High school athletes’ perspectives on support, communication, negotiation and life skill development

Abstract

There is a widespread belief that sport can be used as a tool to promote life skills and positive youth development. However, little research has examined athletes’ perspectives on the development of life skills in school‐based sport programmes, in which a vast amount of youth are involved. In addition, research has yet to examine how youth experience support, communication, and negotiation processes with parents and coaches in high school sport, elements that play a crucial role in life skill development. Taking this into consideration, the purpose of the study was to document high school athletes’ perspectives on support, communication, negotiation and life skill development. Results indicated that: (1) while variability was observed, many athletes believed they were able to negotiate many aspects of their sport participation with parents and coaches, (2) a large number of athletes believe they received adequate support from parents and were able to communicate with coaches, and (3) athletes believed high school sport participation allowed them to develop a number of life skills that could be transferred to other life domains.