player B] needs to hear something different, me and [Player C] need to hear something different than that. . .you know, he’s very good at knowing what to say to certain people before play time, and that’s the biggest thing. Even with the doubles, me and him [gesturing to another participant] have different personalities and stuff so sometimes he will even say two different things to each one of us. The parent expressed her personal observations of this factor in the following way: He knows when somebody is having a hard time, he knows how to deal with each player in their own way. [My son], if he’s having a hard time, may just need to be left alone for a game or so. Cl kind of perceives that and knows when to step in 85 and when to, you know, okay he needs his time and we’re going to let him have his time, but if I need to talk to him, I’m going to approach him and it’s going to be okay. Versus another kid that may need to have guidance all the time. He kind of reads that very well with each player. Treat athletes equitably. While C1 made a point to treat his athletes as unique individuals, he was also carefirl to treat all athletes equitably and fairly. The parent of a former athlete expressed this idea through the following statement, “I don’t think C1 cares what your ability level is. I think he will look at the #1 singles and the #4 doubles players the same.” She later went on to explain, “you know you can’t play favoritism by any means, and he doesn’t. That’s what’s really unique about him. He can take kid A and kid B, coach them differently, but nobody thinks he’s playing favorites.” Some of C1 ’3 current athletes expressed similar sentiments, demonstrating their appreciation for the way Cl avoided playing favorites among his athletes and instead focused on the personal improvement of all individuals who are committed to being a productive team member. Maintain open and positive communication with athletes. The most fi'equently cited lower-order theme within the cultivating positive relationships category was related to the ways in which C1 promoted and required his athletes to carry out open and positive communication patterns. Several of his current athletes and his former athlete described Cl as a coach who communicated with his players in a very open and straightforward manner. One athlete explained, “he just knows so much, that you can start a conversation with him about anything”, while several others expressed sentiments such as “it’s so easy to understand the way he says stuff and his tone, it’s easy to understand what he wants, and when he’s happy with you and when he’s not happy with you, like he’s straightforward, you know exactly what he means.” 86 Secondly, others explained how coach understood that there were more appropriate times to attempt communication with his athletes, especially when at competition sites. A current athlete highlighted Cl ’3 use of this strategy by explaining: He would take time and wait. Like he would know that you needed time to cool off just like he would know. I guess like he would need some, like if he was upset with something, but he would take time, and then ask you to come over to come over and talk with him... That’s what he does, like he knows everybody so well, how long he needs to let you cool off, you know, to talk right away, or wait 10 minutes, or more... The former athlete also shared a similar sentiment: ...and after the match, he gives you about 5 to 10 minutes to cool off because he knows you’re not going to listen to him. He gets you to calm down, and then he’ll talk to you. Finally, Cl and several of his current athletes discussed how open communication was facilitated amongst athletes because Cl often solicited feedback from players concerning team decisions and their personal performances. For example, one of the current athletes shared the following impressions: You know, like you can talk to him about anything. It’s not like one of those things where he talks to you and then, you know, like you shut up and then you just listen to what he says and it seeps into your brain. He wants input; he always wants to be able to talk to people. He is real open and you can talk to him about anything. So that’s what, he knows everything that is going on because he gets a direct answer fi'om everybody. Involve families and the community. While C1 ’8 efforts for relationship building were directed primarily at his athletes, several informants discussed how Cl also took a more system-wide approach to cultivating positive relationships by involving both parents and members from the larger community in his tennis program. Cl explained that he recognized the importance and utility of establishing relationships with his players’ parents because it created a larger system of support for what he was trying to accomplish 87 with his players. Specifically, he stated, “what we do in summer really helps. . .that establishes the trust, or rapport; not only with the coach and player but also with the parents as well. There are some things that I can do and the parents know where I am coming from as opposed to a new coach coming in that does not have that established and they would question what you are doing.” A few of his current athletes also expressed that they were given support from and appreciated the opportunity to interact with community members through participating in Cl ’5 tennis program. For instance, when discussing the summer camp that Cl hosted and asked his athletes to help run, one athlete explained, “it’s definitely a community thing. You start off like in the mornings with all the little kids, like three, four, five, that age. And then they will have adult, like mixed doubles, or whatever, so it’s like you have everybody from all over the community just playing...” A second athlete explained how the community had become involved in the high school tennis program as well. He illustrated this point by stating, “I mean it’s just a community, and everyone in the community, it’s not about going to watch the football game on Friday, but its like, ‘oh, what did tennis do?”’ Typically, tennis is not one of the more highly supported teams within a high school athletics program, so the athletes expressed a great appreciation for and pride in the fact that Cl had developed a program in which others were interested. Facilitative coach characteristics. The final hi gher-order category within the indirect factors that influence life skills development and transfer group are those that highlight the characteristics and qualities C1 embodied that others perceived to play a role in his effectiveness as a facilitator of important life lessons. More specifically, C1 was viewed as someone who was well-known, respected, and a person who was 88 dedicated to, cared about and could relate well to his athletes despite the generational differences. A third lower-order category was primarily discussed by C1, who spoke extensively about his coaching philosophy, which focused on the personal development of his athletes above all other coaching objectives. Well-known and respected. C1 was viewed by all other informants as someone who had a very positive reputation at his school and within the greater community. For example, the parent explained, “Oh, it’s amazing! Anybody in this town if you just say Cl , they know who it is and they know his values and they know his record.” His extensive sport-related knowledge and history of success were two factors that were believed to contribute to Cl ’8 positive reputation. One athlete illustrated this point by stating, “he has a lot of knowledge about different things, about a lot of different sports. . .where everybody just respects him,” while another explained others respected C1 because one can “walk down that hallway and see like 35 conference championships and banners.” One theme the current athletes repeatedly voiced was that ‘everyone’ seemed to respect their coach. The athletes themselves expressed, “everybody looks up to him in a way, like he’s God, not quite God, but like a high enough person, [laughter] like even if he is not your coach, like other people around still talk like. . .people look up to him.” Another current athlete explained, “I mean people, like seriously, ‘I really don’t like the guy at all’ is what I heard people say, but that ‘simply I respect the crap out of him because of what he’s done and how everyone else liked him’.” Finally, C1 was described as someone whose time and coaching was viewed as a valuable resource. In fact, several 89 of the current athletes explained how athletes from neighboring towns will seek out the help of C1 , even if they were rival competitors. Caring and dedicated to athletes. Showing athletes he cares was one of the first strategies Cl mentioned when asked about what he believed led to life skills development on his teams. In fact, through the following statement, he expressed that he believed it to be a central component of effective coaching in general: “coaching again is caring about somebody else, 1 think the players need coaches to care how are they doing, how they are responding.” C1 went on to explain, “. . .the big thing is that I care. I sincerely care about what happens. Not whether they win or lose, but I care about them.” Several participants discussed how C1 carried out this principle by making it clear that he cared about the athletes as people beyond who they were as tennis players. Additionally, several informants also described how C1 showed athletes he cared about them by dedicating his time to working with them and making his players a priority in his life. A particularly touching statement shared by one of Cl ’8 current athletes that was corroborated by several of his teammates: He’s a real busy man, but always finds time for anything that has top priority even though if there is something more, like, you know, more hurtfirl or like more meaningful to him he will still make sure he can find time to squeeze in play. . .there’s a lot of stuff going on in his life, but he always finds time for it... So he has time for his job, coaching to help all of us, answer any phone call, come home, see his wife, you know, he with his daughter. . .he just finds time to do it all. . .he makes time for everybody. It is not surprising that by carrying out the simple act of showing care and concern for his athletes, the players not only reciprocated C1 ’3 caring attitude, but were also more likely to work hard for him and buy into the types of life lessons he was providing for his teams. 90 Clear philosophy focuses on personal development. When Cl was asked about his coaching philosophy, he was able to clearly and thoroughly articulate his overarching coaching objectives and those values and principles that guided his coaching practices and decisions. Without being directly asked, C1 also drew strong connections between his philosophy and his dedication to fostering the development and transfer of life skills in his players. Some of C1 ’3 initial statements dealt with his belief that sport should be an educational activity and that it has the potential to teach life skills to its participants. For example, when describing his coaching philosophy, Cl asserted: ...we have athletics as part of our educational process and we need to treat it that way. There is a reason it is a part of the school system. There are a lot of lessons kids can learn on the tennis court, the basketball court, or volleyball court and the pool, that sort of thing that you are not going to learn out of books. I think there are a lot of life skills that they do pick up. Cl and several other informants also explained that Cl prioritized the personal development of his players over winning and often used this development as a measuring stick for the success of his tennis programs. C1 further elaborated by explaining his perspective that, “the scoreboard is a simple way to keep score, but there are a lot of other things that are more important and if you can look at those things and help the kids see those things they are going to benefit.” Finally, the current athletes were aware C1 prioritized development over coaching and readily explained, “it’s kinda like winning isn’t important, it’s about growing. Like you know, he will lose every conference match in a year, but we can still get to state and win there and like he doesn’t care. Yeah, he likes everybody to improve.” Overall, it seems likely that without this coaching philosophy that was so strongly-rooted in the personal growth of his athletes, Cl would not have dedicated the 91 time he had to teaching his athletes lessons that went beyond the x’s and 0’s of tennis and investing efforts toward influencing their lives both in and outside of sport. Perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. In addition to discussing what life skills were addressed and how these lessons were developed in C1 ’3 athletes, the informant groups also spoke about their perceptions of the relative success C1 had with fostering the development and transfer of life skills in his athletes and the barriers that can impede these developmental efforts. Perceived success with developing life skills. While the coaches from each case were the only participants to be directly asked how successful they believed they were at developing life skills in their athletes, stories that other informant groups provided which specifically addressed observations of life skills having been developed because of the coaches’ interventions and influences were utilized as evidence for successful life skills development. Therefore, the two lower-order categories comprising this group were impressions that Cl had mixed success in developing life skills and specific examples of successful life skills development. Mixed success in developing life skills. C1 expressed, on several occasions, that he perceived his success with developing life skills in his athletes to be mixed. More specifically, he reported, “sometimes [development] goes quicker [with certain athletes] than others, and sometimes you don't make it.” Cl elaborated by explaining that it seemed as if some athletes were more open to or capable of learning the life lessons, which may have been an influential factor on his success rate. Furthermore, even though she was not directly asked, the parent expressed with certainty that Cl has a major impact on the life skills development of his athletes. More specifically, she stated: 92 I cannot tell you how much he impacts people around here. I just really can’t. Life skills. From my son, going into the future, I may never know until 25 years from now, he’s going to say... But I can vision [him], if he was to ever get into the hall of fame and come back home and give a Speech, it would be all about C1. And his encouragement and his influences and what he taught and what he learned. The former athlete shared something very similar when he explained how he believed parents really wanted their children to work with C1 because he would have a positive influence on their character. He expressed this belief in a sort of mock dialogue: .. .Cl, you go talk to him, he’ll take care of you. He’s going to teach you the game, he’s going to teach you the love of the game. And at the end of the day, you’re going to have a different outlook of what tennis is at [school] than anywhere else. And if he tells you to do something, you do it, no questions asked. You’re not going to come home whining, because you’re going to do everything he tells you. Because [parents] know that when you’re 6 years old and when you turn 15, you’re going to be a better person because of C1. They know that. With sentiments such as the above and evidence of life skills development in the form of specific examples of growth embedded within the interviews, C1 ’8 perception that his life skills development success as being merely mixed does not appear to be shared wholeheartedly by others involved with his program. Evidence of successful life skill development. Throughout their descriptions of the life skill building strategies utilized by C1, informants also provided specific examples of when they observed the development of life skills in players that could be attributed to the influence of C1. Several of these examples were provided and included anecdotes that were related to athletes developing emotional control, learning to support others and be a team player, adopting a strong work ethic, and taking responsibility. Two of the more illustrative accounts of these phenomena were shared by C1 and are presented below. 93 First, Cl shared a story about a current athlete whom he felt he helped develop the life skill of breaking out of his comfort zone to support his doubles partner’s performance. More specifically, he recounted: He was very quiet and played mixed doubles with his partner who was also very quiet. For the first two rounds of [a tournament] he and his partner went out there and they went through the motions. They were not completely comfortable with each other; they were both quiet and both shy. The first two rounds, nothing clicked. We kept talking after each one. ‘You guys need to keep working together as a team, you need to high five each other; when somebody misses a shot, they need you more then to high five them than when they have won a point, because you are already up on that.’ Again, look at each other's emotional needs, and he tried to do that. By the end of the match they both were just high fiving each other. Not only did it win enough games, but they ended up winning the match. They helped the team qualify for a national event. Since then, I have been able to go back with him to that experience. . .we still talk about what he did. Not only how that affected himself, but his partner. Your actions affected somebody else in a very positive way and you played better and had fun. C1 also recounted a specific story of one of the first athletes with whom he actively worked on controlling his anger on the court and in whom he saw a great deal of improvement in terms of emotional control: When I first got here, we had a guy who was a racket thrower. As a matter of fact broke a couple rackets. We started looking at that, we didn't tightly control his anger, but [discussed] how we handled it. Instead of smashing rackets and that sort of thing, instead if you are upset hit your shoe. You are not going to hurt yourself and break rackets, and get your parents mad at you and that sort of thing. After that, and next up was talk about your anger at what does that do, to what you are tying to do? This is your goal, is that helping you reach your goal or is that getting in the way? First we dealt with the destructive element and he started hitting his shoes and then we started dealing with the other aspect. Overall, the parent of a former athlete summed up C1 ’3 success with teaching athletes to take responsibility for themselves and others by stating, “[athletes] want to do a good job for themselves, they want to do a good job for their team, for their community, for their school. . .and it comes from him.” 94 Perceived success with facilitating life skills transfer. Again, only C1 was directly asked how successful he believed he had been in helping his athletes transfer skills learned in sport to other life domains. However, unlike in the previous higher-order category in which C1 provided a general impression of his perceived success rate, Cl approached this question in a similar way to the other informant groups who spoke to the existence of successful life skills transfer by providing specific examples of when this transfer took place. Within this higher-order category, the various participants cited examples of when Cl ’3 athletes transferred the skills of taking personal responsibility, taking responsibility for others, emotional control, goal setting and self confidence out of sport. For each of these lower order categories, a single representative story from one of the participants will be shared. Transfer of taking personal responsibility. When recounting ways in which his athletes have transferred 3 sense of personal responsibility to life off the tennis court, Cl told the following story: There was a big party and a lot of people were involved. [My athlete] was one of a couple of people who came forward and admit yes, I was there, and yes, I was drinking... That was one of those instances where it was something that we did talk about, whether it was me or combination of things, I was so impressed with him. He was willing to come forward and admit it. I messed up, I need to take it. Transfer of taking responsibility for others. When describing how she observed her own son take lessons about supporting his teammates through adversity to other life domains, the parent shared the following story about how she observed her son showing care and responsibility with his sister: [my son] was very competitive and didn’t want anything to do with his sister, didn’t want to help her out. You know, I’m a good tennis player, I want to go to do my thing, and you can’t. With maturity, with teamwork, with a lot of that, I notice that now that he wants to go hit with her, he wants to be there to encourage 95 her. It’s kind of nice to see an older brother take the younger sister under their wing and encourage her. He was ecstatic when she won states this year. He was the first one out there, you know, just to be there and congratulate her and very proud of her. So, again, where does that come from. . .it’s a part of tennis. Transfer of emotional control. When illustrating his work as a farmer and a supervisor of other workers, the former athlete shared an extensive story about how he has been able to transfer lessons about emotional control to his career. Excerpts from this story are provided below: I would say, probably one of the bigger things that I being in farming, farming is a high pressure job. And a lot of things are uncontrollable, but on the same hand if things don’t go your way, keep your emotions under control. . .or if things go haywire, keeping yourself under control. That’s’ probably one of the number one things that I learned through high school sports... So being impatient to where you know you keep working hard at getting better at it all the time, sometimes it is going to turn around for you and go in a positive direction. Being patient with that keeps your emotions under control are probably the things I learned. The former athlete continued: . . .we have like 5 hired men, you sit back and you say you are representing, you know, they’re working for you, so if you don’t get rattled or upset about something that keeps them under control too. Keeps them on the cool side. You know, if you’re getting worked up over a situation and getting, you maybe not being as patient, maybe losing your composure a little more, makes them rattled too. And being in that leadership role, you know, keep yourself patient, you know, if something does go haywire you know try to keep yourself under control or it rubs off on your hired help too. That’s one of the bigger things that I learned. Transfer of goal setting. The former athlete also shared an anecdote that explained how he has been able to transfer what he learned fiom Cl about setting realistic goals and using goal setting to inspire focus and confidence. Interestingly, he has applied this life skill knowledge to teaching his son to utilize this same skill. For example, the former athlete explained: I see it with my own kids, my own son. My own son is very hard on himself and he achieves a lot of goals. .. He’s always critiquing himself. . .always, sometimes he’s just got to sit back and say hey, I feel good where I’m at, you don’t always 96 have to improve every single time. So, don’t be upset that you didn’t beat the guy 6-0, 6-0. The score is 6-2, 6-2, that’s ok. Just because you lost more games doesn’t mean it’s a failure... You know, that’s what I tend to tell my son. You know, it’s always good to have goals, setting goals, and when you achieve them you know, keep working at them to achieve more. But that target for goal setting always changes. Transfer of self-confidence. One current athlete described how he had noticed the confidence he developed from working with C1 in tennis had transferred to other areas in life. This sentiment was expressed in the following quote, “I’ve been a more confident person, because you have to have high confidence when you play tennis, and when talking to [unfamiliar] people or if I ever second guess myself.” Barriers to life skill development and transfer. One of the more challenging questions asked of the informant groups concerned perceptions of baniers that inhibited the development and transfer of life skills processes in athletes. While several factors were mentioned by various participants, it is meaningful to note that all groups struggled with producing responses to this line of inquiry, and there was little agreement across informant groups in the form of multiple individuals mentioning a single barrier theme. Specific impediments that were discussed are presented below. Other coaches do not focus on life skill development. Raw meaning units from this category represented the beliefs that Cl was rather unique in his dedication to coaching life skills. Participants expressed that other coaches did not understand the importance of life skills development, did not teach life skills as effectively as C1 or did not address life skills development with their athletes. For example, the parent of a former athlete expressed, “some coaches are there to coach for themselves, some coaches are there to win, some coaches are there to say that they coached a varsity sport and for various reasons, but they don’t take it to the next level. . .they don’t take it the next ten 97 1'1 ll, Sikh levels.” One of the current athletes corroborated this impression by stating, “he’s definitely one of a kind. I mean he has an overall, I mean we like him so much and how he treats us. He’s so respected, because we don’t get people like that at [town].” Finally, the former athlete simply stated, “a lot of coaches don’t get it. Maybe 85-90% don’t get it.,, Overemphasis on winning. A second type of barrier cited by various participants concerned observations and beliefs that life skill development and transfer was impeded by the fact that many coaches as well as society as a whole overemphasized winning as an objective of sport participation. The former athlete explained his perceptions that coaches place too much importance on winning over life skills development and that he believed: ...society does a huge part of it too. Because society is so hooked on winning and losing that they don’t look at the impact they have on the kids. You know, the pressures that it puts on the kids? It takes the fun out of sports where you know, if you’re not scoring all the goals, or if you’re not scoring all the points, if you’re not over scoring more than 5 points in a basketball game, they think that you’re not contributing. There’s too much of that going on. There’s too much of that. And I don’t know if there’s very much of a cure for that today. Cl further described a specific subset of coaches who may be particularly vulnerable to adopting an overemphasis on winning. More specifically, he explained: ...a lot of people when they coach are coming out of a competitive situation, where you were a competitor. . .it just seemed like [winning] was a bigger focus. . .there is more pressure you put on yourself, and I think that is where a lot of the pressure comes from, is you putting on yourself; the winning thing. In general, it was expressed that life skills did not receive the attention they deserve in many sport programs because so much time and energy was dedicated to fostering and practicing those sport specific skills that are believed to lead to competitive success, while other life lessons are minimized and perhaps even contradicted. 98 t Parent issues. Parents as a factor that inhibits life skills development and transfer was exclusively discussed by C1 ’8 former athlete. He expressed this sentiment in the following interview excerpt that describes parents’ over-involvement as an impediment to athletes’ autonomous involvement in their sport experiences: I would say that when I was in school, parents have more respect for the coaches on the disciplinary side. Maybe the kid really did like what the kid had to say that day. He’d come home, or I’d come home, and they’d say, you know, listen to your coach, go back to practice tomorrow and keep your mouth shut, move on. Today, if one kid makes one complaint. . .maybe the coach looked at him wrong, maybe the coach said something he really didn’t like, go home and complain to his parents. The parents come home and say, hey, you said something bad to my kid and then it just snowballs fi'om there. The former athlete also discussed his belief that parents, in general, could be a barrier to life skills development and transfer and may create some of the struggles coaches face when dealing with over-involved parents. Athlete distractions. A final barrier that was mentioned by C1 exclusively was the existence of distractions in student-athletes’ lives that made promoting lessons that develop and transfer life skills difficult on coaches and the athletes. A specific distraction that Cl mentioned was the peer pressure his athletes often faced, both from teammates and other non-sport fiiends: There is a lot of peer pressure to do some things that are not necessarily in their best interest. If you get that situation where you are a team and set in the right direction, that will lessen the problem. But, if you're out there as a bunch of individuals. . .it is not a big deal to people. There are a lot of distractions and so many other things that kids could be doing. Unfortunately, as a result of some of these pressures and distractions, not all of C1 ’3 life skills development efforts resulted in success stories. He recounted a former athlete who violated team and school codes of conduct and chose to leave the team after being held accountable for his actions and personal choices: 99 ...a couple people had alcohol and code violations, and so they were supposed to sit out. They choose not to; and tennis is an individual sport but it is a team sport as well. I said that it is a team sport and he figured he could do things other than supporting his teammates and that sort of thing. We talked about it, we talked about it and I suspended him for a match and we talked about it some more. He was not willing to be part of the team, and he was the best player on my team. When describing this scenario, it was obvious that situations during which he could not reach an athlete in need were very hurtful and fi'ustrating. He went on to say, “it hurts, it hurts; anybody you lose. I have had other kids that I just could not grab onto and help them through their issues and occasionally it leads to separation. That has not happened often, but it hurts when it does.” Case 2: Profile Coach 2 [C2] was a 68-year-old female, who coached at and served as the athletic director of a private Catholic high school. At the time of data collection, C2 was coaching the varsity basketball and softball programs at the suburban, all-girls school, and had been coaching these programs for 44 years. The high school at which C2 coached had a relatively small student body (11 = 503), that was comprised of a mostly Caucasian population 81.3% (n=409). The remaining 18.7% of students were of African American (n=31), Arabic (n=31), Asian (n=16), Hispanic (n=6), American Indian (n=5) and multi- racial (n=5) decent. Some of the more defining characteristics of this case were that C2 was a highly experienced coach who worked with team-sport athletes of the same gender. The student-athletes with whom C2 worked were unique from the other two cases in that they attended a private college-preparatory school that placed a strong emphasis on educational and religious values. Furthermore, while the school was an all-girls institution, this program represented the most diversity in terms of ethnic and racial background, which was probably a function of the school’s proximity to a major city. 100 When asked about her educational background, C2 reported she had earned a master’s degree and completed formalized coaching education in the form of various seminars, clinics, and workshops. Finally, C2 ranked her primary coaching objectives in the following order: to develop her athletes psychologically and socially, to develop her athletes’ physical skills, to make sport firm and to win. Interestingly, when asked to describe C2’s coaching objectives, all other participants in Case 2 accurately perceived that winning was her lowest ranked coaching objective; however, all but one of the informants believed that making sport firm was C2’s top priority when coaching her athletes. Overall, when describing C2 and her coaching style, the various participants depicted her as being a laid back and easy going coach who put a great deal of care and effort into developing her athletes. While expectations for hard work and performance were made clear by the coach, C2 helped her athletes cope with the pressure of sport and was able to provide positive growth experience to her players by first making sure the sport experience was enjoyable. Additionally, she fostered a clear and consistent sense of support between the athletes, their families and herself. Many of the themes shared throughout the various interviews painted a picture of C2 as a skilled relationship-builder. Also described were the longer term and meaningfirl relationships she was able to cultivate between herself and her athletes as well as those shared between the athletes themselves. These connections were believed to play a positive and significant role in the developmental processes of the young women on her teams. 