Sport scholars have explored the idea of learning life skills through sport and the ways in which skills learned through sport can be transferred into other areas of life (Gould & Carson, 2002). Conflict management is a life skill that can be learned in sport and could help individuals in other aspects of their lives. Research has examined how conflict affects sport teams and the ways athletes perceive conflict on their teams (Holt, Knight, & Zukiwski, 2012; Paradis, Carron, & Martin, 2014). Also, sport captains have reported feeling responsible for facilitating relationships on their teams and managing conflict (Voelker, Gould, & Crawford, 2011). With this building body of research, there still has not been a shared or evaluated medium for athletes to explicitly learn about conflict management. This study tested the effectiveness of a conflict management workshop designed for high school sport leaders to learn about conflict and practice applying their conflict management skills. Using a mixed-methods research design, this study measured cognitive and skill-based learning outcomes of the workshop. Results indicated this pilot workshop was effective in increasing cognitive flexibility and certain aspects of problem solving (i.e., a more positive outlook on problems, a rational problem-solving style, and less avoidance of problems). Practical implications include sharing and implementing this workshop with sport stakeholders in order to increase high school student-athletes' knowledge of conflict management and develop conflict management skills that can be used in all aspects of their lives.
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