Youth Sport Coaching and the Importance of Maintaining Participation: Why Evidence Must Underpin Notions of Performance, Talent, and Development

There are numerous benefits attached to the idea of lifelong physical activity. Because of this, various governmental and sports organisations seek to promote positive behaviours and potential health aspirations through the use of sport. This critical commentary seeks to highlight some of the issues that surround this topic, most notably the lack of suitable training or understanding for many of the practitioners who deliver youth sport (coaches and teachers). The implications for incorrect or limited understanding within the context of youth sport practice sessions are numerous, particularly when the ideas of performance, competition, and talent are used but not necessarily understood, with increased drop-out rates perhaps of most significance. The contention of this commentary is that those delivering youth sport must develop an appreciation of evidence-based practice that, fundamentally, places the developmental needs of youth at its heart, prioritises participation, and sees the use of competition as a means to an end, not the end itself