101 Case 2: Life Skills Addressed See Table 5 for a summary of the life skills perceived to be targeted for development by Coach 2 in her work with her high school athletes. As indicated in Table 5, data gathered from Case 2 interviews and focus groups indicated selfconfidence/self— esteem, maintaining emotional control, goal setting, taking personal responsibility, leadership and responsibility for others, bonding to team and school, decision making and problem solving, and academic achievement motivation were the life skills addressed most by Coach 2. A look at Table 5 also reveals that (similarly to Case I), nearly all skills identified as target life skills using the qualitative methodologies were also assessed as being relatively representative of the athletes’ experiences in sport by the YES-2 instrument. The only exceptions to this trend in Case 2 were the additional mentions of self-confidence/self-esteem, academic achievement motivation, and bonding to team and school as a target life skill during the various qualitative data collections. While the academic achievement theme may initially appear similar to the ‘cognitive’ life skill assessed by the YES-2, it was deemed to be a separate concept because it related to wanting to perform well academically and being inspired to work toward attaining acceptance and a degree from a university or college. On the other hand, the cognitive skills subscale assessed by the quantitative survey represented experiences such as utilizing the academic skills of reading, writing and math as well as computer/intemet and artistic/creative skills in sport. Again, while no formal comparative analysis was run, another finding of interest was that those life skills qualitatively supported as being C2’s target skills also had some of the highest mean quantitative scores, which signified they were skills the current and 102 former athletes perceived to be relatively representative of the positive developmental experiences they had when working with C2. Only a few life skills did not receive Table 5 Target Life Skills — Case 2: Interview and Quantitative Data Support Interview Data Support Quantitative Data Support Life Skill (y/n) (m/SD YES-2 subscale score) Problem Solving y 2.67/0.24 Goal Setting y 2.47/0.51 Emotional Regulation y 2. 05/0. 37 Leadership and Responsibility y 1. 80/0. 77 Self-Confidence/Self—Esteem y --:/--: Bonding to Team and School y --a/--a Academic Achievement Motivation y -- /-- Physical Skills n* 3.00/0.00 Group Process Skills (e. g., teamwork) n* 2.32/0.52 Feedback n* 2.10/0.42 Effort n 2.67/0.24 Time Management 11 2 13/018 Identity Reflection n 1 93/ 1.04 Integration with Family n 1 90/096 Diverse Peer Relationships 11 1.70/0.93 Prosocial Norms (e.g., helping others) n 1.55/0.60 Linkages to Work/College n 1 53/056 Identity Exploration n 1 53/030 Linkages to the Community n 1 .20/0. 84 Cognitive Skills (e. g., academic skills) n 0. 96/0. 38 life skill not assessed using the YES-2 survey * life skills discussed in the informant group interviews, but not specifically cited as target life skills complimentary support from both the qualitative and quantitative data sources. More specifically, while the skills of emotional regulation, feedback, and leadership/responsibility were discussed frequently among the various participants in Case 2, these subscales of the YES-2 received lower than expected scores (m=2.05; m=2.10; m=l .80 respectively). Another interesting discrepancy was that while the life skill category of linkages to work and college received a relatively low score (indicating a perception that opportunities to use and develop these skills/external assets were less 103 \l ‘l characteristic of the Case 2 athletes’ experiences), discussions about how being a student- athlete and playing for C2 inspired individuals to think about and actively work toward going to college were carried out in several of the Case 2 interviews. Perhaps, this discrepancy arose from the fact that the related YES-2 subscale combined the topic of connections to work and college, which may have confounded the assessment of linkages to college (a more relevant concept to this particular population). The life skill of hard work and effort deserves further mention as well. While this skill was discussed by a few informants as being a target life skill of C2 and the quantitative measure of this asset revealed the athletes perceived this skill to be one that was relatively representative of their high school sport experiences, hard work and effort were not indicated as target life skills in Table 5. The reason for this inconsistency was that while the concepts were briefly mentioned in the initial portions of the interviews, their inclusion in later analysis was not supported because further discussions of relevant strategies or instances during which C2’s athletes were observed utilizing these skills did not take place. Case 2: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results Table 6 summarizes the major higher- and lower-order themes that emerged from interviews and the focus group conducted across the four informant groups for Coach 2 [C2]. As with Case 1, these themes were organized within the three global categories of direct life skill development and transfer strategies, indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer, and perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. Table 6 also indicates the frequency with which each 104 informant group in Case 2 identified a given category/sub-theme as well as the total number of themes in each hi gher- and lower-order category. Direct life skill development and transfer strategies. When asked about the specific strategies used by C2 to develop life skills in her athletes and to facilitate the transfer of these skills outside of sport, 125 relevant raw meaning units were collected throughout the case’s interviews and focus group. These raw meaning units were then categorized into nine lower-order themes, which then collapsed into the two higher order themes that represent strategies focusing on the development of and the transfer of life skills. Direct life skill development strategies. This higher-order category presents the strategies perceived by the various informant groups to be those that were directly (or intentionally) applied by C2 in order to impact the life skills development of her athletes. The strategies discussed were often explained in light of the specific life skill they were targeting; therefore, these tactics were organized according to and discussed specifically as strategies for developing: self confidence, emotional control, goal setting, personal responsibility, leadership and responsibility for others, bonding to team and school, decision making and problem solving, and academic achievement motivation. Also, a category of general life skills development strategies will be summarized. Strategies for developing confidence/selfesteem. This initial lower-order theme was supported by raw meaning units fiom all informant groups. 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You’re good enough to like know how to do it.” This straight forward approach of inspiring confidence was also supported by C2’s former athlete when she explained, “and especially having your coach encourage you and criticizing you constructively and maybe non-constructively to make you to force you to think, what am I doing wrong? How can I make myself better? I think just that whole impact improves a person’s self-esteem.” A comment from the parent of a former athlete offered an interesting addendum to these confidence-building strategies. Specifically, she related that her two daughters, who both played for C2, were very self- confident young women to begin with. However, C2’s influence on this life skill was that she did not do anything to diminish the girls’ self-esteem, which was perceived to be a potential threat of sport participation. In a less direct manner, self-esteem was perceived to be encouraged in athletes by the way C2 conducted herself in a way that was confident and assertive. For example, a current athlete described this approach by saying, “she always backs up what she has to say. You know. She never questions herself. She’s pretty strong with what she has to say.” Finally, C2 expressed her belief that if a coach wants to truly impact a life skill such as self-esteem, he or she must invest a great deal of time in order to be successful: You know, just the overall, the whole picture, it’s not just you get them the ball and they go out and play and at the end of the game it’s over and done with. No, it’s everything. You know, whole seasons are built on something. You know, self- esteem, um, confidence in themselves. This last point provides an interesting implication about those life skills that are disposition-like characteristics; a coach has the capability of impacting an athlete at a 108 {‘9' 5H 5 .4 3‘ 0?- F! {F - taut very deep level, but in order to achieve that objective, he or she needs to adopt a long- terrn developmental approach. Strategies for developing emotional control. While teaching life lessons about emotional control did not appear to be the top priority of C2, she did make an effort to instill in her players the importance of and ways in which they could maintain composure in the difficult situations sport ofien presents its participants. In addition to having general discussions about refocusing afier setbacks within a game or after a less than optimal performance, others provided examples of strategies C2 used to address this life skill, including: encouraging emotional control to uphold the team’s reputation, reinforcing athletes who demonstrated emotional control, and providing players with a positive outlet to express their emotions off the field/court. One of the current athletes elaborated on the concept that C2’s athletes were expected to utilize emotional control in order to represent their team in a positive manner. This sentiment is expressed through the following excerpt: .. .for softball again, if we’d lose a game, she’d tell us it’s not the end of the world. You know. We can still come back and win the next one. . .because we were state champs. . .she told us, you know, walk out here, you should be proud of yourselves and everything. You want to make a good name for yourselves. It’s your reputation. While sometimes a reminder that emotional control was important and the provision of a rationale for its use were useful developmental strategies, C2 explained that athletes may not always be effective at dealing with emotions in isolation and they may simply need a safe place to vent their frustrations when upset. With this issue in mind, she made a point to provide her players with a safe place to express their thoughts and feelings. More specifically, she explained: 109 Emotional regulation, yeah. Obviously, we’ve lost games sometimes and as a coach you have to realize that, it’s not necessarily a personal thing, it’s just all of a sudden everything just sort of hits the fan. Sometimes I’ll tell people, if you ever need to go off screaming, just come to my office. The door’s open. Overall, C2 recognized that emotions are an inherent part of sport that needs to be dealt with in an effective way if a team is to be successful. Therefore, she made a point to remind athletes to remain calm and positive in the face of adversity and encouraged them to work through their emotions so they could more readily refocus and perform to their potential. Strategies for developing goal setting. Most of the discussion about C2’s strategies used to develop goal setting as a life skill centered around the idea that she constantly reminded her athletes that in order to achieve their big goals (e. g., winning the state championship), they first had to focus on accomplishing smaller goals that lead the team to that objective. This approach was useful, according to one of her current athletes, because players could sometimes get distracted by thoughts of where they want to be, and they overlook what is needed to be done in order to get there. In other words, the athlete recounted: ...for softball, she’ll set goals, but she sets small goals. Our goals, the girls wanted to be like let’s win state championship again. But her goals were like let’s just get through the season, let’s win [name] league, and then bigger stuff after that. Let’s win districts. Let’s win the region. She sets goals, but it’s like a smaller goal than what I was going for [laughs]. The former athlete reinforced this idea by explaining the following goal setting lesson she learned fi'om C2: I guess I guess maybe it’s a lot to deal with if you say you want all [emphasis] this, you can’t get to that until you do A, B, C, D first. So, I think that kind of, as a player, showed me that I need to start at the bottom and work my way up to the top. 110 The parent of a former athlete explained how C2 collaborated with the athletes to work through the goal setting process. More specifically, when working with this parent’s daughter, C2, “helped her with her goal setting. And knowing that she wanted... encouraged her with the decision that she wanted to play at the college level. C2 was great encouragement and talked her through her options.” Similar sentiments were shared by other informants in terms of the investment C2 would make in terms of discussing goals for after high school graduation and the options her players had in terms of setting themselves up to successfully achieve those goals. A comprehensive account of C2’s strategies used to develop the skill of goal setting in her players was recounted by her former athlete. This statement highlights how C2 not only drew the athletes’ attention to goals during critical times in a season, but also broke long-term goals into shorter-term goals and discussed ways in which the group could work toward their determined objectives. ...we all sat down as a team and C2 just came together and had us review our goals. Like what are our goals for this year? And obviously we wanted to win, but not only did we want to win, you know we started with we wanted to win our league, then we wanted to win this, then we set all our goals, but then she kind of regressed. . .we went back and, how are we going to reach those goals? So, we kind of had to take it day by day. I think that’s the way she does it, I think she takes it day by day, and you know she’s able to break it up and work towards one goal. An interesting trend in this lower-order theme is that when the participants discussed C2’s goal setting strategies, they exclusively mentioned a focus on outcome-oriented goals. Perhaps these are the types of goals that came most readily to mind; however, the goal content did not match well with the other discussions had by the informant groups concerning C2’s focus on personal development and personal improvements. 111 l‘ Strategies for developing personal responsibility. As was the case with Coach 1, Coach 2 also invested a great deal of effort into working with her players on developing a sense of personal responsibility and responsibility for the good of others. Most comments concerning these strategies were related to leadership and responsibility for teammates, but those regarding taking personal responsibility are first discussed below. The concept of taking responsibility for one’s actions was primarily discussed by C2 and her former athlete; however, all informant groups made it clear that personal responsibility was a life skill that C2 wanted her athletes to adopt. In general, the former athlete explained that her coach reinforced the idea that, “you need to be responsible with your own actions, obviously, first and foremost,” and later elaborated with a story that illustrated how C2 expected her athletes to be responsible for their own improvement on the field and court: .. .in basketball, going to practice everyday, being on time, working on the things you need to work on, you know, we had to shoot 25 free throws everyday, and just write it in [a log]. Just do it on our own time, so like being responsible and actually shooting those and then writing them in [was an expectation]. This same athlete also expressed she learned to take responsibility for her own performances during competitions as well because she could not expect others to make up for less than full effort on her part. More specifically, she explained: you have to be responsible in giving your full effort all the time on the court. You know you’re only as good as your worst player. And you can’t go out there and just kind of dillydally and expect everybody else, and have everybody else pull your weight and expect to do well. While lessons in the development of taking personal responsibility in sport were discussed, C2 reported more of her efforts went toward discussions about taking responsibility for one’s actions when off the court/field. These comments concerning the 112 transfer of this skill will be presented in the discussion about specific life skills transfer strategies. Strategies for developing leadership and responsibility for others. One of the largest lower-order themes in the direct life skills development strategy category involved perceptions of C2’s commitment to instilling the assets of leadership and responsibility- taking in her players. The sub-categories expressed below are related to C2’s lessons concerning taking responsibility for supporting one’s teammates, being a positive team leader and being a responsible representative of one’s team or school. In terms of being supportive of others, C2’s former athlete explained the team expectation that athletes were responsible for taking care of teammates who were struggling. This sentiment was expressed with the following statement: I think, as a team, if there’s one player who’s really struggling with something, whether it be something on the court or off the court, it’s the responsibility of the team to come together and help that person, help pull that person up so that the team can be stronger. The parent of a former athlete explained that C2’s athletes partially learned this skill by watching how C2 treated other people with care and support. Interestingly, this statement was corroborated in the interview with the former athlete. More specifically, the parent explained: I had a mom come up to me and say, ‘your daughter made my daughter feel comfortable, made my daughter feel good about herself, made my daughter feel like she fits in, put her at ease.’ Things like that. And I think that’s something that she learned from C2. Because I think they felt comfortable and they felt put at ease. . .they saw how they were treated as underclassmen when they came on the team. So, I think that’s just the trickle down effect, and I think I saw it come from the coach. 113 of. de: he in. Similarly, the former athlete stated, “. . .I think a couple times when we were having a hard time I can remember people stepping up. . .and I think that’s because of the way C2 treated us. Like that’s why someone would step up and do that.” The parent later explained that C2 also held her players accountable when she saw that someone was not treating a teammate courteously or with respect. This strategy was highlighted when the parent stated: ...she didn’t let them do anything that would have hurt the other person’s feelings or anything, I think she was, she was always on the girls. Not on them in a negative way, but like, often I heard her say, ‘[daughter’s name], what are you doing?’ Putting her back in check. Leadership was discussed as a sub-skill of the larger taking responsibility for others theme. This related life skill was highlighted by all participant groups and was perceived to be taught by C2 via direct discussions, modeling expected behaviors, and providing athletes structured opportunities to develop and use leadership skills. One trend that was repeatedly discussed within these sub-groups was that while C2 named captains on her teams and gave them special leadership responsibilities, she made a point to develop this skill in all her athletes. The parent shared the related belief that C2, “can pull the leaders out of the bunch no matter what grade they’re in. Whether they’re an underclassman or a senior, she encourages that among the teammates.” One of the current athletes also explained, “our captains for our teams, they’re not the only people that get opportunities to do things. [C2] doesn’t make them the people that have to do everything. She gives everyone the opportunity to lead.” The types of structured leadership skill building opportunities that were provided for C2’s athletes were described as taking athletes to leadership seminars/conferences and holding athletes accountable for reporting the information they learned during these 114 experiences to their teammates. The former athlete described her personal experience attending a leadership conference: . . .when I was a junior [C2] took maybe 6 or 7 athletes from different sports to a women in sports leadership conference, and I thought that was pretty cool. There were people from all around the state there, so we got to meet people and we got to see different aspects of what we could do as leaders in our lives. So, I gave a lot of credit to her for taking us there. C2 elaborated on the ways she and her assistant coaches helped the athletes then process the leadership experiences to reinforce and expand upon the lessons: We’ve picked out kids and tried to instill in them you’re here [at the leadership clinic] for this reason, because we think you can be leaders. We ask that they take those skills back to the underclassmen. We try to stress that. . ..just try to instill in them and ask them to bring back ideas to their peers. A lot of the kids will say ‘where were you, what did you do?’ because we’ve taken them out of school. And then we let the teammates ask them questions and give [the clinic attendees] a chance to tell them what they learned. These last few excerpts not only highlight specific strategies C2 used to develop leadership skills in her athletes, but again draw attention to the fact that C2 often addressed life skill lessons repeatedly to reinforce the learning experience and to strengthen the skills in her players. Strategies for developing bonding to team and school. A cluster of themes that represented an external asset in which C2 invested a great deal of time and energy cultivating in her athletes depicts efforts to foster a sense of bonding in the athletes to their school and between one another. While this category does not illustrate skills that directly impact one’s ability to be an effective individual in the many contexts of one’s life, creating strong bonds indirectly affords a person access to resources (e. g., information and support) that can make achieving goals and being productive an easier task. 115 The parent of a former athlete clearly articulated her belief that C2 played a major role in bonding her athletes to the team and to the high school. More specifically, she stated, “she totally helped with the bonding, with the school pride and I think there’s a sisterhood at [high school name], and I think that C2 is a big part of why that sisterhood is so strong.” Acknowledging that a bonded team would want to work harder and would be more open to developmental experiences, C2 described several ways in which she tried to cultivate a team environment in which there was a sense of chemistry and camaraderie as well as a pride in the program and the larger school. In terms of making team bonding a priority, C2 explained, “I almost think that sometimes the best experience at the end of the season is not necessarily the team that won the most, but the team that really kinda, we call it the team chemistry. And I think it’s really what you’re trying to get out.” She then explained that this bonding occurred because of the tone that was set and the events that occurred both inside and outside of practices and games. C2’s former athlete explained that C2 also emphasized bonding to one’s school, and athletes were aware of the example she led when embodying this positive attitude. More specifically, she stated, “I think, obviously, she’s been here for, I don’t know, 30, 40 years. . .she obviously has a strong bond with the school.” The former athlete then went on to say: She definitely encourages pride in your school. You know, wear the shirts, or cheering for other teams, supporting other students. I think a lot of the times she leads by example. Like I think of her always being there, talking to students fiom different sports or different backgrounds. . .C2 kinda always made us remember that other students and what they do is important too. 116 While the athletes fell short of being able to explain the value of being bonded to one’s school, because C2 felt it was important, they also saw value in it and were willing to work on developing relationships and establishing a connection with the general student body. Strategies for developing decision making and problem solving. Another set of life skill strategies that was recounted by all four informant groups in Case 2 represented those strategies that targeted the development of decision making and problem solving skills. Two sub-groups of responses arose in this lower-order category, which related to allong athletes to take part in team decision making opportunities and permitting athletes to work together to resolve team issues and conflicts on their own. Aside fi'om more general statements about allowing her players to make decisions on her teams, C2 also shared the following story that explained one of her reasons for getting player input was because the athletes often have ‘insider’ information of which the coaches are unaware. For example, she stated: ...we would ask these kids if they had anything to add, and they could help in some of the decision making process. We always, as coaches, try to talk to the captains to get a feel for where things are and let them have some input, because they’re hearing it more than we’re hearing it. I mean, if the kids are upset about something, the captains are hearing it. . .before we do. So you want to try and keep shoe communication lines open and let them have some say in what you’re going to Therefore, the development of this particular skill was deemed beneficial for the athletes, and also for the team’s overall functioning. In a similar manner, C2 would encourage her players to work out team issues amongst themselves and then bring the solution back to the coaches if their help or 117 guidance was needed. One of the current athletes explained how she experienced this process while playing softball for C2: And for softball, we’d have discussions. She’d let us have discussions amongst ourselves, like as the team without the coaches. So you can hear what everyone has to say and everything. So, she would step back and let the captains like you know, this is what we have to work on, this is what we have to do, what do you think, you know? So, it wasn’t always her. We as a team had to do it. But, she let us do that. The former athlete reinforced this perception by offering her personal insight: If we were to have a bad game or if there was some bad team chemistry going. . .C2, before she would step in, she would wait to see which members of the team would step in and step it up. This last quote illustrated how C2 would not always directly instruct her athletes to take ownership of resolving team issues and/or making team decisions. Instead, there were times when she would reinforce the development of this life skill through intentional in- action, or by removing her influence fi'om situations in which a coach would typically step in and take a more active role. Strategies for developing academic achievement motivation. Understanding the strong emphasis C2’s high school placed on preparation for college, it was not surprising that she also focused on carrying out lessons that helped to develop a desire to achieve academically. These lessons came in the form of setting, holding athletes accountable to, and helping athletes achieve academic standards as well as discussions about the process of applying for and going to college. More specifically, C2 established a team grade point average minimum that exceeded the standard enforced by the state’s high school athletic association. This strategy was meant to cormnunicate to the athletes that academics, just like athletics, should be approached with excellence. Furthermore, if a student’s GPA dropped below this team standard, C2 described how she would, “monitor the grades 118 every two weeks, [and] all they have to do is show improvement. And then we’ll let them right back on the team.” So, while the team expectations were strict, C2 made a point to create situations in which struggling athletes could still experience success, thus, maintaining high motivation to achieve. One of the current athletes also explained how C2 directly helped students stay in compliance with the academic standards: I think [C2] does it in school as well. . .I know that if I’m having trouble in school, she’d always come up to me, like it happened before, and she talks about ‘make sure I get this or do this’, you know? Finally, the former athlete expanded on this point by recalling how C2 would, “always check up on everybody’s grades, make sure that they were achieving to their potential. . .both in the classroom and out of the classroom.” It should be noted that strategies such as these are somewhat easier for someone in C2’s position as a fulltirne staff member of the high school at which she coaches. Furthermore, it is for this reason and those like it that many people advocate for the benefits of staffing athletic departments with in-house individuals. Several of the participants also discussed how C2 made a point to facilitate motivation in her athletes for their future academic careers. For example, C2 provided an extensive description of why and how she got involved in helping her athletes select a school to attend after graduating from high school. She recounted that she counseled her students in the following manner: . . .as long as [they] have a purpose, that [they] want to get these good grades to be able to go to the school of [their] choice, not just some place to settle for. And when I deal with the athletes in terms of what their sense of purpose is, you may get a scholarship, you may think they’re a dime a dozen, but there aren’t as many as you’d like to think out there. So, you want to pick a school that has [an academic program] that you want to go into. Whatever your plan is, whatever it is you think you want to do, whatever you think you want to major in, don’t pick a 119 school that doesn’t have it. I mean look at the schools that have it, even if you’re not going to get a scholarship at some of these. Recounting a specific example, C2 described a conversation with one of her current athletes about her decision concerning whether or not to go to a school with a Division II or Division III athletic program: . . .[the athlete] said, ‘I think [college] has the [academic] program I want to go to’. I said, ‘there’s your answer. You’ve met a coach, you like the kids, you like the coach, you like the curriculum. . .go there. Don’t worry what division it is, just go there.’ C2 further elaborated that her main objective for holding these conversations with her athletes was because she wanted to help set them up for success in the future, and felt like giving them information and direction helped to motivate them toward pursuing a particular option. Furthermore, although C2 was interested in their future athletic careers, she would make a point to place greater emphasis on the academic side of attending a college or university, an aspect that is not always brought to the forefront by coaches and other adults in the lives of these young athletes. General life skills development strategies. As was the case with informants from Case 1, those in Case 2 sometimes discussed specific life skills development strategies without contextualizing them in terms of indicating the life skills the strategies were intended to facilitate. This group of approaches included statements describing how C2 utilized both one-on-one and group discussions to teach life skills, taught life skills through verbal instruction and modeling, involved teammates in facilitating life skills lessons, and stepped-in to offer athletes support when a developmental task was deemed too much of a challenge. 120 Most of these themes were selected from discussions with the athletes and were only mentioned briefly. For example, one current athlete commented while looking at the full list of life skills and developmental assets, “1 mean she does lead by example, but she talks about a bunch of these too.” Another athlete in the same focus group stated, “I think if it’s really necessary to be one-on-one, she will. But, usually we have conversations or discussions as a team,” highlighting the fact C2 often addressed life skills lessons for the benefit of the group as a whole. Finally, the former athlete recalled that C2 would often step in when athletes were struggling with a particularly difficult demand or had trouble progressing through a challenging individual or team dilemma to “kind of point us in the right direction or help us with what we needed help.” While these concepts were not explained in great depth, they illustrated the diverse range of approaches C2 used to teach the various life skills lessons. Direct life skill transfer strategies. Similarly to the informant responses in Case 1, participants in Case 2 tended to believe that the transfer of the ‘1ife skills’ they learned in sport was not carried out in a well-formulated or systematic way by C2. Although the groups could clearly articulate several strategies C2 utilized to help the athletes apply the major life lessons they learned in athletics to other domains such as one’s career and interactions with friends, when directly asked if C2 helped the athletes transfer the life skills outside of sport, most responses reflected a sense of uncertainty. Therefore, the two categories of responses that emerged from this higher-order category included life skills transfer is discussed with and facilitated in athletes and life skills transfer is not taught systematically. 121 Life skill transfer is discussed with and facilitated in athletes. Most of the responses that clustered into this lower-order category represented the perceptions that when C2 made an intentional effort to transfer skills learned in sport to other life arenas, she primarily used simple and brief discussions that revolved around the topics of why the particular skills were important and how they were useful in other contexts. For example, when asked if C2 did anything to help the athletes with life skills transfer, the parent of a former athlete explained, “I think she did. I do [emphasis]. I think she made it clear to them that this stuff would be in life, you can’t just be like that, you can’t just do that.” C2 explained that she not only addressed taking personal responsibility with her athletes in terms of what they needed to do to monitor and control their actions while practicing and competing, she also described how she would have conversations about how life outside of sport was under their control as well. More specifically, when discussing how she approached teaching her players the skills of leadership and responsibility she stated, “so I think the transfer part is that you try to teach it, you try to emphasize it. . .I mean, really, you want these kids to develop both leadership skills and being responsible for their actions in what they’re doing. I think that’s big. Here at school too. Not just in athletics, but in school.” C2 further elaborated with a story about the types of discussions she had with her players to try to help them see that even though they were still young and living at home and generally bound by the rules of adults, they could make their lives easier by understanding what was under their control and doing their best to make sure they approach those life responsibilities and choices wisely. 