To read the full paper click Perfectionism in Parental Involvement
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Three competition levels were considered — competing at a national championship level, competing at an international championship level, and winning international medals—and addressed three questions:
How many junior athletes reach an equivalent competition level when they are senior athletes?
How many senior athletes reached an equivalent competition level when they were junior athletes?
The answers to these questions provide an answer to Question 3:
To what extent are successful juniors and successful seniors one identical population or two disparate populations?
To read the full paper click s40279-023-01840-1_230519_213612
]]>In contemporary society, parents enrol children into organised sport from as young as three years of age. Although the benefits of sport participation are well documented, it is important to acknowledge early sport involvement can also prompt an increase injury risk, psychological burnout and/or sport dropout. Yet little is known about why parents enrol preschool aged children into organised sport, especially from a sociological perspective.
The results suggest that parental decision-making can be influenced by broader sociocultural, contextual, historical, and political forces which are perceived to construct, maintain, and perpetuate powerful ideologies that encourage children’s early sport involvement.
To read the full paper click Understanding parents motives for and beliefs abou_230517_090004.
]]>In this episode speaker, author and award winning educator Dr Jennifer Fraser joins Gordon MacLelland to discuss neuroscience, what we know now, what the research shows us and discuss what this means for sporting organisations, coaches and parents.
During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:
- The ability to evolve, train and rewire our brain
- Tom Brady and his use of brain training
- Resilience and how eliminating threat can help develop this sought after skill
- The importance of healthy and effective environments
- The value in parents celebrating the process of holistic and character development
- Helping to foster intrinsic drive and motivation
- Jennifer’s new book ‘The Bullied Brain’
- The teenage brain and understanding the importance of peer connection for teenagers
- The early adopters of brain training and the successes associated with it
- Sporting organisations using the happiness of children as a key measuring stick in youth sport to help prevent drop-out
- Coaches adapting their approach to suit all of the different individuals within a group and leading with empathy
- The challenges for parents in supporting their teenagers through adolescent development
- Developing ’empathic’ listening skills when talking with our teenagers
- Are we ‘watching’ or ‘observing’ our children play sport?
Jennifer Fraser is an award-winning educator and best-selling author. Her fourth book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health, came out in April 2022 with Prometheus Books. It draws on advancements in neuroscience and medicine in order to share evidence-based ways we can all strive to have healthier, happier, more high-performing brains even if we have suffered harm done by bullying and abuse. A science-informed approach, The Bullied Brain is meant to be a useful and practical guide for coaches, teachers and parents. You can find out more at bulliedbrain.com.
Recreational programs are generally lower-cost for families, emphasising inclusive participation among all players. Conversely, competitive travel and Olympic-development programs typically necessitate that players try out and be selected in order to train and play, and include more intense skill development and competition, thus requiring families invest greater time and financial resources in their children’s sport development.
In this latest work from Amanda Visek and Heather Mannix they dig deeper into their original work looking at gender, age and level of play to see if there are any specific differences in responses across these different groups from the original study.
To read the research paper please click here.
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Parents are too often seen as the problem not the solution. That’s the feeling of many coaches who perceive parental interference causing them, and by dint of association, their players unwanted aggravation.
According to more recent research, this is not the case. And it’s the players who are telling us this. The RFU, increasingly conscious of the welfare of their players, especially players on their elite pathways, have brought in the expertise of Dr Camilla Knight, who is an associate professor in Sport Science at Swansea University.
Her team has been given unprecedented access to the players, parents and coaches at the Wellington Festival over the last two years. The festival, which brings together around 420 players from 14 Premiership academies, is a goldmine for researchers. Their target dataset is all in one place and so they can gather an enormous amount of focused information.
START WITH THE RUGBY JOURNEY
Using informal settings, groups of players (and later on parents, coaches, teachers, and academy staff) were asked about their rugby journeys so far.
“It’s honest, and it’s relaxed because it’s in a group,” says Dr Knight. “The players were happy to open up and share stories. They talked about other parents’ behaviours too, which allowed them to perhaps relate personal experiences. It was all completely confidential. We wanted to find out who had helped them, and what might have derailed them.”
“There was so much data to work through. Our first focus was on discovering more about the parents’ role in the player’s rugby life. At the start, at a young age, the players relied on the parents very heavily. As the player realised they were had some potential, they began to listen more to their peers and coaches. However, crucially, the parents remained their main source of support.
MUMS AND DADS – DIFFERENT CONVERSATIONS
“The players explained that they tended to ask dad for technical advice and mum for emotional support. It was certainly very gendered, and this is backed up by our research in Wales on parental involvement.
“When looking at parents’ experiences of supporting their children in rugby, we also see other differences between mothers and fathers, with mothers indicating far more concerns about injuries, whereas fathers were often more likely to have played and so know about the collision outcomes.”
The key message that keeps coming across from this research, and this approach, is that all participants in the game need to keep conversations going. Each stakeholder has many pulls on their lives. It’s tough when a 16 year-old player is being asked to make choices over their playing loyalties.
In the meantime, the parent is looking out for their son or daughter, while the coach is hoping to develop the player.
“It was interesting that parents often helped players balance demands and expectations. The players liked the fact their parents were keen for them to do well. However, if the coach was too pushy, then the parent was able to reduce that pressure. As the player got older, they want their parents to be a little less vocal, probably as their peers and coaches do became more influential.”
COACHES LEARNING MORE
“We recognise that parents are trying to do the right thing. They will make mistakes, and not always know what to do. The players recognise this too. But understanding the intention is well meaning is important.
“Coaches must embrace parents. If they are giving out a message on say leadership to the players, then the parents need to know this so they can reinforce that message at home. Otherwise the impact is lost.
“Also, we should support parents with the difficult conversations that are going to arise. If they’ve considered the possible answers, it makes it easier to react positively to issues like being dropped or getting injured.”
While the RFU research has been around the academy game, Dr Knight highlights how it can be used across all levels. “We need to upskill parents with more information. Initially, it’s about the pathway. Then, it’s using the game to create “good” people. Let parents know what you are doing so it can be reinforced at home. Help parents know how to support their child’s emotional needs.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Dr Knight emphasises that there is still an enormous amount of data to analyse on other relationships. However, from the point of view of coaches, the key takeaways are:
- Players rely heavily on parents. So, don’t push away a key part of the player’s support system.
- Parents want to do the right thing. Help them to see what they can do and support them in trying to do this.
- Communicate messages to the parents that you are giving to the players. It can then be reinforced at home.
To read the research paper please click here.
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To read the research paper please click here.
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Deselection — or being cut — from a sports team can be a crushing experience for a young athlete. While deselection is a delicate process and coaches should handle making cuts with care, athletes and parents are required to deal with the consequences of being deselected. The purpose of this research was to examine how athletes and parents cope with deselection from provincial teams using a communal coping perspective. Findings show how parents can support their children after being cut, and demonstrate how appropriate communication plans and coping strategies can help ease the pain. and encourage continued sport participation and positive athlete development and for years to come.
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