Youth Sport Coaching: Participation, Development, and Effective Practice

Description

Youth Sport Coaching: Participation, Development, and Effective Practice – A Research Anthology argues that youth sport should be built around evidence-based, participant-centred coaching that prioritises long-term development, enjoyment, and sustained participation rather than short-term performance outcomes. The book identifies a key problem within contemporary youth sport: that coaching practices, talent identification systems, and organisational structures often excessively emphasise competition, early success, and early specialisation, which can contribute to exclusion, burnout, and participant dropout. In response, the book challenges these traditional approaches, highlighting the importance of coach education and support, and presenting the ACES coaching framework as a practical tool for improving coaching practice, thus advocating for more inclusive and developmentally informed approaches. The book concludes that effective youth sport should be judged not only by performance achievements but by the positive developmental experiences, confidence, enjoyment, and lifelong engagement in physical activity it enables, placing young peoples’ needs at the centre of decision-making.