122 [I She recounted: You have control in a sense, but when you’re a 16 year old you don’t have maybe as much control as you’d like to have, but you try to explain, you try to get through to them that they really aren’t grownups yet. Especially, driving, walking, studying, grades, um... We have a behavior code, which we really don’t have to worry about too much. They get demerits. One of the things is they have to wear uniforms to school. And some of them get demerits for uniforms and it starts adding up. And I’m like, ‘you have control over what you wear. You can control that, you don’t have to get demerits for that. You get up in the morning and you know what you have to put on.’ C2 then continued: So you try to stress to them that you can control most of these situations. If it gets out of hand, you’re letting it get out of hand. But they don’t always think about it that way. They’re like, ‘well how do I get all these demerits for being late?’ You know, get up when the alarm clock goes off. You don’t have to have your mother come and get you up for the day. You’re in control of that situation. Life skills transfer is not taught systematically. While C2 and the other informant groups could articulate ways in which C2 discussed and reinforced the transfer of life skills lessons outside of sport, the athletes admitted that if she did discuss transfer, it was only casually. Additionally, if that they felt transfer had occurred, it was mostly due to connections they had made and the work they had done on their own. For example, the former athlete stated while C2 always spoke positively about various life skills, she did not remember specific examples of when transfer was explicitly discussed. She explained, “I’m sure [C2] probably touched on it before, I really can’t remember off- hand, but I’m sure some things on this list we’ve gone over in general conversation.” On the other hand, the current athletes felt the transfer of life skills was something that just happened in their lives without the help of C2 or other sources of support. While comments about the transfer of life skills in Case 2 were not encouraging based on what is known about the factors that facilitate the effective application of skills 123 from one context to another, the perceptions that little attention was paid to the intentional and systematic transfer of the skills is not uncommon. Indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer. Across the various informants in Case 2, several factors that influenced life skill development through sport that did not fall under any direct developmental strategy category were discussed. Again, environmental, interpersonal, and individual coaching factors that indirectly facilitated the development of life skills in C2’s athletes were believed to play significant roles. The breakdown of the higher-order categories of themes were identical to that of Case 1 and included the factors of establish a positive team environment, cultivating positive relationships, and facilitative coach characteristics. Establish a positive team environment. The lower order themes within this category spoke to the team climate C2 cultivated in order to surround her athletes with a positive atmosphere that would promote sport and non-sport related productivity. These factors highlighted C2’s efforts to make her athletes’ sport experiences fun and a climate that emphasized personal development over competitive outcomes. Each lower-order theme is presented and discussed below. A fim sport experience. C2 made a telling side-comment when she remarked, “. . .and the funny thing is I put fun near the bottom when I ranked them, but it really isn’t.” C2 was referring to the fact that she had not ranked fun as one of her top two coaching objectives; however, after spending some time walking the interviewer through her coaching philosophy and strategies for developing life skills, she stopped herself, chuckled, and seemed to be taken slightly aback at the realization of how much she really valued making sport fun for her players. 124 C2’s athletes and parent all expressed various sentiments that revealed C2 was successful at achieving this valued objective. For example, one of her current athletes explained, “Well, she gives us Opportunities to talk during practice. Have a little bit of fun rather than work, work, work.” Similarly, the former athlete used the following statement to describe a general impression she had about playing on C2’s teams: I think she always let us have a lot of fun and she always would laugh with us. . . just being ridiculous at practice and laughing, whether it was us laughing at her, not being mean or whatever, or just she just loved being around kids. This enthusiasm and willingness to have fun allowed the players to do the same, even though expectations for performance and commitment were high. It was this same quality the athletes mentioned as being one of the aspects of C2 and her coaching that allowed them to form such close bonds with her (an important theme yet to be discussed). Finally, the parent of a former athlete described how she clearly saw that C2 was able to make sport fun for her daughters, which left a memorable impact that went beyond the softball field. Specifically, she expressed: C2 had a lot of expectations fi'om these girls, yet they were still able to have fim. And you know, you have to have fun in life. And I think that’s a huge lesson [my daughter] walked away with Personal improvement and development emphasized over winning. This second lower-order theme spoke to the type of motivational climate C2 set up for her athletes. It should be noted; however, that all but one of the raw meaning units in this category came fi'om the coach herself. Therefore, while it can be inferred that this approach was a strategy C2 had intentions of carrying out, there was little confirmation of whether or not the factor had a significant impact on her players. Nonetheless, because of the depth at 125 which C2 discussed this concept, it was deemed a meaningful category to include in this analysis. Several of the comments from C2 expressed how she most wanted her athletes to walk away from sport having experienced personal growth and development in areas that exceeded what was necessary for an effective sport performance. For example, she expressed, “you want to see improvement in the kids and you want to see them grow. You want to see them mature.” C2 then went on to elaborate: I think they can, if they let themselves grow as much psychologically as they can physically and emotionally. . .you like to think you get them into good physical shape, so to speak, but at the same time you’re really trying to help them psychologically and emotionally too. And socially, so they can get along. C2 also explicitly stated that she not only valued developing her athletes on a personal level, but that those successes were, at times, more meaningful than victories on the field and court. This sentiment was expressed in the following quote: Winning is great, but it’s not the only thing. It’s not, I mean I’m not a Vince Lombardi, I’m not a win-at-all-costs kind of guy. If someone can say that they really handled themselves well, they were mature, they were respectful, they were courteous, I think that’s really good. They may remember what games they won or lost, but I think it’s more a case of what did they really get out of the total? The whole package? And like I said, winning is great, but there’s so many other things. The one piece of support for this principle that came from someone other than C2 was a comment from one of C2’s current athletes. This player expressed that although she could not pinpoint the exact mechanism, she felt C2 was able to help her want to improve, and to do so on a daily basis: I don’t know how, but she just gets her athletes to want to do better, personally. At the sport, or I guess in school too. For me, it was in the sport. You know I just wanted to be better everyday. I mean, I don’t really know how she did that, but it just happened. 126 Cultivating positive relationships. The largest hi gher-order category representing relational factors that indirectly supported the development and transfer of life skills included the four lower-order themes of establishing close relationships with athletes, establishing long-term relationships with athletes, treating athletes as individuals, and maintaining open and positive communication with athletes. Establish close relationships with athletes. An objective C2 mentioned as being important to her coaching philosophy, but was not something that was mentioned as a direct life skill building strategy, was prioritizing close relationships with her athletes. She made consistent mention of how she actively worked toward fostering these relationships and how she valued when the respect she gave to her players was returned. The other informant groups also expressed their beliefs that C2 had the ability to develop strong ties with the young women on her teams. For example, her former athlete explained that she viewed C2 in the following way, “it’s like she’s both a teacher and a coach and she could be seen as a fiiend too, or a mentor.” This individual further explained C2 developed these close relationships by, “always going out of her way to say hello or, you know, be involved with people and show her interest [in them].” The parent of a former athlete corroborated these sentiments by recounting a time when her daughter acknowledged her bond with C2 in an assignment she did in a high school English class. More specifically, she explained: ...there was a time when [my daughter] was a senior and she had to write a paper [for which] she had to interview a woman in her family, and [the teacher] gave the examples of your parent, your mother or your grandmother or an aunt. And she interviewed C2. Wrote the paper on her. My feelings were a little hurt, but looking back on it, I think it was a great compliment to C2. 127 The above quotes, as well as others not shared, point to C2’s ability to cultivate positive and close relationships with her athletes that extended beyond those associated with the typical coach-athlete dyad. Establish long-term relationships. It was not surprising that the close connections C2 established with her athletes tended to withstand the time and distance that was created once C2’s players graduated from high school. Another feature of these relationships was that they tended to start early in the sport careers of her athletes. The two sub-groups of themes within this lower-order category focus on the two dimensions of cultivating early relationships with athletes and maintaining relationships over time. C2 gained access to her future athletes through providing a summer youth basketball camp, which many of the area girls attended, especially if they had aspirations of someday playing for C2. Her former athlete was one such individual and recalled that she attended these camps when she was a junior-high student. She further explained she got more out of these experiences than sport specific skills. She was also afforded the chance to see, “ how [C2] coaches and see what she does and how her players are.” In other words, by working with C2 and her current high school athletes before joining the team, young women were given an advance understanding of who C2 was as a person, her style of coaching, and the expectations she had of her varsity athletes. This process of familiarization that occurred between the two parties was most likely a benefit to the athletes, but also to C2 and her basketball program. The former athlete also explained that C2 made a point to visit her school’s ‘feeder programs’, which was another opportunity for the young athletes to gain exposure to her before actually joining the team. This occurrence was explained in the following statement: “Then, when I was in 8th grade, 128 [C2] came to a grade school game and I thought that was so cool. You know, a high school coaching coming just to watch me play.” The second component to this category of themes was that C2 remained in contact with players after they graduated from high school, which spoke to the quality of the relationships that were initially built. For example, two of her current athletes expressed that they had seen former players come back to visit with C2 as well as to check in to see how the sports programs were progressing. One athlete stated, “[C2] likes stays in touch with players and people who have been here and played for her,” while the second followed up by explaining, “. . .most of the people, when they come back they always want to talk‘to her, you know, see her.” Although the message was serious, the parent shared how she found humor in the degree to which her two daughters remained in contact with C2. She explained: Both my girls, they email her every now and then. Or if they come into town, they always go visit her. Maybe not every time they’re in town, but they visit her at least two or three times a year. Sometimes I think they leave her voicemails. And I hope they’re not drunk calling her fi'om college, but you never know [laughs]. Get to know athletes as people. One of the factors that most likely contributed a great deal to the development of the close bonds shared between C2 and her athletes was that she made a noticeable effort to get to know her athletes as people and not just as players or positions on the field or court. This lower-order category contained two major sub-groups of responses. One group of themes was related to the purposes behind the use of this strategy, while a second focused on how C2 got to know her athletes. C2 provided an interesting initial explanation for why it is important for a coach to get to know his or her athletes as people. A bit surprisingly, these efforts were not 129 made for the impact they would later have on athletes’ performances. Instead, C2 explained: I think if you can see kids these everyday, you can really see how they are, you know, as people, not just as players. And I think that’s important, to see, I mean if you just watch them at practice for 2 hours a day, you don’t know if this kid had a bad day, if they flunked a test, you know. Sometimes they won’t say anything. But if you’re around them enough, they’ll open up. And I think that’s important, because then you can deal with all issues. This previous statement not only highlights C2’s desire to get to know her athletes as holistic individuals, but also reinforces the previously discussed factor that she prioritized the development of her athletes (e.g., making sure they are learning to be capable individuals outside of sport) over shaping them to be the most physically productive athletes possible. When explaining how she went about learning the details about her players’ lives off the court and field, C2 shared the following story: . . .probably one of the best places that I really get to see them is when I supervise the lunchrooms. And if you ever want to see a kid really be themselves, it’s at lunch, because there’s no pressure. There’s not going to be a test, you’re not teaching them something, but you really get to see the kids at lunch. It’s just a whole different, relaxed atmosphere. Yeah, there’s rules in there, but still, it’s not like you’re standing over them, yelling at them or whatever. I think I have found, and I don’t mind doing it, I think I have found that’s where you really see the real kid, the real person. Cause they’re not hiding anything. There sitting with their fiiends. And really being themselves. I pick up a lot about kids in a situation like that. C2 also provided a description of an additional opportunity she took advantage of in order to learn more about her players. She explained: You know, sometimes there’s a lot of instances where, especially with the younger kids, they don’t drive, so they’re always around waiting for rides. It’s an opportunity to get to know them in a different atmosphere. Then you can sit and talk to them and they’re just a student, you’re a coach, they’re a student, but you’re not practicing. So, you find out about, that’s really when you get to know the kids. 130 After expressing that she felt this quality was one factor that made C2 a very effective coach, the former athlete revealed she and other athletes were aware of and appreciated the effort C2 put into getting to know them as people. More specifically, when describing C2’s interactions with athletes at the beginning of a season, she stated: I mean she knew everybody’s names, since the second day of tryouts, She knew where you’re fi'om, and she went out of her way to make sure she knew who people were and knew where they were going. Especially for freshmen cause they’re coming into a new big school. This last excerpt highlights that an added benefit of C2’s approach of seeking out information and getting to know her athletes was the comfort it brought to her players who would see she cared for them. These early efforts most likely went a long way toward cultivating the close relationships that were shared between C2 and her athletes. Involve parents in the program. Several of the informant groups discussed that C2’s relationship building extended to the parents and family members of her players. This approach not only opened up the lines of communication between C2 and the players’ significant others, but also extended her efforts to include a more systems- approach to life skills development. By getting to know and involving the parents in her sport programs, C2 was more likely to get external support that would help reinforce and bolster her life skills developmental strategies. C2 first expressed her belief that the parents of her players were a valuable resource in the following statement: “. . .and the parents are extremely supportive. Our program couldn’t continue to be as successful as it is without the parents. The parents are really good. I thank god for good parents.” In addition to more tangible support such as funding equipment purchases and helping with transportation, C2 explained that the 131 majority of the people who attended the sport competitions were the players’ parents. More specifically, she revealed: Our parents are our best supporters. We don’t get a whole lot of students that come to games. A lot of kids don’t live near here, they take the bus to and from school, so they’re out in the other neighboring commrnrities. But the parents are always here. She then recounted an additional story about why she was open to the involvement of parents with her teams: What the softball parents did this past year is they took up a collection from all the parents at the beginning of the year. And they would bring Gatorade and water to every game. When we were at tournaments, they would barbeque and cook, for the parents and the kids. So it’s also nice, because the kids get to meet the other kids’ parents. Again, involving these individuals led to a more cohesive and well-connected set of people who were not only going to support the individual athletes, but the program as a whole. The parent of a former athlete elaborated by describing how she observed C2 regularly reaching out to parents to maintain team functioning. More specifically, she stated: Sometimes C2 would ask the parents because, just because, not as a group, but occasionally she would ask me or I heard her ask other moms you know, in a small group setting. You know, what’s going on? And I think part of it was she was trying to get information, but sometimes I thought she was trying to give [emphasis] us information. Like you know, something is going on here and you need to be aware that this stuff is going on and your kids are hearing it or seeing it or whatever. The parent realized that forging these relationships and asking for parental input could have had negative repercussions if they had not been carried out in an effective manner. 132 She explained: [C2] didn’t try to pit anybody against anybody ever. It wasn’t anything like that. I think it was just either a way of asking the questions to make you aware that something might be going on or if there’s something going on that she didn’t hear about yet. Interestingly, while many times parents in the sporting context have earned a bad reputation for being over-involved with their children’s participation, C2 made a point to bring these individuals into a team’s inner-circle. As illustrated above; however, this approach was probably effective and avoided the common pitfalls because C2 monitored and regulated the involvement of parents so that optimal interactions could occur. Maintain open and positive communication with athletes. Underlying the more general relationship building objectives and strategies was a coach who was viewed as an extremely effective communicator. C2 and the other informant groups all contributed to this lower order theme and expressed sentiments that represented the sub-groups of C2 being easy to talk to, being accessible for conversations, relating well to her athletes and listening carefully to the young players. Primarily, it was her current athletes who directly expressed their impressions of C2 as an effective communicator, with one of the athletes stating, “I think that it’s easy to go and talk to her. She pretty much talks to everyone. You can go up to her whenever you feel like it, pretty easy.” Another athlete similarly explained, “. . .she’s more than a coach. Like people would talk to her about everything. So, she’s pretty easy to talk to.” C2 further explained that she made a point to be accessible to her athletes if they needed or wanted to talk to her about sport- or non-sport related issues. She expressed that “it’s important that you [as a coach] be able to have an open door policy with the parents and with the kids. They’ve got to be able to come to talk to you.” This policy is something 133 that C2 communicated to her players, and her former athlete revealed that athletes took this open invitation to heart. More specifically she explained, “. . .even if you’re supposed to be in class and you want to come and talk to her, she’d always talk to you.” The other sub- group of themes that was reinforced by several participants related to their impressions that C2 truly listened to her athletes. One of her current athletes expressed her belief, “. . .even if she’s in the middle of something, [C2] will stop and listen to you.” The parent added C2 did not just hear her athletes, but she truly listened to them. Specifically, she explained, “I don’t think the kids realize how much she listens to them,” which also alludes to the fact that C2 listened to her athletes, even when the players were not directly addressing her. In other words, she made an effort to be ‘in tune’ with the players as best she could. The parent further supported this point by stating: I just think she is really good. She has a way of communicating with the kids that transcends all the generational gaps. She’s very much on the ball with what’s going in current affairs and current with the kids. F acilitative coach characteristics. This final higher-order theme in the indirect factors category includes three lower-order themes that describe qualities and attributes others perceived made C2 a particularly effective coach when it came to life skills development and transfer. More specifically, C2 was described as someone who was highly respected and well-liked by others, a dedicated and caring coach, and someone who was laid back. Respected and valued by others. This initial lower-order category includes themes that describe C2 as being someone who was well-liked and had earned a positive reputation for her coaching skills and general disposition. The various informant groups 134 described a deep affection for C2 because she was “a really good coach and a good person,” as well as “a remarkable lady. I think she’s very successful; she’s a definite role model.” Others described the respect C2 had earned because of “her record and her wins” and because, “she knows what she’s talking about.” C2’s former athlete expressed the perception that young people viewed the coach as a legend at her high school, and many aspired to someday play for C2. The former athlete firrther described her perceptions of C2’s value to the school by stating, “I honestly think if she wasn’t here, this school would be wrecked. I think once she leaves, you’re going to have a big adjustment period.” Dedicated and caring to athletes and school. Throughout the conversations shared with C2 and those who knew her, it became quite clear that C2 cared very deeply for the well-being and growth of her athletes and the athletic programs that she oversaw. The low frequency of themes cited in this category do not do this trend justice, but only those meaning units that spoke directly to C2’s characteristics of being caring and dedicated were included. To avoid repeatedly coding a large quantity of statements and potentially misrepresenting the size of the inquiry, most related themes were categorized according to their primary message that was unrelated to the constructs of dedication and showing care. 1 One story that C2 shared spoke very clearly to the degree to which she was willing to invest time and energy in her athletes. This statement described a specific instance when she went above and beyond to protect the well-being of one of her players. Below are selected excerpts from that account: I can give you an experience I had. . .it was summer basketball about 10 years ago and we came back from wherever we were, and we were sitting in the parking lot 135 waiting for the parents to come. And I always emphasize to other coaches, you’ve got to be the last one to leave the building. You can’t leave the kids here alone. And I don’t care what neighborhood you’re in, you can’t. And it’s your responsibility; you’ve got to sit with them. C2 continued by explaining there was a mix-up concerning transportation for one particular athlete: So, we probably waited an hour. And it’s now quarter to eleven at night. Brother’s not here and he won’t answer his cell phone. So I say to this kid, you know what, why don’t I just drive you home? Call dad and say your brother hasn’t shown up yet, I’m going to drive you home. So, the next day, she tells [her teammates] what happened, that I drove her home, and she said I got to bond with C2 last night. And we sat there for an hour and talked. Until the day she graduated, she recalled as a freshman that we sat there for an hour in the parking lot waiting for her brother. A few additional concepts that can be drawn from this narrative are that C2 made a point to communicate to her school’s coaches that they should also show care for and a dedication to the well-being of their athletes. Moreover, she did not simply care for her players because it was her job, but did so because she recognized the profound impact it could have on these young people. Laid back A final lower-order category of themes that described influential characteristics of C2 included statements about her laid back and easy going demeanor. C2’s former athlete mostly appreciated this attribute because, “[C2] was always there to joke with” her players, which contributed to the fun sport atmosphere. This participant also recounted C2 was a, “very patient person and able to work with others, whether she liked them or not,” which also contributed to C2’s ability to form effective relationships with those around her and allowed her to impact a wide range of individuals. Finally, one of C2’s current athletes explained that this characteristic had a different kind of effect on her. More specifically, she indicated, “[C2] is pretty laid back and not everything’s 136 always so intense. You don’t feel so much pressure.” Being a part of C2’s highly competitive program could come with the weight of high expectations and pressure to perform well on a consistent basis. This statement from the current player showed that C2’s personality most likely served as a buffer to some of this stress, which would indeed create a more fruitful atmosphere for life skills development and lessons about transferring important lessons to life outside of sport. Perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. At the conclusion of the individual and focus group interviews, C2 was asked one final set of questions that addressed her perceptions of the relative success she experienced with fostering the development and transfer of life skills in her athletes. All informant groups were then asked to speak to their perceptions of the barriers that could impede these developmental gains. Perceived success with developing life skills. Again, of all the participants, C2 was the only individual to be directly asked how successful she believed she was at developing life skills in her athletes; however, stories other informant groups provided that specifically addressed observations of relevant developmental successes were included as representations of evidence for successful life skills development. The two lower-order categories that comprised this group were impressions that C2 had mixed success in developing life skills and evidence of successful life skills development. Mixed success in developing life skills. Overall, C2 expressed that she believed the success she had experienced with developing life skills in her athletes was inconsistent and life skill dependent. She summarized her perceptions by stating, “. . .you try to teach this sense of responsibility, bonding, and life skills that you hope will last. 137 Sometimes you’re successful and sometimes you’re not.” Furthermore, while she found herself ‘second-guessing’ the effectiveness of her life skills initiatives at the end of each season, she felt she always had the best of intentions and that some skills were more easily communicated than others. For example, she explained, “we’ve probably been more successful at [developing] the cognitive and physical skills...and sometimes I think we’ve been more successful in getting kids to get along and bond and work together as a team.” While C2 felt her record of life skills development was far from perfect, the parent of a former athlete was much more positive, stating: I think that my girls are both better women than I am because they played these sports and because they had, especially [emphasis] because they had such a good coach in high school. Because at the high school level, that junior/senior year, the coach has a lot of influence over the girls and how and where they’re going to end up. And I’m very thankful, I feel very lucky, I feel my family has been blessed from C2, absolutely! Evidence of successful life skills development. Although the coach was the only member to be directly asked about perceptions of her success in life skills development, C2, a current athlete, and the parent of a former athlete all provided evidence of successful life skills development through their specific stories of athletes embodying the lessons and assets C2 targeted through her sport programs. For instance, the parent explained in two separate accounts that her daughters developed a sense of confidence and emotional control strategies after working with C2. On the other hand, most of C2’s life skills development anecdotes focused on instances in which she observed her athletes taking personal responsibility for one another. More specifically, she recounted the policy her current players started to enforce amongst themselves in terms of safely driving to 138 and from practices: We’ve gotten into some real interesting conversations about one of our past basketball players before the [high school] game. The weather was iffy, it was a little snowy and there was a fender-bender. . .she was okay, but really shaken. And there was no way this kid was going to be able to play that night. Um, you know, the first thing the kids will say, ‘well [player’s name] did you do anything wrong? Was it your fault?’ And she said, ‘no the guy rear ended me, so I ran into the car in front of me. It wasn’t me.’ And they said, ‘well, you weren’t on your cell phone or anything?’ And she just looked at them and laughed. They’ve kind of said to each other, ‘you know we have to be careful on our cell phones while we’re driving.’ Which I thought was good. And then actually the athletes, they’ll yell at one another. What are you doing on your cell phone while driving? When recounting this event, C2 also expressed the pride she felt when watching her team bond together and develop the initiative to hold each other accountable for being safe and making positive decisions. Perceived success with facilitating life skills transfer. Again, only C2 was directly asked how successful she believed she had been in helping her athletes transfer skills learned in sport to other life domains. Also found within this higher-order category are themes the other participants cited that originated from specific examples recounted about when C2’s athletes transferred the life skills of goal setting, confidence and self- esteem, teamwork, emotional control, and taking personal responsibility out of sport. For three of these lower order categories, a single representative story from one of the participants will be shared. Transfer of goal setting. While both athlete groups explained they had experienced the transfer of goal setting practices learned from C2 to life outside of sport, C2’s former athlete went into the greatest depth when describing how she felt she had transferred this skill to the act of setting career goals. This particular story is illustrated 139 below: ...really with like any job, you’re obviously not going to go in as a big wig in a big company straight out of college. You have to work your way up. I think, obviously goal setting, you know, I want to get my master’s degree, but I can’t do that until I get my bachelor’s and I can’t do that until I pass my classes. . .so, I think, there’s a main goal in sight, but you always have to do these little things, you always have to overcome different obstacles. Clearly, C2’s former athlete had internalized many of the goal setting lessons that were discussed on C2’s team, and has been able to use similar perspectives when thinking about her long term career plans. Transfer of confidence and self-esteem. C2’s former athlete offered another story that reflected perceived success with transferring skills gained through sport to another life domain. In particular, the former athlete described how the self-esteem she developed fiom working with C2 helped her become a more active member of her college’s community. ...witlr self-esteem, I mean I try to stay pretty involved on campus, and I think that if I had a lower self esteem I probably wouldn’t want to do anything. I’d rather just be by myself, but I’m always trying to meet people, involved in a couple of organizations, and I think working with the team and working with C2 boosted my self esteem in high school and probably helped me stay confident throughout college. Interestingly, C2’s athlete had been removed from high school for five years, yet she still believed that the confidence she acquired through her high school sport experience was facilitating other life experiences outside of athletics. Transfer of emotional control. One of C2’s current athletes was able to recount an example of how she had been able to utilize the emotional control strategies she adopted through sport to adverse situations she faced with family and fiiends. The following is the 140 explanation she presented: I think that emotional regulation has helped me because I feel that when you play and make a mistake, I don’t if I can say I had a temper or anything, but you know you get mad and [you think] ‘oh my gosh, I should have done it that way, why didn’t I do that?’ And, C2 taught me to control that. So in my real life, with my family if] want to get mad at that, I just [think], ‘ok, forget it’ and walk away, it already happened. You gotta like keep going. That taught me in my life to regulate my emotions and everything. Athletes ’ transfer of life skills transfer is often delayed. This last lower-order theme includes two meaning units, both expressed by C2. While this sentiment was not shared across many of the informant groups, it was included because it was judged to be a particularly insightful and interesting implication for future life skills transfer strategies. More specifically, on two separate occasions, C2 eluded to the fact that the timing of life skills transfer strategies played a critical role in their potential effectiveness. For example, she explained: ...you try to teach transfer, but I’m not sure [athletes] see it until they’re out of here. I mean, they’ll come back and say, you know what, now I know what you meant. Now I realize what you were trying to get through to us. But I’m not sure they see it here. But I think once they get out and realize that all these things can transfer into other things, their job, their college curriculum, everything... But I don’t know that they see it here. In other words, a coach may be doing all the little things right in terms of setting his or her athletes up for the successful transfer of life skills, but the lessons may not take effect until the young people have specific life experiences or are given the chance to reflect on what they have learned while operating in a different context. This comment was not intended to be disheartening, but instead it shed a light onto a reason why C2 did not feel that she could accurately speak to the overall effectiveness of her life skills transfer lessons. 141 Barriers to life skill development and transfer. This last line of questioning was also perceived by the informant groups in Case 2 as being one of the more difficult issues to discuss with clarity and for which they could provide few specific examples. Nevertheless, three main lower-order themes that described perceived barriers to the development and transfer of life skills emerged from the various interviews. Athlete distractions. The lower-order category that received the most wide-spread support described the fact that today’s high school athletes are faced with many distractions that can detract from an individual’s ability to internalize and apply the life lessons available in sport. For example, C2 expressed that there were a lot more distractions in high school athletes’ lives than there ever were when she was an adolescent. Specifically, she mentioned the excessive focus on playing time and the reinforcement parents gave this distraction. She also explained how athletes could sometimes get caught up in the ‘superficial’ aspects of high school sport participation and may have missed potential grth experiences because of their misdirected attention. For instance, she described how having a student body of students who come from a variety of different middle schools could have members who were excessively preoccupied with the process of ‘blending’ with students from other programs: I went through it when I was teaching at a school where they merged three high schools into one. It was pretty ugly. It was very ugly for a year. I mean what uniforms are we going to wear? What school colors are we going to have? What’s our mascot, what’s our motto going to be? What’s our mascot going to be. And it was like oh my god, this is. . .tlris is hard... And it was extremely important issue [for the students] colors were an issue, mascot was an issue. All of those were issues. It took a couple of years to get that done. At her current high school, C2 was facing similar distractions that were caused when the 142 school was moved to a new building over the previous summer: That’s probably the toughest things we had to deal with all year is to try to get [the students] to understand that the community of [high school name] is the people, not the bricks. Not the building. While these distractions may appear to be trivial, even a minimal detraction from attention and energy (which, may be perceived as more significant to the athletes themselves) can make the facilitation of life skills a much more difficult task for a coach. Teammate issues. Both the former and current athletes expressed that conflict and unresolved issues among teammates could make learning and expression of life skills a difficult task. For example, the former athlete explained, “sometimes it’s harder to do the right things when you should, and I think there’s always going to be people who don’t agree with what you do, people who think different than what you think.” One of the current athletes corroborated this sentiment when she stated: I think working with other people. . .you’ll be motivated and other people can bring you down. I think it’s difficult, but then again, when I’m playing, I don’t really drink about that. When I’m playing on the court, I’d think about, oh I don’t like you. You know. I’m not going to pass to you, I don’t like you. That’s not what I’m thinking about when I’m out there. But like at practice when stuff sometimes when people say things and you’re just like, okay. . .enough. Athlete characteristics. A final lower-order theme dealing with barriers to life skill development and transfer encompassed several examples of qualities and attitudes athletes brought to the sport experience that may have made leaming important life lessons in athletics more challenging. More specifically, a current athlete explained some adolescents thought they ‘knew it all’ and did not need a coach’s help them improve physically or in any other developmental domain. Without minimal buy in, this lack of coachability would make achieving any life skills development or transfer goals a huge undertaking for a coach. 143 A second example from this category came from the parent of a former athlete. This individual provided the following insight: Yes, I think it’s really hard on the coaches, I think there’s a lot more sarcasm and disrespect among teenagers now. . .I think that the disrespect some of these girls would, or some of these stories I heard when my girls would come home about how some of the teammates would be disrespectfirl, I think that would be a challenge for the coach. I think there’s a lot more disrespect now in society in general toward elders. Case 3: Profile Coach 3 [C3] was a 49-year-old athletic director of a public high school who had been coaching the varsity softball program for 25 years at the time of data collection. While softball was identified as her primary sport coached, C3 also coached the sports of girls’ tennis and volleyball at the high school level for approximately 14 years each. The highest level of education Coach 3 had earned was a master’s degree, and she reported engaging in formalized coaching education in the forms of attending general coaching seminars and sport specific clinics. The high school at which C3 coached was a mid- sized, co-ed public high school that housed 1,050 students during the 2007-2008 academic year. The gender breakdown of the student population was relatively evenly split, with 513 boys (48.9%) and 537 girls (51.1%) attending. Again, there was little diversity in the total student body, with 994 (94.7%) of the 1,050 students being Caucasian and the remaining 5.3% of the population identified as American Indian (n=24), Hispanic (n=21), Afiican American (n=7), and Asian (n=4). When surveyed about her coaching objectives, C3 ranked winning as her most important goal, with making sport fun, helping her athletes develop physically, and facilitating the psychological and social development of her players ranked after winning, in that order. 144 Overall, the participants in this case described C3 as being extremely dedicated to the sport and her athletes, investing much of her time and energy to developing her players on and off the field. C3’s success as a coach was perceived to be due to factors such as her expert knowledge and her effectiveness in terms of the great care she had for the well-being of the girls on her teams. Additionally, while C3 maintained highly demanding expectations of her players, she would never ask her players to do something she would not first do herself (e.g., being available to her athletes for work on their softball skills seven days a week). It was also quite apparent that C3 was extremely effective at communicating her expectations and guiding philosophical principles due to the degree of convergence found within many of the themes expressed throughout the various interviews. Case 3: Life Skills Addressed See Table 7 for a summary of the life skills perceived to be targeted for development by Coach 3 in her work with her high school athletes. As indicated in Table 7, data gathered from Case 3 ’5 interviews and focus groups indicated self-confidence/self- esteem, maintaining emotional control, goal setting, putting forth hard work and eflort, leadership and responsibility and bonding to team and school were the life skills addressed most by Coach 3. A look at Table 7 reveals that (similar to the previous two cases) most skills identified as target life skills using the qualitative methodologies were also assessed by the YES-2. The only exceptions to this trend in Case 3 were the additional mention of self-confidence/self-esteem and bonding to team and school as a target life skill during the various qualitative data collections. 145 Table 7 Target Life Skills — Case 3 .' Interview and Quantitative Data Support Interview Data Support Quantitative Data Support Life Skill (y/n) (m/SD YES-2 subscale score) Effort y 2.67/O.41 Goal Setting y 2.60/0.43 Emotional Regulation y 2.40/0.58 Leadership and Responsibility y 222/0.389 Self-Confidence/Self-Esteem y --a/--a Bonding to Team and School y -- /-- Physical Skills n* 2.80/0.45 Group Process Skills (e. g., teamwork) n* 2.40/0.45 Feedback n* 2.10/O.42 Problem Solving 11 267/041 Time Management 11 227/0.55 Prosocial Norms (e. g., helping others) 11 2.20/0.54 Identity Reflection 11 213/069 Linkages to Work/College n 1.87/1 .15 Integration with Family n 1.80/1 .04 Linkages to the Community n 1.80/O.97 Diverse Peer Relationships 11 165/099 Identity Exploration n 1.60/O.64 Cognitive Skills (e.g., academic skills) n 1.40/O.58 Tife skill not assessed using the YES-2 survey * life skills discussed in the informant group interviews, but not specifically cited as target life skills Again, the life skills qualitatively supported as being C3’s target skills also had some of the highest mean quantitative scores as measured by the YES-2. Only a few life skills did not receive complimentary support from both the qualitative and qualitative data sources. More specifically, while the skills of leadership and responsibility were discussed frequently among the various participants in Case 3, the related quantitative subscale received a lower than expected score when looking at the general pattern of scores across the entire assessment tool (m = 2.27). Another interesting discrepancy was that while the life skill category of problem solving received a relatively high score (m = 2.67; indicating a perception that opportunities to use and develop these skills/external assets were more characteristic of the Case 3 athletes’ experiences), discussions concerning opportunities to practice, develop and/or utilize this group of life skills was 146 not discussed within the various Case 3 interviews. Without further investigation, this discrepancy will remain unresolved, and a conclusive interpretation of the relative importance of this life skill to the developmental experiences of the Case 3 athletes cannot be drawn. Case 3: Hierarchical Content Analysis Results Table 8 summarizes the major higher- and lower-order themes that emerged from interviews and the focus group conducted across the four informant groups for Coach 3 [C3]. As with the previous two cases, these themes were organized within the three global categories of direct life skill development and transfer strategies, indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer, and perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. Table 8 also indicates the frequency with which each informant group in Case 3 identified a given theme/sub-theme as well as the total number of themes in each higher- and lower-order category. Direct life skill development and transfer strategies. 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The Case 3 participants described several strategies they believed were applied in order to directly influence athletes’ abilities to learn, practice and apply life skills in the sport context. The following sections illustrate those strategies that were perceived to facilitate the development of confidence and self- esteem, hard work and effort, emotional control, goal setting, leadership and responsibility and bonding to one’s team and school. Furthermore, a category that encompasses the strategies that were decontextualized from any particular life skill is also presented. Strategies for developing c0nfidence/self-esteem. This initial lower-order category was supported by statements fiom all informant groups and included sub- group themes that represented perceptions that C3 helped her players develop a positive sense of self worth and confidence about their abilities inside and outside of sport. These lessons were taught through modeling confident behavior, providing a structured sport environment, giving athletes opportunities to fulfill team responsibilities, and fostering positive interactions between the coach and her players. One of the ways C3 instilled a sense of confidence and self-esteem in her athletes was by providing them with positive and meaningful feedback. Her former athlete explained: . . .she was hard on you and demanded perfection, but then she also had a way to put a positive spin on everything to build your self esteem. Because she knew, as a coach, that if kids didn’t believe in themselves, then they weren’t going to perform well for her. The athlete then elaborated by saying: . . .constructive criticism was a big thing that she was very good at. Yes, she would tell you what you were doing wrong, but then she would find something that you did right too. You know, it wasn’t all negative. She always found positives in what everyone was doing. 150 These segments highlight the perception that athletes took C3 ’3 feedback to heart and internalized its messages because C3 not only caught her athletes when they were doing things right, but also made a point to show that she cared about helping them through constructive criticism, which demonstrated to the players that she believed they could accomplish what she expected from them. C3 explained that a strategy she used to help cultivate this positive self-attitude was to model confidence in her own coaching and in her athletes’ abilities. The following quote illustrates this approach: I tell [athletes] I’ll stay up to midnight if need be, and I tell them they have to trust me, that I do know what we need to win a league championship. I know what we need to win a district, to win at regional. And I know what we need to win a state championship. I know what happens on the field. And if there’s a weakness in some area, we’re going to work on it. Now, I’ll stay till midnight, because I honestly believe in them. Understanding that a coach’s perceptions of her athletes and their abilities goes a long way toward shaping athletes’ own perceptions of competence and worth illustrates the utility of adopting a coaching approach like the one described above. One final self-esteem building strategy depicted by the parent of a former player was related to giving athletes strategies they could use to build their confidence on the field. More specifically, he explained how teaching athletes to use a structured pre-game routine helped to develop this skill: being very structured and being very precise, looking sharp and it also makes the kids, it breeds positive attitudes and confidence because they know they can do it. They’ve done it, they’ve done it, they’ve done it, they’ve done it.... And so, it’s a confidence builder. It’s teams that don’t have some of that structure and don’t have that continuity, I can watch teams warm up and I can tell you. . .I can tell you what the score’s going to be sometimes [laughs]. 151 3':in most 01 a ' (“in The 2 “‘35 z a cor ape, tum d mill This statement highlights how teaching athletes to prepare consistently fed into the development of confidence in their physical performances. This same principle of creating structure to increase perceptions of control and familiarity could then be applied to other areas of life, also making confidence a skill with great transfer potential. Strategies for developing hard work and effort. The idea of developing a strong work ethic and dedication to putting in full effort was one of the categories of themes most fi'equently discussed by the four groups of participants in Case 3. In fact, the parent of a former athlete described how a hard work ethic was a central part of C3 ’3 team culture. He elaborated in the following quote: Well, I think a big part of it was the expectation of success with the program. How kids that come in, they see that from the time that they’re little, and they understand, they begin to understand that it doesn’t happen overnight. And that it’s not easy. And so there’s a reason that some kids don’t even ever make an attempt to be on that team, because they don’t want to make that kind of commitment. They understand that there’s a very high level of commitment expectations. The above explanation illustrates that C3 makes it clear from the outset that full effort was an expectation on her team. This clarity helped set the tone and defined hard work as a core value in the softball program. Both the parent and C3 discussed a specific expectation that was placed on the players, which sent the message that dedication to the team was a prerequisite to participating. More specifically, C3 commented: My kids know, coming into the season, they’ll never get a day off. The poor teams are going to take days off, we always talk about those [teams] who do that. And I tell them, you like to win, right? Ok, then I have to out-coach the other coaches and you have to outwork them. That means no days off. We didn’t have one day off, I bet in all my days of coaching I haven’t given too many days off. These assets were not only life skills that C3 repeatedly expressed as developmental objectives she had for her athletes, but were also central characteristics of 152 her own approach to sport and life. It is not surprising, then, that she and others described modeling of effort and discipline to be one of the strategies used for developing these skills. More specifically, the former athlete explained how observing C3’s behavior and attitude helped shape her own work ethic: I think it’s a little bit like how she acted. You know, she was so dedicated, you saw that in her. Yeah, she talked about it, but it was more by her actions. Like what she did, then you saw that. A few of C3’s current athletes corroborated this perception through the following statement: And [C3], if she’s having a bad day, she won’t show it. Sometimes too, like in practice, she even told us she wouldn’t. Like if she’s been having a bad day or had a headache in practice, she’d forget about it and like give 100% to us. Or as much as she can. So, she expected that from us as well. Other strategies used for the cultivation of a hard work ethic and effort that were mentioned included discussions about the importance of working hard and ways an athlete could meet the team expectations, using goals to direct effort, and creating opportunities for athletes to apply these skills. Strategies for developing emotional control. This third lower-order theme included statements that either described how C3 set expectations for or held discussions about the importance of maintaining control of one’s emotions and attitude when facing adversity. C3 and one of her current athletes offered particularly extensive descriptions of their perceptions of what was done on their team to teach the life skill of emotional control. C3 first described her perceived importance of emotional control in sport and in promoting positive behaviors in young people. She further highlighted some of the expectations for maintaining control to which she held her athletes accountable. 153 I think kids like discipline and think there are a lot of coaches out there that just let things go, and I’m not [one of them]. We don’t throw the helmets, we don’t swear, we don’t. . .there’s just a lot of things that I teach to them that is just going to make them a better person. You know I watch some teams where a kid will swear or say something under their breath, and. . . just treat the officials with disrespect. You’re not going to do that, I tell [my players]. One current athlete explained how she personally internalized C3’s lessons on maintaining emotional control. I was [a player] that was extremely hard on myself. I strive for perfection. Me, at all times. If I made an error or struck out, I was like so hard on myself. But through [C3’s] teaching. . .I got better as my years went on. She always said sofiball is a game of failure, and if you have a .300 batting average, you get on base 3 out of 10 times, you’re a good hitter. That means you failed 7 times. Then she would say how you deal with that is how good of a player you’re going to be. And she always talked about that. This player further explained if an athlete found herself struggling with appropriately handling her emotions, C3 provided the following advice: She always says you get, X many seconds, to be mad about it, then you’re over it. And then you go on to new things, just a fresh start. C3’s teaching of this particular life skill was carried out in a highly intentional way in terms of offering athletes explanations of rationales for emotional control and teaching the players exactly how they might remain controlled and positive when facing frustrations and setback in sport. This systematic approach is further highlighted through the clarity with which her current athlete (and some of her teammates) could express their understanding of these particular life skill strategies. Strategies for developing goal setting. Again, all four informant groups contributed to this lower-order category that represented how the life skill of goal setting was approached by C3 and her athletes. The various statements clustered into the sub- thernes of: set goals early and consistently, set challenging outcome goals and individual 154 performance goals that match the capabilities of the athletes, focus on short- and long- term goals and make goal setting a collaborative process. Several of the informant groups described how goal setting took place at the beginning of the seasons and was revisited throughout the year. A few of her current athletes [Ca] explained what they understood of the goal setting process: Cal: At the beginning it’s like a big part of her thing... Ca2: in the end we go through all of them and you see if you’ve reached your goal. Cal: ...like our goal this year was to become conference champs. And she let us know that throughout the whole season and stuff. And she always prepared for that. And we accomplished it, so. .. Ca2: We had goals throughout the season too. C3’s former athlete attested to the fact that goal setting has been a skill developed in the softball program for years. She described: We always set goals at the beginning of the year. And then we would revisit them as the year went on to see how close we were to achieving those goals. The quotes illustrate the fact that goal setting was a continuous process and that goals were revisited and evaluated in addition to being simply set. Several of the participants described the various types of goals that C3 encouraged in her players. For example, one of the current athletes stated: ...we set three types of goals. One was like, your batting average goal. Like what do you want that to be? Next is the team goals. And the next is like personal, so :1? like get a 3.8 GPA or stay healthy, like so there’s three different types that we Another common theme was that C3 encouraged a focus on setting short-term goals to help achieve longer term goals. Often, these conversations centered on how championships would be won, but one current athlete took a different approach to illustrating this developmental strategy when she explained, “[C3] always tells us to 155 focus on one thing to get 1% better every practice. And there’s no such thing as 110%, it’s just 100%...she always says get 1% better at practice and [you will] achieve your goals.” Finally, it was made clear that C3 worked with her athletes in terms of helping them determine appropriate and effective goals as well as tracking the goals they set and the progress they made toward achieving them. Several of the participants described the way C3 tracked individual player’s statistics and provided athletes with that feedback on a regular basis. C3 also explained that she collected the athletes’ goals at the beginning of the season so that she knew what they were and could collaborate with the players in their goal achievement efforts. More specifically, she revealed, “[players] know they need to turn in their goals to me. And different kids take that to different levels depending on their commitment and their expectations of themselves and their personality and a variety of different things.” Strategies for developing leadership and responsibility, While still being one of the largest lower-order categories in Case 3, unlike similar lower-order categories from the previous two cases, themes from this case concerning leadership and responsibility collapsed into a single theme as opposed to differentiating between taking personal responsibility for one’s actions and leadership/responsibility for others. This intentional decision was made because all themes discussed centered more on the latter concept and were grouped into a single category accordingly. The sub-themes that comprised this group were how C3 expected her athletes to be role models and peer leaders to their teammates, clarified and provided athletes with leadership responsibilities, solicited input 156 from her players, and expected her players to act as good representatives of their school and larger community. On several occasions, C3’s current athletes described that she voiced to them that they were expected to take care of one another, put team before self, and serve as a positive role models and peer leaders for their tearmnates. One athlete highlighted this expectation in the following statement: And she always tells how we should be good role models. You should take responsibility and set good examples and stuff. And not just on the field, in school [too]. She says you can always look up to your teammates if you’re having problems in school. Talk to your teammates. You can talk at practice about it if you’re having problems. And she’s always. Yeah, I like how she’s always so upfront and she makes us feel really comfortable around each other. While all athletes were expected to adopt some form of leadership role, C3 also had a very intentional process for selecting and cultivating her teams’ captains. She explained: . . .if you just say, pick who you think is going to be a good captain, it doesn’t work. But I have a little code of leadership that’s just a little strip, and it’ll say ‘doing the right thing when others do the wrong thing,’ ‘being late when others are on time’. . .and there’s little bullets. And then I say this [list] is going to go on the captain’s locker. ' She then continued: ...you have to be specific. You say, ‘now think about all these things and think about who sitting in here will do all these things.’ And then you really do get your best captains. But just to say, ok kids, vote who you think is going to be a good captain without explaining what you want. I don’t think that works. Understanding that youth often do not have a thorough grasp of the explicit roles and responsibilities of a leadership position and that the role of captain is not always bestowed upon the most proficient team leader, C3 intervened in the selection of her captains and facilitated the peer leaders’ responsibility taking skills throughout the season as well. 157 The former and current athletes spent time describing how C3 talked to them about making choices and behaving in a way that upheld their privileged status as a representative of a highly successful team, their high school, and the larger community. The former athlete recalled some of the conversations she had with C3 about these issues: You know to represent our [high school] well. She always talked about that. Another thing she always stressed was morally, the decisions that you were making outside of school and outside of sports. Like with relationships, with extracurricular activities, you know making the right decisions... Being okay with saying no. Being a leader and not following... Those are some things she definitely stressed and. . .it wasn’t just something she just said one day and then never brought up again. She really stressed to make sure you’re doing the right thing outside of school and softball. This participant later added: Oh, yeah. And she always said to remember that, especially in a small community like [town name], people know who you are. You are representing [town] and [high school] softball in every action that you are doing. Not just on the field. . .people know who you are. Especially, in, like I said, [town name] is a very small town. These comments, as well as others not included above, illustrate the strategies C3 used to instill the life skills of leadership and responsibility in her athletes for use on the field. Additionally, she made it clear that these expectations stayed with the players when they left the school grounds. Furthermore, these expectations were a consistent topic of conversation, which again highlights the intentionality and systematic approach C3 used to stress some of her life skill lessons. Strategies for developing bonding to team and school. This lower order theme depicts the various strategies C3 used to cultivate a sense of bonding between her athletes, their teammates, and their school. These assets and approaches for the development of each were discussed separately. 158 Simply put, one of C3 ’5 current athletes explained, “she makes you feel wanted and like you’re a part of something.” This concept of belonging can be very important to the adolescent age group. Furthermore, the assets described here not only provided a sense of engagement and motivation, but also provided athletes with resources they may not have had available in other activities or contexts. Other current athletes described their perceptions of how C3 cultivated a sense of bonding to one’s school. One athlete’s comments are illustrated in the following statement: [C3] always said when we wear that jersey, that’s a big pride. The [school/town name] on our jersey....that’s important. Similarly, C3 confirmed that she tried to emphasize the meaningfulness of belonging to a team: And we do emphasize the pride. Being a part of [HS] softball is, it’s a pride thing to even be on our team. And they do buy into that so. But we’ve worked hard to get it to that level. And we seem to be able to maintain that, so. Several statements from participants in all four informant groups depicted how C3 actively cultivated a sense of bonding on her teams. More specifically, C3 herself explained her efforts in the following excerpt: I tell my players we’re all different and you know you have to learn to get along. . .let’s become each others’ best fiiend. We do a lot of team bonding type things. I think, if you would ask them, they’d say yeah, we’re best fiiends because coach makes us become best friends. The parent also explained that C3’s ‘requirement’ for athletes to get along prevented ,a lot of internal issues among her players by stating, “. . .you know, there are very few problems because the kids just know coach wouldn’t tolerate it. We have to be friends.” While ‘forced fiiendships’ do not make much intuitive sense, comments from the players 159 revealed that this team expectation was accepted, and the resulting culture was appreciated. General life skills development strategies. Those life skills development strategies that were mentioned without being attached to a specific life skill objective are included below and represent the sub-categories of developing life skills though modeling before discussions, clear discussions and reinforcement of life skills lessons, using team mottoes to teach life skills, and providing a rationale for the use of life skills in sport. C3’s use of team sayings and mottoes to teach her athletes life skills became apparent throughout the interview process because the language used within the four groups was strikingly similar, especially when an informant was giving an example of a discussion with the coach about the development of a particular life skill. For example, across all four cases, the informants spent time talking about C3’s use of the analogy of a puzzle when discussing individual team roles and the importance of all member contributions (note that this particular message will be discussed in greater length in a following lower-order category). Some of her current athletes also brought up team sayings or mottoes in their discussions of maintaining an appropriate attitude in sport. Specifically, one athlete mentioned, “‘don’t sweat the little stuff,’ that’s what we say. With me being a second baseman, it’s important for me to say it all the time.” Giving her athletes a common language appeared to facilitate the learning of more complex lessons by providing everyone involved a life skill building ‘catch phrase.’ In terms of C3 making an effort to provide the athletes with an explanation for why she was holding them accountable to certain standards was also illustrated through 160 several interview discussions. For example, the parents of a former athlete shared his related observations: . . . she spends a lot of time, particularly in the beginning of each year, talking to the kids. Explaining, kind of what her goals and her procedures and her methodologies and what she’s trying to accomplish. And as someone who, it doesn’t happen very often, but someone that plays for her for 4 years, by the end of their senior year, they’re like ‘golly, we’ve heard this. We’ve heard this. We’ve heard this.’ But, most kids don’t get to hear that 4 times, so she does go on and on and on, and it does get, you know the kids seem like yeah, yeah, yeah, but she does try to lay out why and the reasons and her rationale for doing things. As the statement above expresses, while the reinforcement of important lessons may not have always been appreciated, it did appear to help the learning process in the long-run. Direct life skill transfer strategies. Inforrnants in Case 3 shared a few beliefs regarding C3’s strategies for coaching life skills transfer to domains outside of sport. On the one hand, a belief that the transfer of life skills is an ‘automatic’ process was expressed. Conversely, some participants provided examples of when they observed C3 making a deliberate effort to draw parallels between the skills used on the field and their applications to other areas of life through demonstrating certain behaviors. More specifically, the two categories of responses that emerged from this higher-order category included life skills transfer automatically and model transferring of life skills outside of sport. Life skills transfer automatically. This initial lower-order theme was expressed by C3 and represents a sort of contradiction to the meaning of its parent hi gher-order category. However, the theme was included here because it was believed to speak to a perception that direct intervention of life skills transfer was not necessary and most likely shaped the practices C3 utilized when promoting life skills development in her players. 161 When specifically discussing the life skill of time management, C3 expressed her perception that the transfer of this skill simply happened on its own. She iterated, “I don’t know if we necessarily talk about it, but I think [the athletes] just figure that out that. . .you know, that the time management will be important for other things.” At another point in the interview, C3 restated this perception more generally by claiming, “they learn [a life skill] being part of a team and then it transfers.” Model transferring of life skills outside of sport. With a belief that life skill transfer occurs without direct intervention, it is not surprising that there was no evidence in any of the individual and focus group interviews that demonstrated instances of C3 holding explicit conversations about the process. Instead, conversations about what C3 did to help her athletes transfer life skills learned in sport to other life domains centered around the idea that C3 modeled ways in which transfer could be performed. For example, when C3’s former athlete was asked how her coach played a role in the transfer of the life lessons that were mentioned in the interview, she stated: I think [C3] played a role in it. She might not have gone out of her way to, you know, [to say] ‘do that,’ but I think by her leading by example. .. My seeing what she does in her daily life and then... Just that. She didn’t necessarily push it on you that you’re going to use these in your life someday afterward, but it happened. In the back of your mind I think she had a big influence on us. This statement as well as a similar belief that was shared by the parent of a former athlete confirmed that C3 most likely did not actively make efforts to transfer the life skills she helped to facilitate in sport. Instead, it is possible that her main objective for addressing these topics was to enhance her athletes’ performances, with a lucky side-effect being that the players themselves made the connections and utilized the skills in other life 162 domains (as was evidenced in the stories that will be recounted in discussions of perceived success rates with transferring life skill outside of sport). Indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer. Across the various informants in Case 3, several factors that influenced life skill development through sport that did not fall under any direct developmental strategy category were discussed. The various higher-order categories of themes that represented those indirect factors perceived to play a meaningful role in the life skills development experiences of C3’s athletes included the strategies of establishing a positive and productive team environment, cultivating positive relationships, and facilitative coach characteristics. Each of these higher-order categories and their respective lower-order themes are presented below. Establish a positive and productive team environment. The lower-order themes within this category revealed some of the influential components of the team climate that C3 cultivated in order to set the stage for positive performance-related and developmental activities. More specifically, similarly to those characteristics described in the previous cases, C3 also made efforts to create a fun team environment while emphasizing expectations of excellence and improvement. Unique to this case; however, was the discussion of the ways in which C3 emphasized the importance of all her athletes’ individual roles. A fim sport experience. This initial lower-order category was comprised primarily of techniques C3 used to help make her athletes’ sport experiences more fun and enjoyable. Interestingly, all but one of the statements that comprise this category came from the current athletes. The single statement that was shared by C3 highlighted how 163 she thought fun was an important coaching objective; however, she also revealed that her approach to making softball fun was at its core an attempt to help her team win. More specifically, she stated: ...do I agree that you have to have fun? Absolutely. That’s why kids play sports, it’s to have fun. But, winning is fun. So, I think it goes hand in hand. But, if you don’t win, um, then kids aren’t having fun. So, I think you have to work to have a winning team first. And then the fun comes after that. And I tell my kids that, and they do buy into it. In other words, while fun was an important objective, C3 prioritized it behind the objective of making sure her team was achieving competitive success. Furthermore, it was the winning itself that was perceived to be what primarily cultivated a sense of enjoyment amongst her players. The players themselves did not mention winning as the factor that led to their experiences of fun while playing for C3, but instead listed several other techniques and events they believed to be the source of their enjoyable sport experiences. The following statement highlights several of these factors one current athlete believed to inspire firn amongst the players on game days: Yeah we have two cheers that we do before we go in the dugout. And [C3] comes and talks to us and gets us all pumped up and then we do our little hand team thing and then we circle up and we do a cheer. And that just gets everybody pumped. And the parents jump in and are taking pictures. And it’s just fun to be a part of it. While still related to the competitive atmosphere, this athlete specified that it was the game day traditions and the excitement of being part of a team that brought her enjoyment during her competitive experiences. Several other current athletes spoke to a related issue when they explained C3 ran practices that were fun, but clearly delineated a time for fun and a time for hard work. 164 €11: >12 bu h. Along these lines, one athlete recounted, “yeah, we know when she’s being serious and we need to get to work. And then she’ll let us know when fun time is, when we can laugh and stuff.” These breaks in the intensity of a six-day-a-week mandatory practice schedule were essential for keeping the athletes motivated and engaged. Without moments of fun, it would have been less likely that the girls would have been open to and willing to invest energy in carrying out the tasks that led to their positive growth experiences. A final comment from one of C3’s current athletes expanded on the coach’s initial statement and explained that the athletes recognized that C3 took winning very seriously, but that she had a way of making a pressure-filled situation fun for her athletes. More specifically the player recounted, “[C3 is] pretty intense. We all know she loves to win, but she makes it fun. She’ll be intense, and then she’ll even it out with being furmy.” This last statement supports the idea that something as simple as well-placed humor can have very positive effects in terms of making a potentially anxiety-provoking and intense competitive situation more enjoyable. Facilitate a team culture of excellence and improvement. A second environmental factor mentioned by C3 and her former and current athletes was that their team culture was one in which C3 consistently sent messages that promoted personal improvement in the pursuit of excellence. Two smaller subthemes made up this lower-order category and highlighted the unwavering expectations C3 expressed for upholding her team’s tradition of success on the field as well as her strategy of maintaining a statistics book as a way of helping her athletes focus on their personal improvement throughout a season. In support of this initial theme, C3’s former athlete explained the demands C3 placed on her athletes to make constant adjustments to their skills and performances in 165 order to move each player closer and closer to reaching her potential. More specifically, she described: [C3] is, I would say, very demanding. A perfectionist. She wants everyone to be fundamentally sound, you know, she looks for perfection. She’s not okay with just being mediocre. She tries to get the best out of every kid. If you make a play, but you may have bobbled the ball or whatever, she will still say, ‘hey, next time... You may have made the play, but do this, do whatever.’ That’s one thing. . .she expects perfection and she’s demanding. But she demands that from all her players. The message that this former player received from her coach was that there was always room for improvements. However, C3 avoided making athletes feel like they were being picked on by approaching all of her players with this kind of constructive criticism. One of C3’s current athletes explained how this drive for excellence was carried over to game situations as well. This player recounted when C3 would, “tell [her players] to stay focused, even if we’re up by 17 or up by 7. We still need to stay focused and keep playing hard and not laid back and take them lightly.” The lesson this athlete learned from her coach in terms of playing with excellence was that success was more likely to come if an athlete played to her potential rather than letting the opposition dictate the amount of effort a player or team was willing to put into a game. The second set of themes included in this lower-order category described the function of the statistics profiles C3 would make for and share with her athletes. C3 described this strategy by explaining, “I’m a big statistician. I try to have stats after every game for them the next day. Some kids don’t like it. I do, I think that’s how you get better.” Although C3 recognized the statistics book as a strategy not all of her athletes would buy into, she maintained its use because she saw it serving as an essential tool for improving the performances of her athletes. 166 While C3’s former athlete was one of the individuals who did not fully appreciate the function of this coaching tool, several of C3 ’s current athletes described how they saw its useful applications. More specifically, one player stated: I like how [C3], during the season, we all had a stat sheet after every game. The next day, we’d get to practice and there’d be a stat sheet and it was amazing cause on every one there were quotes that she would hand write. And they were always really inspirational and a lot of them really good. Yeah, I really liked that. Gave us. . .keep our heads up. This statement described whether a player was struggling or performing well, C3 would share meaningful quotes along with the performance-related feedback to inspire her athletes to continue to push toward self-improvement. A second athlete saw another use for this information and described her impressions in the following quote: “I think [the stats book] is a good thing to show how, as a team, we’re doing and how we can improve and where everyone is struggling so we can help each other out.” Therefore, the performance information was not only utilized by individual athletes to guide their own development, but was adopted by the players as a way to support each other’s softball- related improvements. Emphasize the importance of all roles. As mentioned earlier, one of the most widely adopted team ideals in C3 ’5 program was the concept that every player had an important role on the team and the team’s success was dependant on every player’s ability to bring her strengths to the field and fulfill her personal responsibilities. In order to communicate this principle, C3 used the analogy of a puzzle, with each athlete and her personal contribution being represented by a puzzle piece. The following statements illustrate how this belief was communicated and promoted by C3. 167 C3 provided an overview of what she shared with her players (and their parents) in terms of the puzzle analogy: I preach about the puzzle. Parents hear it all the time and my kids hear about it all the time. And we discuss that there’s big pieces of the puzzle and little pieces of the puzzle. And that every piece is important for a beautiful picture. If we don’t have a small piece, it doesn’t make a beautiful picture anymore. And my kids do buy into that. They know that every role, every job that they have is important. And whether it’s ripping a double in a game, making a diving catch, or sweeping out the dugout, they have to take pride. The following is a quote taken from the parent of a former athlete, describing the same principle: One of the things [C3] talks about all the time is there’s a puzzle. The team is a puzzle. There’s big pieces and there’s little pieces, but every piece is important. And sometimes your job, you know, your job this year might be keeping the book and keeping track of it and learning the game. Maybe next year you’ll be different, but this is your job this year, so you either accept it or not. And so communicating and letting people know that. While one of the current athletes could not articulate this philosophy in as great a depth, it was clear that the athletes received and comprehended the very same message. This player explained, “It doesn’t matter how big the puzzle piece is, like if you’re a little one or a huge one, you all have a purpose.” Overall, this message was viewed as extremely impactful on the athletes who were operating in an environment that placed a great deal of pressure to perform on their shoulders. Understanding their role on the team not only helped players focus on what they were expected to contribute, but also placed value on the different functions each individual fulfilled within the unit. When competitive outcomes are so heavily stressed, a coach runs the risk of losing the motivation and/or participation of those athletes who do not feel like they can rise to the challenge or those who do not see themselves as a 168 contributing member to the team’s success. This analogy, therefore, can be used as a way to buffer some of the potential negative impacts of competitive youth sport. Cultivate positive relationships. Again, the utility of forming strong relationships with one’s athletes as a life skill development and transfer strategy was cited by all informant groups in Case 3. This higher-order category included the three lower-order themes of establishing close, family-like relationships with athletes, involving parents in the program, and maintaining open and positive communication with athletes. Establish close, family-like relationships with athletes. The main subthemes that were expressed in this lower-order category illustrated how C3 made relationship building with her athletes a priority and that these connections were cultivated both on and off the field. Two of her current athletes expressed their perceptions of C3’s relationship building efforts by sharing, “Oh, definitely. She develops relationship with her players, not only on the field, but off the field,” and “she becomes really close to us. Off the field and on.” A second set of themes clustered around the idea that C3 tried to instill in her athletes the attitude that their team was like a family and that she cared for them like she would if they were truly her own family members. The parent of a former athlete perceived that this metaphor of the team as a family was a useful perspective, and similarly to the dynamics of a real family, a team needs to operate in ways that preserve the group’s shared goals and take care of its members. He explained that C3 communicated to her athletes and their parents: ...we are a family. . .anyone who is on this team is like being part of a family. And so, we need to treat each other with respect, we need to get along, you know you need to be cooperative, you don’t need to be best fiiends every day of the year, but while we’re together you have to be best fiiends. So, in some ways you’re 169 given your family, you don’t pick your family, but you love your family and you have to get along or life is miserable if you don’t. C3’s former athlete expressed a similar point when she said: [C3] develops the relationships as players grow older, and I think that’s one thing that’s very unique about the [high school] softball program, is that it’s like a big family. Like most families, there’s always the exceptions, but for the most part, everyone’s there supporting each other. I mean, that’s why they win state championships, by, you know, they all believe in what she’s doing. Through the development of these close-knit relationships, C3 was able to cultivate a dynamic amongst her athletes that various participants described as being supportive, trusting, and one in which the players were motivated to work well with and for one another. A team environment such as this provides a fruitful context for the development of proficient physical skills as well as various psychological and social assets and abilities. Involve parents in the program. The second lower-order category in this cluster encompassed several comments collected from the interviews with all informant groups (except the former athlete) who explained that C3 made a point to form bonds with the parents of her athletes in addition to the athletes themselves. Furthermore, creating these connections served a function in terms of expanding the system in which C3 could positively impact the development of her players. Several of the relevant statements are presented and summarized below. The parent of one of C3 ’s former athletes explained why he felt that the coach made an effort to involve parents in the softball program. Specifically, he explained that C3 understood, “if there’s parents that are unhappy and bickering, it will roll down to the kids and then it will cause problems with the team.” He firrther elaborated that C3 structured the involvement of parents to try and promote the most positive interpersonal 170 relationships possible. Again, interpreting C3’s rationale for her relationship-building efforts he added, “you have to treat each other like family. And if there’s disagreements, we need to solve it right away or it will cause problems. And that goes for both the player group and the parent group.” Without clarifying expectations for parental involvement, C3 would have run the risk of decreased control over the players’ developmental experiences at the hands of those parents who may have been Operating under good intentions, but misguided actions. A final point expressed by C3 herself described a method she utilized to bolster the relationships she had with her athletes’ families. More specifically, C3 discussed how she appreciated the contributions that the athletes’ parents made to her program and that she made a point to recognize their efforts to help maintain the positive relationships she had previously cultivated. She explained, “I give a parent of the year award. And I started that about five years ago. I think it’s a good thing.” Maintain open and positive communication with athletes. The final, and largest, lower-order category that represented ways in which C3 cultivated relationship that facilitated the life skills development of her athletes related to the quality of communication between members of the team. This lower-order theme includes information fiom all four informant groups and covers topics such as perceptions that communication with C3 was open, straightforward and positive. Others made mention that C3 was extremely accessible and she made a point to enforce the use of effective communication amongst the players on her team. 171 One of the communication characteristics C3 had, that was appreciated by her players, was the degree to which C3 interacted with them in an open and straightforward manner. One of her current athletes explained: And she’s very straight forward. . .we all like it, because we’d rather know what we’re doing wrong or if she doesn’t like what we’re doing than her just keeping it to herself and her being mad at us. She’ll let you know right away. C3 expected that this openness and willingness to share what was on one’s mind would be placed on her athletes as well. Describing her no-tolerance policy for keeping secrets on her team, she explained: I always say, if you can’t say it out loud, in front of the whole team, then don’t say it. Or, if you can’t write it down, and sign your name to it and give it to the whole team, then let’s not even be talking about it, because it’s not worth talking about. When expressing a similar sentiment, C3 elaborated further by stating: . . .fi'om day one say there’s no secrets here. If you’re late, you have to tell me, what did you do? Did you have a flat tire? They’re not late very often, but if they are, the first thing they’re going to do is run over to me and say, coach, coach. . .my mom needed the car, or whatever. So, they just know that the communication piece is important and that I’m going to communicate with them, so’they need to communicate with me. If there’s problem. If there’s issues. If there’s anything I don’t [directly] teach a lesson in, [it’s] that communication is really important and there are no secrets. In addition to promoting quality conversations through openness, C3 expressed that she made a point to be available to her athletes when they needed to talk to her about important softball and non-sport related issues. When describing her perceptions about this availability she recounted: Yeah, they come in here [her office]. Oh, yeah. [emphatically]. There’s probably not one kid that didn’t come in at some point during the season to talk whether it was about class or... No, it doesn’t have to be softball related. Yes, definitely an open-door policy. And they know that. 172 Maintaining effective communication with her athletes was obviously a top priority for C3, as it was for the coaches in the previous two cases. Additionally, this foundational principle was perceived to not only be a facilitative factor in shaping an environment that was conducive to promoting personal growth in her athletes, but was also viewed as an asset C3 wanted to encourage in her players. F acilitative coach characteristics. This final hi gher-order category in the indirect factors group includes two lower-order themes that describe qualities and attributes believed by the various informant groups to contribute to C3’s abilities to effectively impact the life skills development and transfer processes of her athletes. More specifically, C3 was described as someone who was well-known and respected by others and highly dedicated to and caring toward her athletes. Well-brown and respected by others. This initial lower-order category included themes that described C3 as being someone who earned a positive reputation for her coaching skills and was highly respected for the degree of success she had experienced as a coach. One of her current athletes not only expressed her great respect for C3 and her coaching skills, but also described how former players would visit C3 and show great appreciation for her coaching abilities and dedication, especially in light of their new collegiate experiences. This athlete recounted: . . .she’s a great coach. We all think she could coach college easily. And she is amazing. And people that go to college, she has a couple players that went, and they came back, and they were like, ‘our practices aren’t even as good as yours!’ And, ‘it’s so different. That coach isn’t even as dedicated or serious as you are.’ So we know she’s one of, probably one of the best coaches in the state for sure. Another current athlete recounted a story about when she was traveling to a weekend tournament with C3 and overheard a phone conversation between C3 and another coach: 173 It’s really cool when we’ll all be with her, in her car, and college coaches will call her and ask like what she thinks. And I’m just like, what? And she’” [say], ‘yeah, they just wanted to know about what I think about batting.’ That just shows how much even college coaches respect her. College coaches ask her to help with camps! She’s just. . .she’s amazing. The realization that other talented athletes and hi gh-level coaches respected C3 and her coaching knowledge reinforced the positive perceptions her players already held about her skill and effectiveness as a coach. Knowing that others trusted what C3 had to say may have been an important variable in breeding the trust required between an athlete and a coach to promote optimal life skills development experiences. Highly dedicated and caring to athletes. A second personal characteristic of C3 that others perceived to make her particularly effective at relaying meaningful life lessons was the fact that she was extremely dedicated to her coaching position and to the development of her players. All four informant groups mentioned that C3 was available to her athletes for softball and non-softball related issues seven days a week, both during and outside of practice time. Her former athlete explained this point in the following statement: ... she will do whatever that it takes or whatever her kids want. You know, if you want to stay after and get extra ground balls, she’ll stay after until it’s dark outside. Or if you need to talk about whatever, she will do that. If you want to play softball in college, she’ll go out of her way to try and make that happen for you. It’s all about the kids and it’s not about her at all. To further illustrate, this athlete explained how C3 invested a great deal of time toward helping her accomplish what was necessary to be a four-sport athlete in high school. More specifically, the athlete recounted how she managed to play both basketball for one coach and tennis for C3 during overlapping seasons: I played basketball and tennis in the same season, and the only reason I was able to do it was because [basketball coach] would have me go to basketball practice 174 because that was a team thing and I had to be there with the team, obviously. And then after that I would go to the tennis courts. And she would stay there with me and hit tennis balls, ten boxes of tennis balls, you know after practice was over. And if I didn’t have her willingness to be able to do that, I would have never been able to play tennis in high school. Some of C3 ’8 current athletes expressed similar sentiments about their observations of and appreciation for the time and effort C3 invested in them and their teammates. One player explained, “she’s always here, everyday for us. She’ll stay late with you if you want to hit or if you want to come early, she’ll be here,” while another continued, “. . .one time she left her birthday party just to come to an optional hitting, it wasn’t a practice. She just came on optional hitting, just so we could get extra hitting in.” Not only did this dedication to her athletes express how much C3 cared about them and their personal growth, but it also may have helped to cultivate some of the same dedicated behaviors in the athletes, as was alluded to in previous thematic categories. Perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. In addition to discussing what life skills were addressed and how these lessons were developed in C3’s athletes, participants also addressed the relative success C3 had in terms of fostering the development and transfer of life skills in her athletes. Discussion about the issues believed to be potential barriers to these developmental efforts were noted as well. Perceived success with developing life skills. This hi gher-order category encompassed two lower-order categories that described perceptions of C3’s relative success with developing life skills in her softball players as well as evidence for this development in the form of specific stories recounted by C3 and the other informants in Case 3. 175 Success in life skills development. While C3 ’8 success rate with developing life skills in her athletes received support through the various anecdotes shared by the informants, it was only C3’s former athlete who made direct statements about her perceptions of this success. On the one hand, the athlete expressed confidence in C3 ’3 life skills development ‘record’ as a high school coach through the following statement, “she makes a pretty good, a major impact on a lot of kids.” However, she elaborated on her personal experiences as a recipient of these life lessons by explaining, “. . .you may not realize it at the time, but you realize it as the older you get. You know? The more life experiences that you have.” Again, the idea that life skills development may not be clear until an individual has been given an opportunity to accumulate distance from the learning environment was expressed. More specifically, this participant shared her perceptions that in order to gain a clearer perspective of some of important developmental processes and outcomes, an individual probably has to distance him or herself from the immediate learning enviromnent where distractions may be present and the processing of one’s experiences may be inhibited. Evidence of successful life skills development. Support for successful life skills developmental experiences came from several participants and included examples of recalled life skills outcomes related to the areas of hard work and effort, team bonding, leadership and responsibility and goal setting. A few of these stories are presented below. Two of C3 ’3 current athletes shared their perceptions of the development they experienced in the area of developing a hard work ethic. Even though they did not feel some of their peers understood or looked favorably on them for being such a hard 176 working team, they expressed a pride in and desire to put forth the effort necessary to be great. One of the current athletes started to explain: And you can just tell the difference between our softball team and all the other teams. Like tennis will have the day off. Like randomly. And we’re out there everyday. And baseball will just be late out there and just walk and we all go out as a team and we’re there. Everyone thinks it’s a bad thing; everyone’s like, ‘how can you guys do it?’ And it’s not at all. It’s amazing actually. Another athlete then added, “they all think that wow, you guys are crazy and how can you guys do that. But we all want that.” This second athlete then continued: ...that’s what we want to do. We want to be determined. We want to be focused. We want to win. It’s kind of like they just want to relax, but win and still have fun. But they don’t realize that we’re still working hard and we’re winning and we’re having a lot of fun as we go along. The parent of a former athlete offered his perceptions of how C3’s athletes have truly bonded as a team. His explanation of what he observed at an out-of-town competition for which the team had to spend the night together at a hotel went as follows: I watched the kids when we went to an overnight tournament. And they, the kids, they just all got along. Even though you put them in school in a different environment, they wouldn’t necessarily all be hanging together, but they did and they came together and they believed in each other, and they supported each other and it’s been a really good time even when they weren’t playing ball. Understanding some of the interpersonal issues that can arise within any group of adolescents, the parent expressed his astonishment in the degree to which C3’s players not only tolerated each other and their differences, but thrived as a tightly bonded and highly functioning group. A story related to the development of effective leadership skills came from C3’s former athlete. This individual recounted a time when she stepped in to help a struggling friend at college, even though she knew her actions would not be perceived as very 177 popular. More specifically, the athlete revealed: .. .when I went up and played softball at college, we had a bad situation going on with a player on my team who also happened to be one of my best fiiends that was making the wrong. . .she was basically smoking weed and doing not what she needed to do for our team. And I actually went forward to the coach and we talked about it. And long story short, she didn’t play anymore after that. And I don’t think that I ever would have been able to do that if I didn’t learn the leadership skills from C3 in high school. Of what it means to be a leader. You know, you’re not always the popular one. You know, leaders sometimes have to be the unpopular one that does the right thing, but not necessarily the most popular thing that everyone is doing. While not an easy decision, the former athlete expressed pride in her responsible actions as well as a sound resolve that she had made the appropriate decision (one that was inspired by the previous guidance of C3). Perceived success with life skills transfer. This hi gher-order category for Case 3 is comprised of themes the participants cited that originated fi'om specific examples recounted about their experiences with or observations concerning the transfer of the life skills of teamwork, hard work ethic and effort, goal setting, leadership and responsibility and emotional control. Furthermore, several informants provided stories of when they transferred what they learned about the skill of communication to non-sport situations. For three of these lower order categories, a single representative story from one of the participants will be shared. Transfer of emotional control. Several of the current high school athletes explained general instances when they believed they had already been able to transfer the skill of controlling one’s emotions to several other life domains, such as when dealing with family and fiiends. One of C3’s athletes provided a more specific example of how she had consciously used the skill of reducing her anxiety in school as it related to test- 178 taking. The player explained: ..[C3] stresses that if you mess up, it’s a mind thing. . .erase that and go to the next one. And that helps a lot in life. Like you said on a test or anything... if you mess up, you disappoint someone, just get over it and click the next button and just keep going. Interestingly, throughout these various accounts of the transfer of emotional control strategies outside of sport, the current athletes used much of the same language they used in their initial descriptions of their application of the skills in sport. These parallels speak to the cognitive connections the adolescents had clearly made between the various contexts and the utility and appropriateness for the use of the various skills in each. Transfer of goal setting. Several stories were shared fiom the various informant groups that depicted instances of the transfer of goal setting to other life domains. For example, one of the current athletes related how she has applied the principle of focusing on short term goals to help get to longer term goals while preparing to take her driver’s exam. Additionally, C3’s former athlete described how she transferred what she learned about goal setting from C3 to her current career as a teacher. More specifically, she revealed: ...the goal setting thing is [transferrable] for me. Especially as an educator. We stress setting goals. So, you are still striving to be better, not being complacent, trying to make yourself a better teacher by setting goals and trying to reach those goals. So, that’s another one. Transfer of communication. The former athlete offered a final example of when she was able to take what she had learned about communication from C3 to her career as a high school teacher. This informant mentioned how lessons in the benefits of being open to constructive criticism made her more receptive when receiving critical feedback 179 from peers and superiors at work. She explained this circumstance in the following excerpt: Well, I just think, the feedback thing; being able to take negative feedback. . .when somebody constructively criticizes you on your job. Like as a teacher in my evaluation, you know. To take what my administrators say and be able to be okay with it and not be defensive. And take what they say and try and make a change. And not take it personally. Just know that they’re doing their job. Even though the participants in Case 3 did not feel C3 made intentional efforts to facilitate the transfer of skills developed in sport to other life domains, the previous examples of transfer successes paint a promising picture of sport as an effective context for the development of meaningful life skills. F urtherrnore, if a coach embodies these skills through his or her modeling of the behaviors and/or athletes are cognitively capable of and motivated to do much of the transfer work on their own, these cultivated skills may be successfully implemented in other non-sport settings. Barriers to life skill development and transfer. This final hi gher-order theme was supported by comments fi'om the four participants groups, which resulted in the clustering of the three lower-order themes of teammate issues, high school sport issues and parents. Further explanation of each of these categories is presented below. Teammate issues. This initial lower—order theme represents statements shared exclusively by C3’s current athletes. In summary, the comments revolved around sentiments that having teammates who did not want to put effort into the developmental opportunities provided by C3 made learning the skills more difficult for those athletes who were interested in and willing to enhance their personal growth. For example, one of the athletes explained: ...when a person isn’t into it as much, into the team as you are, that’s really hard. Sometimes you just don’t feel like giving all of your effort and just like when you 180 have a bad day, you’re like, I just want to go home, I just want to eat, I just want to sleep, something. . .and sometimes, it just seems like if one person’s down everybody else goes down. Like if I was having a bad day, someone else would notice it and they would just go down. And it just kept going. And it’s just not as fun. This example highlights the perception that applying a challenging life skill such as maintaining a positive attitude or emotional regulation can be difficult. This task is further compounded when one does not have teammates who are willing to put in the hard work or support one’s efforts to do so. High school sport issues. A second lower-order category of barriers to life skills development and transfer contained statements from the former athlete and a parent of a former athlete who spoke to their perceptions of the issues of short athletic seasons and a general lack of player and coach continuity in high school sport programs. For instance the former athlete explained: ...in high school sports you only have those kids for three months. I think that’s an obstacle. Yes, you do stuff in the off-season or whatever, but ultimately, you only see those kids everyday for three months. You know, and it’s harder to make an impact, life long. If you can make an impact on a couple of them during that season, I think you did your job. You’re not going to hit all of them, which is hard for a coach to take sometimes. The underlying commonality between the statements in this lower-order category are that minimal contact between a coach and his or her athletes can make facilitating the development of life skills and the later transfer of these skills a difficult task. Even if a coach sees athletes for multiple seasons or works with them in the off-season, the number of contact hours is limited and discontinuous, and making a significant ‘lifelong’ impact can be a challenge. Parent issues. A final lower-order theme included statements about the role some parents play in inhibiting the development and transfer of life skills in sports. C3 ’3 former 181 athlete started her conversation of this topic by praising her own parents for their positive impact on her development, but quickly switched gears to explain not all youth were lucky enough to have such supportive significant others. The athlete illustrated this point with the following statement: They were huge in developing the people that we were. You know, they didn’t push sports on us. We did it because we wanted to and I can’t say that about a lot of parents these days. A lot of parents live vicariously through their kids these days. And my parents definitely did not do that. . .it’s a definite problem in high school sports right now, I would say. She later returned to the topic and summarized: I think parents, this is a big one. I honestly have told so many people if you could take parents out of high school athletics, they’d be so much better. You know, they mean well, but they cause a lot of problems. That is a big, big obstacle. Brief Cross-Case Analysis The following is a brief summary of some of the meaningful similarities found between the analyses of the three case studies presented above. Further discussion of the common principles (those deemed to be most analytically generalizable to the current research as well as for use in drawing conclusions for future implications) will be reviewed in greater depth in the discussion section that follows. Cross-case: Life skills addressed. Based on the data collected from the individual and focus group interviews, several life skills were identified across all cases as being those that the coach in question focused on in his or her life skills development efforts. See Table 9 for a complete ‘life skills addressed’ summary for all three cases. More specifically, the skills that were recognized as meaningful themes across the cases were goal setting, emotional regulation, leadership and responsibility, and self- confidence/self-esteem. Again, as mentioned in the Case 2 summary, hard work/effort 182 was initially mentioned as a life skill that was targeted by all three coaches, but was dropped from the Case 2 analysis because further support for its designation as a meaningful life skill objective in C2’s program was not apparent in the data. Table 9 Life Skills Addressed: Commonalities Among and Discrepancies between Cases Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Life Skill Objective (v/n) (v/n) (y/n) Goal Setting y y y Emotional Regulation y y Leadership and Responsibility y y y Self-Confidence/Self-Esteem y y y Hard Work/Effort y n y Bonding to Team and School n y y Decision Making/Problem Solving n* y 11 Academic Achievement Motivation n y n * life skills discussed in the informant group interviews, but not specifically cited as target life skills While the thematic commonalities between the three cases studied provided insight into the types of life skills that may be targeted and cultivated within a variety of different sport programs (e. g., those that differ in terms of size, athlete and coach gender, sport type, etc), those life skills that discriminated between the cases may be just as informative. For example, the asset of bonding to one’s team and school was categorized as a target life skill by Cases 2 and 3, which may suggest the relevance of this particular skill to the basic needs or interests of female athletes or their female coaches (i.e., characteristics that distinguished these cases from the first). On the other hand, informants in Case 2 were the only individuals to discuss the impact working with a particular coach had on the athletes’ academic achievement motivation. Understanding that athletes fiom Case 2 were unique in that they attended a private college preparatory school may help explain why this particular life skill was emphasized in the program, while it was not a primary focus in the others. While generalizations about these 183 distinctions from the case study data are limited, the discrepancies should be noted and may serve as guidance for fiirther investigation. Cross-case: Hierarchical content analyses results. Overall, the three cases studied produced 825 lower-order themes. These themes were clustered into a total of 24 higher-order categories and 9 global categories. Keep in mind, however, that the numbers may be a bit misleading because many of the themes and categories were similar or identical across the cases. While analysis of the data was largely inductive, with the themes and categories arising from the data itself, as the analysis progressed, it became apparent that the information from each case had much of the same underlying structure. Therefore, categories from previous case analyses began to serve as a sort of informal guide for later analyses. Being cautious to represent the true meaning of the data and to avoid erroneously imparting meaning from one case to another, the investigator compiled the categories across the three cases in a parallel fashion and, when appropriate, their labels were minimally adjusted to aid in the cross-case comparison of the three data sets. These commonalities as well as illustrative differences are discussed below. See Table 10 for a complete list of the themes common across the multiple case studies that will be discussed below. Direct life skill development and transfer strategies. As was the case with the life skills addressed by the three coaches in question, the hierarchical content analyses of the interview data revealed other informative commonalities and distinctions in the strategies used to develop and transfer these skills. Informants from all three cases described two types of factors that influenced the developmental experiences of the athletes, which were 184 divided between the two higher-order categories of direct life skill development and transfer strategies and indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer. Table 10 Brief Cross-Case Analysis Results: Common Themes Identified between Cases Pertaining to Life Skill Development and Transfer General Cross-Case Categories Common Themes Direct Strategies Discussions (e. g., life skill importance & rationales) Model life skill use and transfer Provide structure (e. g., clear expectations) Collaborate with athletes (e. g., provide strategies) Support and reinforce life skills use Allow input in team processes Early intervention Lack a systematic approach Indirect Factors Environment supports personal growth Team culture of excellence and class Fun team atmosphere Positive family-like relationships Long-term relationships Effective communication Involve parents Respected and well-liked coach Caring and dedicated coach Success Rates and Barriers Mixed success Delayed success Overemphasis of winning Over-involved parents Athlete distractions Teammate issues The lower-order themes within the first category that described direct life skills development strategies were organized according to the life skill targeted, with a variety of methods indicated for each. For instance, to develop the life skill of self- confidence/self-esteem, the three coaches were all perceived to use the methods of encouraging their athletes, modeling self-confidence and encouraging positive 185 interactions between the coach and the athletes (e. g., positive instruction) as well as the athletes themselves (e.g., create a supportive team atmosphere). To encourage the development of goal setting in their athletes, the informants reported all three coaches focused on teaching the principles of effective goal setting. More specifically, it was clear that the coaches encouraged their athletes to set short term goals in order to pursue their larger long term goals. Other themes that were common across at least two of the cases were the promotion of performance and outcome goals, challenging goals, and working with athletes in a collaborative manner to ensure that their goals were appropriate and revisited on a regular basis. When discussing strategies for facilitating the development of emotional regulation in the players, coaches were believed to use the common strategies of discussing with their athletes the importance of controlling one’s emotions in the face of adversity as well as the types of strategies the athletes may use to refocus when control is lost. Also, setting and reinforcing clear expectations for maintaining emotional control during practices and competitions was a common strategy among the coaches. Finally, leadership and responsibility strategies were represented by the largest lower-order thematic categories for all three coaches. The extensiveness of the discussions about the coaches’ approaches to cultivating these skills suggests a noteworthy importance placed on, or perhaps a significant amount of effort dedicated to, their promotion. Some of the common approaches to facilitating these attitudes and behaviors were to set clear expectations for responsible behavior both in and outside of sport as well as to hold athletes accountable for meeting them. The expectations were centered on the ideals of making positive choices in areas that one can control, putting the 186 team or one’s tearnmates’ needs before one’s own, and being a positive representative of one’s team, school or larger community. These expectations were often framed around the messages that all athletes should be acting as leaders and role models for others around them. Two ways in which the coaches structured the desirable behaviors were to set clear rules for responsible conduct and to encourage their players to manage certain team decisions or issues on their own. Some of the strategies used to address other life skills that were common to at least two of the cases studied were to provide direct advice to athletes for how they may be able to achieve a certain objective (e.g., getting into a school of choice or improving their personal performance) through the provision of specific strategies that may be applied. The coaches also made a point to reinforce the life skills building lessons repeatedly throughout their interactions with the players to solidify the skills. A final strategy that was mentioned across several of the interviews was how the coaches often put a lot of the life skills development work on the shoulders of the athletes; however, they were aware of when they needed to step in to offer their athletes more support so that successful developmental experiences could take place. The informants were also asked to speak to the types of life skills transfer strategies the various coaches employed. Unfortunately, the themes that resulted from this line of inquiry were not as informative. Moreover, they did not shed a very positive light on the existence of an emphasis placed on transferring the skills outside of the athletic context. While the discussions produced a few general strategies the coaches used to facilitate the life skill transfer process (e.g., model the transfer of life skills, discuss the relevance of the skills to endeavors outside of sport, offer examples of how the skills 187 could be used in another context, etc.), the coaches also admitted that they probably did not address life skills transfer in a systematic way, nor did they do so frequently enough. One example of this phenomenon was in C3’s recognition of her lack of attention to the objective and her admission that she hoped the life skills would transfer automatically. Fortunately, there was probably some truth to the belief that life skills can be transferred across domains without direct intervention, as evidenced by the Case 3 informants’ ability to recall specific instances of when this transfer took place. However, it is unlikely that the skills learned in sport would be put to optimal use in other life arenas without some sort of intervention, reinforcement or intentional efforts on the part of the athletes themselves. Overall, the themes from the initial global category of direct life skill development and transfer strategies encompassed the principles of: (a) holding discussions with athletes (e.g., life skill importance and rationales); (b) modeling life skill use and transfer; (c) providing athletes a structured experience (e.g., clear expectations and accountability); (d) collaborating with athletes (e. g., provide strategies); (e) supporting and reinforcing life skills use; (f) allowing athlete input in team processes; and (g) providing life skills interventions early. A final theme represented the idea that the current approach to life skills development of the coaches represented in each case lacked a systematic process. Indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer. The second set of factors uncovered by the various interviews was related to ways in which the coaches indirectly influenced life skills development and transfer. These factors were related to the qualities of the team culture or environment, the relationships within the environment, and the coaches themselves. 188 The characteristics of the team environment that were viewed as playing an important role in promoting successful life skills development and transfer lessons were that the ideals of improvement and personal development, excellence and class, and fun were made a priority. More specifically, while winning and competitive outcomes were seen as important and an essential part of sport, they were either emphasized behind or were not emphasized at the expense of the personal development of the athletes (e.g., their psychological, social, emotional and physical skills). Even C3, who ranked winning as her number one coaching objective and took great pride in her outstanding competitive record, made the individual growth and personal well-being of her athletes a top priority. The ideal of excellence was another common core value of the team climates and was reinforced by many of the aforementioned strategies. For example, the ways in which the coaches clearly communicated and held their athletes accountable to the team rules and expectations set the tone that the athletes were to act and maintain an attitude of discipline, quality and respect. This perspective went a long way to shaping a strong foundation on which the other life lessons could be laid. Finally, while expectations for behavior, effort and performance were maintained at a high level in these programs, all three cases had participants express their perceptions that the coach made being an athlete a fun experience. Interspersed between the periods of intense physical practice and focus, athletes were given the opportunity to have fun with the coach and with each other. Again, this characteristic of the team climate probably played a role in enhancing the athletes’ levels of engagement, creating a more open attitude toward and motivation to working hard to pursue the development of both sport— and life-related skills. 189 The higher-order category of cultivating positive relationships was another one of the largest groups of lower-order themes across all three of the cases studied. Unsurprisingly, the rapport between a coach and his or her athletes as well as the relationships shared between other significant people in the tearns’ environments (e.g., parents and community members) were perceived to play a critical role in the enculturation and facilitation of the coaches’ target life lessons. These relationships were characterized as being close and positive. Many of the participants described their relationships with the coach and teammates as family-like and also reported that the coaches themselves used this term when discussing how the group should function and how its members should treat one another. Several of the groups discussed how the relationships that were shared between the coaches and their athletes were maintained over a long period of time. These connections were formed early (e.g., at summer youth sports camps run by the coaches) and remained strong, even after the athletes graduated from their respective programs. The parents of the athletes were also included as central members of the sport team cultures. Unlike the view that many coaches have of parents as a necessary ‘evil’ for a sport program, the coaches in these three cases viewed their parents as valuable resources and saw the importance of involving these individuals in their teams. Finally, the importance of cultivating these relationships through the use of open and positive communication was a theme shared by all groups. The communication was not only perceived to be straightforward and supportive, but other important qualities that were mentioned were that the exchanges were carried out at appropriate times and allowed the athletes to be an active player in the information exchanges. Furthermore, the coaches 190 were perceived to have a sense of how to talk to the athletes in a manner that was easily understandable and breached the generational divide between the two parties. A final hi gher-order theme that represented factors that indirectly influence the effectiveness of life skills development and transfer in sport was one that included characteristics of the coaches themselves. All informant groups (although the coaches were less likely to talk about their own qualities than the other participants) offered their impressions about what made each coach someone who was able to connect with the athletes in a way that encouraged a more conducive learning environment. The coaches in question were all described as being well-liked and highly respected by the people they worked with as well as others outside the team unit. This factor makes a lot of intuitive sense, understanding that most people work harder and want to reciprocate positive exchanges with people they hold in high regard. A second quality was that the coaches were viewed as being highly dedicated to their athletes and cared a great deal about them as people and about their development. Again, knowing that the coach was invested in them and cared about them as people (not just a cog in the machine that was their sport team) would have likely encouraged a greater investment in working toward what was expected of them and pushing through some of the challenges that are often associated with growth experiences. Overall, the themes from the initial global category of indirect factors that facilitate life skill development and transfer encompassed the principles of: (a) fostering an environment that supports personal growth; (b) creating a team culture of excellence and class; (c) supporting a fun team atmosphere; (d) cultivating positive family-like relationships; (e) developing long-term relationships; (f) utilizing and promoting effective 191 communication; (g) involving parents; (h) having a respected and well-liked coach; and (i) having a caring and dedicated coach. Perceived success with and barriers to life skill development and transfer. While the majority of the information gleaned about the perceived success rates of and barriers to life skills development and transfer tended to be unique to each specific case, a brief discussion of this information is presented below. Although members of all cases were able to present evidence of situations in which the coaches’ athletes developed and transferred life skills (represented by 64 raw meaning units), the perceptions about the rate at which these events occurred were less than optimistic. Most comments about the perceived success that the coaches experienced with imparting important life lessons and cultivating useful life skills into other contexts, revolved around the ideas that life skills development success was mixed and was often dependant on the characteristics of the athletes or the circumstances of a given season. On the other hand, others voiced their opinions that life skills development and transfer does occur, but the effects or awareness of the effects is often delayed until the individual is removed from the initial learning environment. While these impressions are not very positive, they do illustrate a potential need for more restructuring of approaches to life skills development and transfer in sport and/or a more retrospective approach to assessing these phenomena. While there was not much evidence in terms of corroborated evidence of perceived barriers to life skill development and transfer, the informant groups discussed several issues of the status of today’s youth sport programs. More specifically, the groups mentioned that an overemphasis on winning, over-involved parents, the multiple 192 distractions in the lives of student-athletes, and teammates who inhibit the life skill development and transfer processes were barriers they have observed or personally experienced. Overall, the aforementioned results that spanned the three case studies shed a light onto the types of life skills coaches actively sought to promote in their high school athletes as well as the approaches they took to foster this psychological, emotional and social development. It became clear that the amount of support the various themes received from the informant groups within a given case spoke to the degree to which the coaches were able to communicate their intentions and apply them in a way that made others take notice. Furthermore, because there was some commonality among the themes across the three cases, light has been shed on some of the concepts that may have farther reaching implications than the limited application in the specific contexts within which they were originally implemented. 193 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION Similar to the coaches studied in the Gould et a1. (2007) examination of life skills development approaches of award winning high school coaches, the present investigation led to a relatively detailed description of the research questions addressed (i.e., what strategies do high school coaches use to facilitate the development of life skills in their student athletes; what strategies do high school coaches use to help transfer the learned skills to life outside of sport; and what are the perceived success rates of and barriers to life skills development in high school athletics). More specifically, the coaches and other informants within each of the three cases were able to articulate with clarity a wide range of developmental objectives, intentional strategies used to achieve these goals, and individual and environmental factors that led to specific developmental experiences of the athletes involved. While the coaches were reluctant to claim that they had a well- thought-out and highly systematic approach to teaching life skills, this well-substantiated level of understanding and awareness among the various participants within each case suggested that a clear philosophy concerning the development of life skills and a thorough action plan for communicating and carrying out these objectives was possessed by each coach. This general observation of the data across the cases is promising in light of the fact that this study adds to the limited empirical support for the ability of coaches to adopt an intentional approach to life skills development in more ‘naturalistic’ sport settings (e.g., Holt, Tink, Mandigo & Fox, 2008). Additionally, the present study advanced some of the previous literature (e.g., Gould et al., 2007) by including accounts from and about male and female coaches from a variety of sports (i.e., tennis, softball and basketball), who not only attested to the types 194 of developmental outcomes they approached and observed, but also the strategies they used to achieve these developmental objectives and their perceptions of efforts and success in terms of transferring life skills outside of sport. The following is a discussion about the current findings as well as how researchers and practitioners might utilize the information acquired. Structural Overview When asked to recount the coaching strategies used to develop life skills in high school-aged athletes, the participants in the present study provided responses that were later reduced into the three larger categories of: (a) specific life skills targeted by each coach for development; (b) intentional efforts made to facilitate the development of the focal life skills (i.e., direct strategies); and (c) factors within the team environment that were perceived to have indirect effects on a coach’s ability to develop life skills as well as athletes’ receptiveness to such lessons (e.g., values emphasized, relationships cultivated, characteristics of the coach). These three major categories closely reflect the defining characteristics of effective youth development programs proposed in the current literature (e. g., Gould & Carson, 2008; Petitpas, Cornelius, VanRaalte & Jones, 2005; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). For example, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) identified similar components of successful ‘life skills’ programs based on their analysis and evaluation of over 70 structured activity groups that were known for their exemplary youth development approach to programming. Results from this relatively large-scale study indicated an effective program embodied the following three components: (a) clear goals that reflected the intended impacts of the program on its participants; (b) activities that were structured in an intentional way to promote positive development; and (c) an 195 atmosphere that was organized so that the development was consistently supported and reinforced. In addition to this overall structural compatibility between the Roth and Brooks- Gunn (2003) investigation and the present study, many similarities exist between the components underlying each of the two investigations. In terms of facilitative program goals, the two investigations identified objectives such as personality development (e.g., increased self-esteem), life skills (e.g., goal setting), motivation (e.g., hard work/effort and academic achievement motivation), and social connections (e.g., bonding to team and school). Activities designed to promote these developmental objectives included group- and individual-based discussions and initiatives as well as other training activities that were directed toward fostering the aforementioned program goals. While the Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) study did not collect information about the specific qualities of these activities, the present investigation highlighted explicit strategies used by coaches that ranged from communicating and enforcing clear expectations and working collaboratively with athletes to develop skills (e.g., goal setting) to providing athletes with outside resources for life skills development (e.g., access to leadership clinics) and opportunities to practice the skills within the sport context (e. g., simulation training for emotional control). The final common category of effective positive youth development program components included those characteristics of the surrounding environment that facilitated the life skills developmental process. These factors included longer-term relationships between adult leaders (e. g., coaches) and program participants and empowering youth through affording them opportunities to take part in group decision-making. 196 Petitpas et a1. (2005) outlined a framework of effective components that have direct applications to youth sport programs. Similar to both the present study and the Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) investigation, Petitpas and his colleagues described several major groups of program factors deemed essential for the promotion of psychosocial development of the participating athletes. More specifically, based on a review of relevant research findings and recommendations from positive youth development experts, it was suggested that effective programs must provide youth with a context that is engaging, desirable, and appropriate for its participants. For example, a voluntary activity, such as sport, that provides its participants with valued roles within an important group would satisfy this dimension. Within the current study, this principle was highlighted particularly well in Case 3, when informants discussed C3’s use of the puzzle analogy to emphasize the importance of all athletes’ roles on her highly prestigious team. A second important factor for positive youth sport programs is that it is supervised by caring adult leaders and fosters positive interactions amongst group members (i.e., external assets). Coaches for all three cases were perceived to dedicate a great deal of effort toward fostering this type of positive environment in which athletes could deve10p close and meaningful relationships and make connections to their family members and/or outside community members. Thirdly, the opportunity to learn meaningful skills (e.g., internal assets such as goal setting, social and problem solving skills, etc.) was identified as a facilitative program component. Again, across the many life skills objectives and attainment strategies expressed, the sport programs in all three cases satisfied this third dimension. 197 A fourth program component outlined by Petitpas et al. (2005) that was not a topic of discussion within the multiple case studies was to ensure that the program structure be based on relevant research and monitored by regular evaluation. This final factor was largely missing from the data accumulated by the present study, with none of the informants in any of the three cases alluding to the source of the coaches’ strategies. Furthermore, only one participant made mention of a very informal program ‘evaluation’ specific to his life skills objectives (i.e., Cl). If there truly is a lack of a guiding fiamework used when implementing life skills development strategies (as the data suggests), the recommendation posed by Danish, Fomeris, Hodge and Heke (2004) for the training and retraining of coaches in terms of life skills developmental efforts is well- warranted. Life Skill Outcomes in Sport While the literature on strategies used by coaches to enhance life skills development is still relatively sparse, the body of research that has reviewed the various types of life skill outcomes is growing. A look across the research that has identified the types of life skills ‘naturalistic’ sport programs can cultivate in their participants provides insight into whether or not the programs examined within the present study were representative of youth sport in general. Much of the current research is quantitative in nature and has looked at sport as one life skill development context amongst the many structured activities in which today’s youth participate. These studies have identified outcomes such as goal setting, effort/initiative, time management, emotional regulation, and self-esteem (e.g., Hansen, Larson, Dworkin, 2003; Larson et a1, 2006; Richman & Shaffer, 2000) as life skills youth have reported being characteristic of their sport 198 experiences. Participants from the present case studies also identified the aforementioned like skills (with the exception of time management, which was discussed minimally, but not to the degree to which it was identified as a meaningful theme within the data) as being the life skills that drove the developmental efforts of the coaches in question. Furthermore, the informants discussed these skills as being those that were deve10ped and, in some cases, transferred by the current and former athletes. One of the few qualitative inquiries into the types of life skills that naturalistic sport produces in its participants was an ethnographic study of a high school soccer team’s life skills developmental process over an entire competitive season (Holt, Tink, Mandigo & Fox, 2008). While the study sufferers from the same interpretive limitations as the present investigation due to its single-case approach, the results of the two studies were highly similar. More specifically, it was determined that the soccer team gained competencies in the skills of initiative, respect and teamwork/leadership throughout their single-season sport participation. One interesting observation of this process was that there was limited intervention on the part of the coach who merely cultivated the life skills through the use of tactics such as punishing athletes when they were not respectful and allowing players to take part in making team decisions. Additionally, the life skill of leadership was believed to be learned exclusively from interactions with teammates. Even though some of the developmental outcomes were similar between the two investigations, unlike the present study, it became relatively clear to the researchers that much of the life skill development work was canied out by the athletes themselves. Without a doubt, the athletes in the present study did much of the developmental work on their own accord as 199 well; however, on many occasions participants referred to direct intervention efforts on the part of the coach that were believed to lead to gains in life skill development. Life Skill Development Strategies in Sport Research in the life skill development through sport area is increasing, but it has yet to provide what Danish and his colleagues (2004) have called a well-defined ‘roadmap’ for adult leaders to follow in their efforts to teach life lessons to youth. This limitation, although addressed in more recent research, continues to be a main contention within the literature (e. g., Gould et al., 2007; Holt & Jones, 2008). While the investigator of the present study sought to address this void, uncovering highly specific strategies used by the coaches proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Many of the approaches recounted by the informants (with the exception of the coaches themselves) described rather vague and general strategies the coaches would apply during their life skills development efforts. Only after direct probing were the participants able to offer more details about the strategies they experienced or observed, often with some difficulty. While analysis of the interview data uncovered several distinct ways in which the coaches approached the cultivation of personal growth on their teams, some of them were described in more general terms and further investigation into specific ways to implement these strategies across different contexts is still warranted. One of the most frequently discussed group of strategies across the three case studies was dedicated to the cultivation of responsibility for one’s actions and/or leadership and taking responsibility for others. Don Hellison has spent several decades researching the importance of and ways in which program leaders can help to cultivate this asset in the youth with whom they work (Hellison, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1995). These 200 efforts resulted from personal observations of the basic needs of the students within his physical education classrooms. Hellison explained that, over time, he recognized adolescents were operating in their environments with more negative distractions and less meaningful adult support. As a result, these youth tended to make poor decisions and were ineffective in many of the relationships they shared with others. To address this need, Hellison created interventions that focused on instilling in the young people a sense of personal responsibility and a desire to be responsible for the security and well-being of those around them. Although his efforts have been directed toward disadvantaged youth, it has been recognized that responsibility taking is a core skill that helps individuals across all contexts become more effective and capable of thriving in their individual life pursuits. Interestingly, many of the strategies Hellison applied in his intervention programs were also expressed as approaches used by the case study coaches to promote the development of responsibility and leadership. More specifically, Hellison (1978, 1983, 1985, 1995) advocated for methods such as discussions between youth and adult/peer mentors about the benefits of and strategies for being responsible for one’s own and others’ well-being. He also described the utility of modeling these skills (again, by both adults and peers), reinforcing youth when appropriate behaviors were exhibited, giving the youth opportunities to reflect on their experiences, and providing guidance for applying the skills outside of the physical activity context. Although the content of the lessons may have differed from those carried out by Hellison and others (e.g., Hellison, Cutforth, Kallusky, Martinek, Parker & Stiehl, 2000), methods such as holding athletes accountable for supporting one another, discussing the importance of responsible 201 behavior on and off the field/court, providing athletes with guided leadership roles and experiences, and modeling taking responsibility for one’s actions were common across many of the stories shared by the informant groups of the present study. The aforementioned strategies of structuring youth’s leadership roles within a group and setting firm but realistic expectations for its members are those that have received a great deal of additional support in the literature (e. g., Eccles & Templeton, 2002; Hanks & Eklund, 1978; Hansen & Larson, 2007; Wright & C6té, 2003). For example, it has been suggested that by allowing adolescents to adopt leadership roles in their groups, youth tend to spend more time engaged in the activity and have higher intrinsic motivation toward engaging in the group’s activities (Hansen & Larson, 2007). These factors were then found to be related to increased reports of having positive developmental experiences in these contexts. Others have further posited that because leadership roles lead to increased immersion and investment in an activity, the participating youth are more likely to learn from the developmental experiences they are afforded (Eccles & Templeton, 2002; Hanks & Eklund, 1978). In terms of the strategy of communicating clear expectations for athletes’ behaviors and attitudes as well as holding the adolescents accountable when expectations are not met are other strategies that have received much support in the positive youth development literature (e. g., Gilbert, Gilbert & Trude], 2001; Gould et al., 2007 ; Shields & Bredemeier, 2001). For example, the principles of ensuring expected behaviors are clearly defined (e.g., C3’s provision of the leadership code for her captains) and repeatedly reinforcing expectations and reinforcing youth when you catch them upholding the desirable behaviors (two strategies discussed across all cases) have been 202 mentioned as ways in which adult leaders should structure the use of expectations within their groups. It has also been suggested that leaders should provide the participants with a rationale for the expected behaviors and attitudes, which was a strategy discussed across the cases for several of the life skill objectives. Among the factors discussed that were believed to have an indirect effect on the life skill developmental efforts of the various coaches represented, forming strong relationships and fostering positive and open communication were two of the strategies most frequently cited across the three cases. Petitpas (2000) succinctly stated that most positive outcomes in the sport context are a result of the types of quality relationships that are shared between the athletes and the supervising staff. Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) discussed their recommendations for quality relationships in positive youth development settings. More specifically, they suggested, “the atmosphere in these programs resembles that of a caring family, where knowledgeable and caring adults empower adolescents to develop their competencies” (p. 97). In addition to highlighting the important qualities of the adult leader (which closely resemble the descriptions the various informants provided about the coaches under study), this excerpt calls for the establishment of a climate in which the bond between the group members is like that of a family and the youth involved are given consistent opportunities to develop a sense of autonomy from adults leaders who empower them. As was highlighted in two of the lower-order themes in Cases 2 and 3, these two coaches made a concerted effort to create a team culture that was family-like in nature. Not only were the more affective components of familial relationships expected of athletes on these teams, but they were also expected to treat 203 each other like family by being caring, providing support, and working hard to maintain effective interactions amongst themselves. The relationships illustrated by the three case studies clearly embodied the characteristics outlined by the 3 C’s model of effective coach-athlete relationships (J owett & Ntoumanis, 2004). This model suggests the most effective interpersonal relationships are classified by the qualities of closeness, commitment and complimentarity. The cases within the present study highlighted the first component, closeness, when the various informants discussed their perceptions that the relationships shared by the coaches and players were close, open, and based on an authentic respect and trust between the individuals involved. It was also evident that the relationships were complimentary and embodied a high level of comrrritrnent in that both parties involved were willing to put in a great deal of energy and effort on the behalf of the others. In addition to the attention paid to cultivating relationships with their athletes, coaches in the cases also made a point to involve the parents of the athletes in their programs. This approach of viewing and utilizing parents as resources and allies in the promotion of a positive system of influence on the athletes is a strategy that has been applied by other effective coaches and adult leaders (Gould et al., 2007; Jowett & Timson-Katchis, 2005). Benson (1997) also recommended that a central goal of a positive youth development program should be to surround its participants with familial and extra-familial networks, but only if they are supportive, provide and operate within appropriate boundaries, empower the youth involved and provide the participants with an activity that is viewed as a meaningful use of their time. This last caveat highlights the effectiveness of a strategy utilized by C3 who not only voiced expectations for her 204 athletes, but also held her players’ parents accountable for behaving in ways that were conducive and complimentary to her target life lessons. One of the most cited methods for promoting these closer relationships in the cases studied was the use of positive and open communication. Much of the past research on life skill development, and skilled coaching in general, has revolved around the principle of effective commrmication. For years, recommendations for communication strategies have included high levels of encouragement and reinforcement, skill-contingent information, and low rates of punitive communication (Barnett, Smoll & Smith, 1992, Cété & Salrnela, 1996; Coté, Sahnela & Russell, 1995; Smith, Smoll & Barnett, 1995; Smith, Smoll & Curtis, 1979; Smoll, Smith, Barnett & Everett, 1993). More recently, suggestions for treating players like young adults by holding mature relationships with them have been espoused as meaningful strategies (e. g., Gould et al., 2007; Wright & Cote, 2003). In the present study, all coaches were described as being open communicators who knew how and when to talk to their athletes. Furthermore, they were described as individuals who were very straightforward and could talk to most people about most topics. Being open to having more ‘difficult’ discussions with athletes about ‘mature’ topics were characteristics mentioned repeatedly by the informants in Cases 2 and 3. The female coaches were perceived as being people with whom one could discuss sport and non-sport related issues and who would confront athletes if important conversations were not being brought into the open. The coaches also made a point to encourage effective communication practices within the interactions shared among their players, further reinforcing the importance and potential application of the skills. 205 While making sport fun has become somewhat of a ‘party-line’ in youth sport and can often be misunderstood by coaches, all three cases contained participants who discussed the importance of an enjoyable sport experience to the athletes’ personal growth. A closer look at what fun does in the sport arena makes the importance of highlighting this strategy more apparent. Weiss and Petchlikoff (1989) have been often cited for their work on uncovering the motives for participation in youth sport. One of the more striking findings of this research was the ranking of firn as the top priority for most youth athletes. Larson (2000) and others have explained that fun (a central factor of intrinsic motivation) is a critical component of youth development program contexts that are more likely to encourage the requisite effort necessary to function and perform optionally within the related tasks (e.g., Csikszentrnihalyi, 1990; Hansen & Larson, 2007; Ryan & Deci, 2000). While ‘fun’ took different forms across the various cases studied, enjoyable sport experiences were a common factor of all three groups. This fun was attributed to the use of humor, allowing athletes to interact socially during downtimes in practice, and upholding team traditions during games. As stated previously, many of the strategies discussed by the various informant groups were related to more general principles of practice when it came to teaching the life skills in sport. Some of those strategies that have received previous backing in the literature were: (a) consistently reinforcing life skill lessons throughout a season and across the different seasons (e. g., Gould et al, 2007); (b) actively involving athletes in their developmental growth by making life skills building a collaborative process (e.g., Danish, Fomeris, Hodge & Heke, 2004; Larson 2000, 2006); and (c) supporting long- term engagement of the athletes within the context and (perhaps more importantly) with 206 the specific coach (e.g., Gould et al., 2007; Hansen & Larson, 2007; Martinek & Hellison, 1997; Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003). This last idea of fostering long-term and high intensity engagement within a given activity has received much recent attention as being a powerful mediator of the positive youth development process. For example, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) explained that extended involvement helps to promote a stronger commitment to the activity and the activity’s demands as well as providing more exposure to a variety of developmental experiences within a single setting. A11 coaches involved in the present case study research not only sought out positive and meaningful interactions with their athletes early (e.g., through the provision of summer sport camps for youth), but they also maintained contact with the athletes for years after graduation. This extended contact period was explained as highly impactful because it allowed for the reinforcement of the life lessons over time as well as it aided in the promotion of the life skills used across different contexts as the athletes moved through the various stages of their lives outside of the team. Life Skill Transfer Strategies in Sport Unfortunately, another critical similarity found within the various informant group discussions was that there existed a gross lack of awareness of the coaches’ efforts made to transfer the use of the cultivated skills and assets to life outside of sport. When asked directly, conversation often turned to speculation about what coaches did to transfer life skills or examples of when life skills learned in the sport context were utilized in other domains such as school, work, and family. Furthermore, some of these affairs were explained without any clear discussion of the coach’s role in that process. The comments that directly answered the questions posed about life skills transfer 207 strategies were not positive in terms of utilizing a systematic approach (or any approach for that matter) in the facilitation of life skills transfer. Regrettably, this lack of intentional intervention may inhibit the ability of the athletes to gain full use of the life skills learned in sport, because the transfer of any skill to another domain often requires a great deal of cognitive work that adolescents may not be able to do on their own. While some personal growth outside of sport may be affected by the lessons the athletes carry over to other contexts on their own, it is doubtful that this transfer reaches its full potential without the support and guidance of coaches and other adult leaders. More specifically, Gass (1985) has suggested the conditions that enhance the transfer of life skills include an understanding of the similarities between the initial and transfer contexts and reflection on the utility of the transferrable skills and how they may be applied across the domains. Transfer is also enhanced when adult leaders provide opportunities to practice the life skills within the initial learning environment and can provide follow-up experiences that would serve as reinforcers for the initial lessons. Other probable barriers to optimal life skill transfer are the belief the athletes themselves have about the process. Jones and Lavallee (2009) conducted a single case study with a female tennis player who when asked about transferring life skills outside of sport explained that no systematic intervention was necessary and her own process of transferring life lessons outside of tennis happened somewhat automatically. While not stated outright as a banier to life skill transfer, the shared belief that transfer can happen haphazardly may, in fact, reduce the likelihood that youth will get the optimal benefit from their life skill developmental experiences. Other barriers that were discussed by case study informants are discussed below. 208 Barriers to Life Skill Development and Transfer While support for the effectiveness of life skills development initiatives in various structured youth activities has been illustrated across a number of contexts (e.g., sport, art programs, service learning groups), most of the support has been derived fi'om studies investigating programs that were built firmly upon a foundation that brought life skills development objectives to the forefront (e.g., Cummings, 1998; Hellison et al., 2000). For example, the Sports United to Promote Education and Recreation (SUPER; Danish, 2002) program and Hellison’s (1995) Teaching Responsibility through Physical Activity program have both used sport and physical activity as vehicles for imparting important life lessons on the participating youth. These programs are at somewhat of an advantage because they do not face the same demands and constraints that characterize more ‘naturalistic’ sport groups (e. g., school-sponsored and club teams, talent development programs, etc.; Gould & Carson, 2008). Therefore, previous discussions of sport as a context for the development of life skills have been laden with concerns about the availability of time that can be invested toward the life skills objectives in these settings as well as other conflicting messages and behaviors that may be present in these arenas due to the competitive nature of these groups (e.g., Fullinwider, 2006; Hansen, Larson & Dworkin, 2003; Miracle & Roger-Rees, 1994). Several of the perceived barriers to life skill development and transfer discussed in the case study interviews have also been reviewed in related literature and covered the topics of various coaching issues (e.g., lack of training and selfish coaching motives; e.g., Gould et al., 2006, 2009), an overemphasis on winning (e.g., Gould, Carson, Fifer, Lauer & Benham, 2009; Weiss & Williams 2004), teammate/athlete issues (e.g., underinvestrnent and disrespect toward adult 209 leaders; Damon, 1995; Gould et al., 2009; Hansen & Larson, 2007); and parent issues (Fraser-Thomas & Cote, 2009; Gould et a1, 2006, 2009). The importance of this discussion of barriers to life skill development and transfer is highlighted by Gould and his colleagues (2007) who expressed that in order to fully appreciate the requisite approaches and conditions necessary for cultivating life skills in youth athletes, an awareness of the constraints specific to the sport arena that may impact a coach’s developmental efforts must also be understood. While not all factors are under the direct control of the coach, many caustic factors can be minimized or removed from the sporting context. Implications for Practice While the major focus of this discussion has been to highlight those guiding principles for and potential practices of effective life skills development and transfer in sport, there are several other considerations that can be used to inform the practices of coaches and other adult leaders working with youth in sport and physical activity contexts. The first is that it has become apparent youth sport coaches, as a collective, have little or no formal training of how to effectively coach their athletes (e.g., Ewing et al., 1996; Gilbert & Trude], 2004; OSU Youth Sports Initiative, n.d.). With that being said, many of the adults leading the charge in our youth programs have not been given guidance as to how to address the many responsibilities required of them in their coaching positions (e. g., teach technical and tactical skills, promote positive and productive team climates, address psychological, social or emotional issues, etc.) and often resort to best guesses and, for better or for worse, the practices used by their own coaching role models. The result may then be coaches who do not appreciate or know 210 how to foster the development of the whole person when working with their youth athletes. It has recommended that organizations such as the National Association for Sport and Physical Education continue to lead the charge in developing standards for and growing available opportunities for our youth coaches to become better educated in all facets of positive coaching. Additionally, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on increasing awareness of what life skills can be promoted through sport participation and how these objectives can be achieved. This information needs to be clearly defined and disseminated and clear action strategies need to be communicated (W andzilak & Potter, 1986). In general, the myth of growth through osmosis needs to be debunked and coaches need to be provided with how-to action plans for best meeting the developmental needs of their players. The individuals from the present study provided us with some insight into how life skills could be effectively coached. For example, none of these coaches claimed that they did not have the time to teach life lessons in addition to the fitness and skills development required of their sport. Instead, the coaches discussed many examples of the ways in which they integrated the lessons into their teams and coaching practices. These lessons were not add-ons to the curriculmn already in place, but were instead seamlessly worked into the daily interactions between the coaches and their athletes, the expectations laid out before the first day of practice, and the climate created for the coach and his/her teams. These lessons were taught by the coach who instituted team rules and norms that promoted the adoption of responsibility taking behaviors, positive communication, and hard work and determination. These coaches looked for teachable moments during which they could commend an athlete who effectively utilized a given skill, remind an 211 individual who was not demonstrating an appropriate behavior or attitude, or reinforce the importance of a lesson that had been overlooked. Whether it was to address how the athletes conducted themselves during adversity to how they treated one another, the coaches worked challenges into their daily practice drills and rules that would help shape the preferred behaviors into positive and productive habits. This growth occurred because the coaches took the time to work with individuals one-on-one and asked things from them that many others in their lives may not have even felt them capable of. They also practiced what they preached in that they consistently modeled the types of behaviors they expected the athletes to carry out and made examples of themselves when even they fell short of demonstrating a particular life skill. And perhaps most importantly, the coaches first provided explanations and rationales for their expectations before challenging the athletes, held all athletes to the various standards, utilized a language and phrases that consistently reminded athletes of the developmental objectives, and fostered extremely positive, trusting, open and reciprocal relationships with the athletes. All in all, life skills lessons appeared to be effective because they were not divorced from the sport; they were seen as an integral part of being a member of the team community and were promoted as being essential for being a successful athlete. The discussion of ways in which coaches can integrate life skills lessons into their practices can be further enhanced and guided by the offering of a theoretical foundation for the organization and implementation of these concepts. Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self- Deterrnination Theory may be a useful concept for pulling many of the aforementioned strategies and conditions together. Briefly explained, Self-Determination Theory proposes that individuals will engage more deeply in activities that are perceived to be 212 self (internally) driven as opposed to extrinsically controlled. An activity is more likely to be perceived as self-determined if it fulfills an individual’s basic needs for relatedness (e.g., facilitate bonding to others), autonomy (internally controlled), and competence (allow for the demonstration of positive perceptions of one’s ability). Therefore, a coach can create more investment and engagement in his or her athletes, increasing its power to instill meaningful lessons through their sport participation, by structuring the environment and interpersonal relationships within a team to meet these basic needs. Many of the previously discussed strategies fit easily into this theoretical model. For example, the various strategies intended to increase bonding to one’s team or one school and to create more positive relationships between athletes and their coaches would help to address the need of belonging. Those strategies surrounding the development of decision making and problem solving as well as responsibility and leadership would help meet the need of autonomy. Finally, the use of positive reinforcement and developing skills such as goal setting and self-esteem would help address the athletes’ need for competence. While the concept of life skills development through sport does pose a challenge to those who wish to promote these objectives, the task of transferring the skills to life outside of sport has created a startling paradox. On the one hand, the goal of facilitating growth in young athletes that can be applied to other areas of life has been promoted and the important role sport can play in this development of its participants has been highlighted. On the other hand, a look at the practices of the coaches in this study makes it clear that there may be a lack of understanding of how this transfer takes place and how a coach should actually go about facilitating the process. Furthermore, the perceived 213 importance of the coach’s role in this process was high, but very little follow-through in terms of efforts to intentionally foster the transfer was sparse. An initial obstacle to this transfer may be the under-appreciation of the complexity of the process. While seemingly commonsensical to most adults, attitudes and behaviors that are seen as positive and productive in sport may not be perceived as meaningful in other contexts by the youth athletes themselves. Several barriers may create this disconnect such as a lack of awareness of having developed the skills in sport, a misunderstanding of what opportunities exist for the application outside of sport, and/or a lack of reinforcement or reminders to utilize the skills in other life contexts. Adults may also under—appreciate the need for this reinforcement because it is assumed the athletes can do the majority of the cognitive work required to transfer the life skills. The concept of bracketed morality that was introduced by Shields and Bredemeier (1984, 1995) may help explain why this transfer may not always occur without intentional intervention on the part of an adult leader. Bracketed morality, while referring specifically to moral behavior, explains that acts and attitudes believed to be inappropriate in everyday life may not be interpreted as immoral in the sport context because the sporting world operates under a unique set of norms. Along those same lines, the sport world may be ‘bracketed’ off from other life domains to such a degree that participants do not see how positive normative behaviors and attitude transfer as well. Therefore, it is recommended that coaches take a more active and intentional role in the transfer process for the life skills developed on their teams. Many of the aforementioned baniers could be overcome through the use of strategies such as brief discussions before practice (one-on-one or as a team) about athletes’ use of the skills outside of sport since the last practice or utilizing 214 analogies when teaching the life skills in sport that highlight the use of the skills in other contexts. Along with increased training in life skills development, coaches would also benefit from life skills transfer education. Finally, it became apparent that coaches perceived themselves as simply one component of the life skills development process. In order to best reinforce these life lessons, the coaches involved and spent time connecting with and educating the athletes’ parents and their larger communities. The concept of a multilevel intervention to induce optimal impact and growth is not new and is supported by Bronfenbrenner’s (197 9) Ecolog'cal Systems Theory. This theory has suggested that development occurs within-a web of interacting social ‘systerns’ that are within and surround an individual. Any given athlete who is experiencing life skills development through sport is not only influenced by his or her own characteristics (e.g., personality and belief systems), but also by one’s coach, teammates, team climate, school system, family, commmrity, the larger society, etc. In order to truly impact change, intervention needs to occur in as many of these systems as possible, or, in the least, complimentary messages must be sent from the various levels (Roth, 2004). Therefore, if a coach is to promote life skills development, it would be in his or her best interest to attempt to align messages, reinforcement, and lessons from as many of the systems as possible. This objective can be carried out by involving the key stakeholders in the systems, informing them of one’s coaching objectives, and encouraging complimentary behaviors and messages from everyone involved. Hellison adopted this approach by creating a system of social responsibility building programs in his community (Hellison, 2000). More specifically, he created a series of programs in which the at risk youth could participate that focused on teaching 215 lessons of social responsibility through interactions with positive adults and peers. These programs were conducted in a supportive environment that consistently reinforced the messages about bring in control of oneself and caring of others. Furthermore, a peer mentor system was created in which adolescents who had participated in the various sport programs as children could return as youth leaders. To support the messages of these programs, Hellison also instituted teacher workshops, family programs and visitations, and courses through which participating youth could be exposed to higher education opportunities. Finally, Hellison also arranged for staff and program leadership development initiatives to make sure all values and messages were aligned and everyone involved understood their roles and what was needed to more effectively impact positive youth development. While this example is highly sophisticated and took a great deal of time to create and implement, all coaches can take a valuable lesson from Hellison in terms of the importance of a multi-system approach to teaching and transferring life skills. Limitations and Future Directions While the present study did much to address some of the gaps in the current understanding of the life skills development and transfer processes in sport, there were several inherent limitations to the study that should be remedied and addressed in future research. For example, due to the nature of the purposeful sampling used and the case study approach employed, the results from the investigation are highly contextualized and cannot speak fully to the broader generalizations of the principles that could be uncovered by a larger scale study. Therefore, future research should focus on verifying 216 some of the principles identified in this initial attempt to examine if they are meaningful and applicable to other teams and/or contexts. Another limitation of the study was the broad scope of the factors under investigation. With the research lens set upon the life skill building and transfer outcomes, strategies, success rates and barriers, the case study methodology was not able to reach the depth of inquiry it could have if only a single research focus or question had been adopted. Future studies would benefit fi'om a more specialized examination of one of the aforementioned areas. The nature of the information collected (e.g., self-report and retrospective) may detract from the validity of the results accumulated. More specifically, the investigator not only relied on the participants’ truthfulness, but also operated under the assumption that the individuals would be capable of recalling the information in question. Seeing that the interviews were conducted during the off-season and with certain individuals who had not been in the sport context with their target coach for years, recall of the events in question could have been muddied. While future research can address these issues by implementing strategies such as longitudinal research (to assess true development in real time) and field observations of actual coach-atlrlete interactions, the potential utility of the retrospective nature of the current methods should not be overlooked. With life skill outcomes and transfer opportunities increasing with time and accumulated experiences, the perspectives of the former athletes and the parents of the former athletes within the current study proved to be very useful in providing a more mature account of their life skills development and transfer experiences. F urtherrnore, as stated previously, this temporal distance may have afforded participants a unique vantage point on and 217 perspective of their previous sport experiences. All in all, there is most likely no single approach that would address all relevant research questions in an optimal manner, so the methodologies and methods should be determined by the research questions at hand. With these limitations in mind, it would be advantageous to further explore the sport-life skill development and transfer relationship with other key variables brought to the forefront. Firstly, the coaches studied in the present investigation were similar in that they were all in-house coaches (i.e., they held teaching and/or administrative positions in their respective schools). Understanding that holding a full-time position at a school afforded these coaches with increased access and familiarity with athletes as well as a certain level of status within the school and community, it would also be interesting to study the strategies used and developmental outcomes acquired in programs where coaches did not have this dual role within the school systems. The coaches studied in this research project were also highly experienced (having coached between 25 and 44 years) and relatively successfirl (all having teams who had a history of success at the state level). These factors may have also afforded the coaches unique opportunities and resources with which to help their athletes with personal development. Future research should consider contrasting the developmental strategies used and outcomes gained by novice, intermediate and advanced coaches to see if the focus on and success with life skills and development is altered with increased experience. Two of the three coaches in the present study admitted that their coaching philosophies and attention paid beyond the x’s and 0’s of their sport had changed with time. This adaptation may have been due to trial and error learning, increased knowledge, capabilities and comfort in the coaching role, or decreased pressure on competitive outcomes once successful seasons had been 218 accumulated. However, the coaches did not speak directly to the sources of this change and further investigation is warranted. Another direction for firture research lies in the type of sport programming studied. While parallels in the developmental outcomes of various sport and physical activity progams are interesting, it seems that discussions of sport’s potential to positively develop its young participants often lump together the outcomes of vastly different programs. It would be firrther enlightening to investigate if youth program characteristics (e.g., emphasis on competitive outcomes, youth leader qualities, etc.) have an impact on the potential the athletic environments have for fostering the development and transfer of life skills. Lauer (2002) has provided a useful four-part taxonomy of youth sport programs that could be utilized to flame an investigation into the various outcomes of youth sport programming. More specifically, the first program type represents recreational sport programs (e. g., community, interscholastic, etc.) that do not intentionally promote youth development outcomes other than the physical skills and fitness accompanied by general sport participation. The sport represented in the present study would fall into this category and could be further characterized as being athletics- focused programs that place a relatively high emphasis on competitive outcomes (i.e., what has been referred to as ‘naturalistic’ sport programs). Level two pro grams are typically housed in ‘drop-in centers’ (e. g., the Boys’ and Girls’ Club, YMCA, etc.) and use sport as the attractor to youth participants. Here, sport is not the focus of the program, nor are other positive outcomes systematically addressed. The third level of programming consists of groups that use sport as the ‘centerpiece’ for the program, while other youth development agendas are present, but not integrated within the athletic activities. Finally, 219 within the fourth category of programs, sport and youth development objectives are intertwined and reinforce one another in a systematic and complimentary manner. Programs such as golf’s First Tee Life Skills Experience and Don Hellison’s Coaching Clubs would into this category. Here, while sport is a major component of the programming, a great deal more emphasis is placed on psychosocial, emotional, academic and other facets of development than the other three program types, with little focus being placed on competitive outcomes. The nature of these various programs and the major role-players within these groups would make interesting mediators to consider in the sport-life skill development relationship. Moreover, special attention might be paid to the degree to which competitive outcomes are reinforced since those values can, at times, stand in stark contrast with and compete against other developmental gains. Finally, there is still much to be discovered in terms of the degree to which life skills are transferred to other life domains outside of sport and through what processes this transfer is most likely to be facilitated. In fact, the question of whether or not intentional efforts to help athletes do the cognitive work of transferring skills learned in sport to other life arenas has been questioned altogether. It would be valuable to not only tap into other sources information about this potential transfer (e. g., teachers, employers, fiiends, etc.) to get a clearer picture of the phenomenon, but also to observe whether or not strategies used to transfer life skills outside of sport have a viable impact on growth off the field. This change could be examined utilizing experimental or quasi-experimental intervention research designed to study the effect of teaching coaches to actively help their athletes transfer life skills to school, their jobs, their lives at home, etc. Furthermore, a project that sought further information from current or former athletes in terms of the 220 processes they used to transfer life skills outside of sport and the impetus for this developmental work would be informative. Conclusion In summary, there is still much work to be done before optimal practices for developing life skills in sport and transferring the skills acquired to other life arenas can be determined. What the present study accomplished was that it provided additional support for some of the principles discussed in the previous literature, and did so across several groups that were distinct in terms of their contextual factors (e.g., coach and athlete gender, sport type, school type, regional location within a state, etc.). This study also provided novel advice for teaching life skills in naturalistic sport contexts and demonstrated that when coaches develop sound life skill philosophies and strategies for implementing these lessons, positive developmental experiences and outcomes can be fostered in competitive sport. It is the hope of the investigator that sharing this information will be an impetus to helping coaches adopt more productive strategies on their own teams as well as become more involved in the life skill development and transfer process. While some skills may, in fact, develop and transfer without structured intervention, it is doubtless that those athletes left unsupported would be less likely to reach their full potential, both on and off the playing field. 221 APPENDIX A: RECRUITMENT LETTERS 222 Life Skills Development through High School Sport: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (HS Coach Recruitment Form) Dear Coach Congratulations! You have received this letter because you were nominated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association staff as being an outstanding coach who is known for successes in developing proficient athletes as well as facilitating the personal growth of your players. I am conducting my dissertation research project to look at life skills development that occurs in high school athletes, and I feel coaches like you can provide critical information regarding the types of life skills (e. g., initiative, a sense of commitment and dedication, lessons in integrity, development of skills such as goal setting and teamwork, etc.) high school athletes are developing through sport, the most effective strategies for developing and transferring these skills to life outside of sport, and the issues and challenges related to positive youth development in athletics. To make this project a success, I need your help! If you would be willing to take part in my study your involvement would include: 0 An initial and follow-up interview with you about your coaching philosophy, life skill building and transfer strategies, and perceived success rate in building life skills with your athletes (60-90 minutes each); 0 your help with recruiting 4 of your 200 7-2008 junior or senior athletes to complete a life skills survey and take part in a 60 minute focus group about their life skills developmental experiences in sport; 0 your help with identifying 1 fornrer athlete (at least 5 years post graduation) who will take a life skills survey, complete a 60 minute interview (in person or over the phone) about his/her life skills developmental and transfer experiences in sport; and 0 your help with identifying a parent of a former athlete (who does not necessarily have to be the parent of the above mentioned former-athlete) to take part in a 60 minute interview (in person or over the phone) about his/her son’s or daughter’s life skills developmental and transfer experiences in sport. I realize we are nearing the end of the school year and your schedule is bound to be busy, so I would do all I can to make the involvement of you and you athletes as convenient for you as possible (e. g., interviews and focus groups can be conducted at a time and location that best fits your schedule). If you would be interested in taking part in this study, or if you have any questions or concerns about the purpose or process of this project, please contact me at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. I would be more than happy to pass along any further information you’d like regarding my study. Thank you very much for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing fi'om you. Sincerely, Sarah Carson, M.S. Institute for the Study of Youth Sports 223 Life Skills Development through High School Sport: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Current HS Athlete Recruitment Form) Dear Student Athlete: The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) would like to offer you the opportunity to take part in a research project aimed at promoting the positive high school sport experience. We believe that participating in high school sports develops student athletes physically, socially, and emotionally, so we are interested in discovering the best ways to bring about the positive outcomes sport has the potential to provide (e.g., initiative, identity development, commitment and dedication, lessons in integrity, goal setting and teamwork). One factor that is likely to influence any potential benefit of sports participation is the quality of coaching, so we would also like to know more about the role coaches play in shaping these positive life skills. To make this project a success, we need your help! Any student athlete on the team is eligible to participate. We will be surveying several athletes about the types of life lessons and skills they have gotten through participating in athletics. This survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Your name will not appear on the surveys, your participation will be completely voluntary, and we will take special care to ensure your responses remain confidential. We will also be holding a 45 to 60 minute focus group that will entail a group discussion about the same topics with 3 other athletes from your team. If you would be interested in meeting with me and a group of your peers to discuss your insights and opinions about life skills development in sport, please complete the attached athlete assent and parent consent form and return to your coach by . If you have any questions or concerns about the purpose or process of our project, please contact Sarah Carson, M.S. at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl@msu.edu. Sincerely, Sarah Carson, M.S. Institute for the Study of Youth Sports Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 224 Life Skills Development through High School Sport: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Former HS Athlete Recruitment Form) Dear The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) would like to offer you the Opportunity to take part in a research project aimed at promoting the positive high school sport experience. We believe that participating in high school sports develops student athletes physically, socially, and emotionally, so we are interested in discovering the best ways to bring about the positive outcomes sport has the potential to provide (e.g., initiative, identity development, commitment and dedication, lessons in integrity, goal setting and teamwork). One factor that is likely to influence any potential benefit of sports participation is the quality of coaching, so we would also like to know more about the role coaches play in shaping these positive life skills. To make this project a success, we need your help! Any former student athlete of coach team is eligible to participate. We will be surveying several athletes about the types of life lessons and skills they acquired through participating in high school athletics. This survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Your name will not appear on the surveys, your participation will be completely voluntary, and we will take special care to ensure your responses remain confidential. We will also be holding a 60 minute interview (in person or over the phone) that will entail a discussion about the same topics. If you would be interested in participating, please complete the attached consent form and return with the enclosed envelope by . If you have any questions or concerns about the purpose or process of our project, please contact Sarah Carson, M.S. at (517) 353- 9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. Sincerely, Sarah Carson, M.S. Institute for the Study of Youth Sports Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 225 Life Skills Development through High School Sport: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Parent of Former HS Athlete Recruitment Form) Dear Parent: The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) would like to offer you the opportunity to take part in a research project aimed at promoting the positive high school sport experience. We believe that participating in high school sports develops student athletes physically, socially, and emotionally, so we are interested in discovering the best ways to bring about the positive outcomes sport has the potential to provide (e.g., initiative, identity development, commitment and dedication, lessons in integrity, goal setting and teamwork). One factor that is likely to influence any potential benefit of sports participation is the quality of coaching, so we would also like to know more about the role coaches play in shaping these positive life skills. To make this project a success, we need your help! We will be holding 60 minute interviews focused on the types of life lessons and skills your son/daughter received through participating in athletics as well if and how these skills have transferred to life outside of sport. All results will be confidential and nothing other than your participation will be needed. If you would be interested in participating, please complete the attached consent form and return in the enclosed envelope by . If you have any questions or concerns about the purpose or process of this project, please contact Sarah Carson, M.S. at (517) 353- 9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. Sincerely, Sarah Carson, M.S. Institute for the Study of Youth Sports Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 226 APPENDIX B: CONSENT AND ASSENT FORM DOCUMENTS 227 Life Skills Development and Transfer through High School Sport Participation: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Coach Consent Form) You are being asked to participate in a research study conducted by Sarah Carson from Michigan State University. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies used by high school coaches to develop life skills in their players and the approaches they take to help transfer these skills and life lessons outside of sport. A secondary purpose is to assess the perceived success rates and barriers to the development and transfer of life skills in high school sport. As part of the study, you will be asked to participate in a 60 to 90-minute interview. The interview will be audio taped and transcribed. You can refuse to have the interview audio taped or to have the audiotape turned off at any point during the interview. While participation in this research study will pose little if no risk to you, it is understood that talking about your coaching philosophy and practices and your athletes may be uncomfortable. Therefore, your responses in the interview will remain confidential; no one except the study’s investigators will have access to these responses. Furthermore, coach, athlete and high school names will be eliminated from interview transcriptions, data analyses documentation, and the final project write up. Participation will be voluntary, and you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. Finally, you may refuse to answer specific questions in the interview that you feel uncomfortable answering and can still be a part of the study. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. Your participation in this study would be greatly appreciated. My hope is that the information gathered from the project will be used to help better train our youth coaches, inform firture research projects, and help make youth sport a place where the benefits of participation greatly outweigh the potential detriments. Please know that you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. If you have any questions concerning your participation in this study, please contact the principal investigator Daniel Gould at (517) 432-0175 or Sarah Carson at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact-anonymously, if you wish- Peter Vasilenko, PhD., Director of Human Research Protections, (517) 355-2180, fax (517) 43 2-4503, e-mail: irb@msu.edu, or mail: 202 Olds Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Thank you for your time and cooperation, Sarah Carson, M.S., Principal Investigator Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to participate in this study. Participant Signature Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to the audio taping of the interview. Participant Signature Date 228 Life Skills Development and Transfer through High School Sport Participation: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Current Athlete Assent & Parent Consent Form) You/your child are/is being asked to participate in a research study conducted by Sarah Carson fi'om Michigan State University. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies used by high school coaches to develop life skills in their players and the approaches they take to help transfer these skills and life lessons outside of sport. A secondary purpose is to assess the perceived success rates and barriers to the development and transfer of life skills in high school sport. As part of the study, you/your child will be asked to complete survey that will ask you/your child about your/his/her sport experiences. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. In addition, you/your child will be asked to participate in a 30 to 45-minute focus group interview with 3 of your/his/her teammates. The focus group will be audio taped and transcribed. You/your child can refirse to have the focus group audio taped or to have the audiotape turned off at any point during the focus group. While I feel that participation in this research study will pose little if no risk to you/your child, I understand that you/your child might not want others to see some of your/his/her survey responses. Therefore, I will provide you/your child with as much privacy as possible when completing the surveys. Additionally, your/your child’s name will not appear on the surveys, participation is voluntary, you/your child may refuse to answer certain questions or discontinue participation at any time. Furthermore, I will not ask you/your child to write the name of your/his/her coach on the survey, and in any resulting reports specific coaches or teams will not be identified. Your/your child’s responses in the focus group will also remain confidential; no one except the primary investigators will have access to these responses. Again, this portion of the research study will pose little if any risk to you; however, others participating in the focus group will hear responses given by individual members and will be personally responsible for upholding confidentiality. Results will be based on the answers given by all participants as a group ensuring confidentiality of individual responses. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. Your participation in this study would be greatly appreciated. My hope is that the information gathered from the project will be used to help better train our youth coaches, inform future research projects, and help make youth sport a place where the benefits of participation greatly outweigh the potential detriments. Please know that you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. If you have any questions concerning your participation in this study, please contact the principal investigator Daniel Gould at (517) 432-0175 or Sarah Carson at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact-anonymously, if you wish- Peter Vasilenko, PhD., Director of Human Research Protections, (517) 355-2180, fax (517) 432-4503, e-mail: irb@msu.edu, or mail: 202 Olds Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. 229 Thank you for your time and cooperation, Sarah Carson, M.S., Principal Investigator Date Athlete: Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to participate in this study. Participant Signature . Date Athlete: Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to the audio taping of the focus group. Participant Signature Date Parent: Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to allow your child to participate in this study. Parent/Guardian Signature Date Parent: Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to the audio taping of the focus group. Parent/Guardian Signature Date 230 Life Skills Development and Transfer through High School Sport Participation: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Former Athlete Consent Form) You are being asked to participate in a research study conducted by Sarah Carson from Michigan State University. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies used by high school coaches to develop life skills in their players and the approaches they take to help transfer these skills and life lessons outside of sport. A secondary purpose is to assess the perceived success rates and barriers to the development and transfer of life skills in high school sport. As part of the study, you will be asked to complete a survey that will ask you about your former sport experiences. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. In addition, you will be asked to participate in a 60-minute phone interview. The interview will be audio taped and transcribed. While I feel that participation in this research study will pose little if no risk to you, I understand that you might not want others to see some of your survey responses. Therefore, your name will not appear on the surveys, participation is voluntary, you may refuse to answer certain questions or discontinue participation at any time. Furthermore, I will not ask you to write the name of your coach on the survey, and in any resulting reports specific coaches or teams will not be identified. Your responses in the interview will also remain confidential; no one except the primary investigators will have access to these responses. Again, this portion of the research study will pose little if any risk to you; however, you can refirse to have the interview audio taped or to have the audiotape turned off at any point during the interview. Furthermore, coach, athletes and high school names will be eliminated from interview transcriptions, data analyses documentation, and the final project write up. Participation will be voluntary, and you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. Finally, you may refuse to answer specific questions in the interview that you feel uncomfortable answering and can still be a part of the study. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. Your participation in this study would be greatly appreciated. My hope is that the information gathered from the project will be used to help better train our youth coaches, inform future research projects, and help make youth sport a place where the benefits of participation greatly outweigh the potential detriments. Please know that you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. If you have any questions concerning your participation in this study, please contact the principal investigator Daniel Gould at (517) 432-0175 or Sarah Carson at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact-anonymously, if you wish- Peter Vasilenko, PhD., Director of Human Research Protections, (517) 355-2180, fax (517)432-4503, e-mail: irb@msu.edu, or mail: 202 Olds Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Thank you for your time and cooperation, 231 Sarah Carson, M.S., Principal Investigator Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to participate in this study. Participant Signature Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to the audio taping of the interview. Participant Signature Date 232 Life Skills DeveIOpment and Transfer through High School Sport Participation: How Life Lessons are Taught and Brought to Life (Parent of Former Athlete Consent Form) You are being asked to participate in a research study conducted by Sarah Carson fiom Michigan State University. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies used by high school coaches to develop life skills in their players and the approaches they take to help transfer these skills and life lessons outside of sport. A secondary purpose is to assess the perceived success rates and barriers to the development and transfer of life skills in high school sport. As part of the study, you will be asked to participate in a 60-minute interview. The interview will be audio taped and transcribed. You can refuse to have the interview audio taped or to have the audiotape turned off at any point dming the interview. While I feel that participation in this research study will pose little if no risk to you, I understand that discussing your child’s sport experiences may involve talking about sensitive topics. Therefore, your responses in the focus group will remain confidential; no one except the primary investigators will have access to these responses. However, the other individuals participating in the focus group will hear responses given by you and will be personally responsible for also upholding confidentiality. Results will be based on the answers given by all participants as a group, ensuring confidentiality of individual responses. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. Your participation in this study would be greatly appreciated. My hope is that the information gathered from the project will be used to help better train our youth coaches, inform future research projects, and help make youth sport a place where the benefits of participation greatly outweigh the potential detriments. Please know that you may withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. If you have any questions concerning your participation in this study, please contact the principal investigator ' Daniel Gould at (517) 432-0175 or Sarah Carson at (517) 353-9196 or carsonsl @msu.edu. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact-anonymously, if you wish- Peter Vasilenko, PhD., Director of Human Research Protections, (517) 355-2180, fax (517) 432-4503, e-mail: irb@msu.edu, or mail: 202 Olds Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Thank you for your time and cooperation, Sarah Carson, M.S., Principal Investigator Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to participate in this study. Participant Signature Date Your signature below indicates your voluntary agreement to the audio taping of the focus group. Participant Signature Date 233 APPENDIX C: ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS 234 Life Skills Development and Transfer through High School Sport Participation: Coach Demographic Survey Directions: Please complete the following information or circle the best answer provided. Part I: General Information Gender: Male Female Age: years Race/ethnicity: __ Afiican American _ Asian/Pacific Islander _ Caucasian _ Hispanic _ Native American Other (please specify): Part II: Coaching Informaa'on Which sport(s) have you coached (please list all in the following table)? Sport Level Position Years Athletes’ Win-Loss (e.g., high (head or Coached Gender Record school, assistant) (estimate) professional) e. g., soccer high school head coach 4 years Girls 64-59-30 Were you a competitive athlete? If yes, in which sport(s)? Sport _HMt Level Played e.g., Baseball Youth < High School > College Professional Youth High School College Professional Youth High School College Professional Youth High School College Professional 235 What is the highest degree you have earned? __ High School __ Junior College __ Bachelors Degree __ Masters Degree _ Ph.D. Other Have you had formal coaching education? Yes No If yes, please describe What other positions do you have in the school system for which you coach: __ classroom teacher __ physical educator _ athletic director other Please rank order (1 = most important to 4 = least important) the following coaching objectives as they pertain to your personal coaching philosophy: __ To have winning teams _ To help young people have firn __ To help young people develop physically and learn physical skills __ To help young people develop psychologically and socially 236 Coach Interview Guide 0 Coaching philosophy (regarding life skills development) 0 How would you describe your philosophy of coaching high school sports? 0 To what degree do you place importance on teaching life skills to your athletes? Compared to developing physical skills, winning, and having fun? 0 Life sl_