Q&A: Good sport / bad sport: How to foster positive participation among youth: CrossCurrents Spring 2004
CrossCurrents
This Q&A is based on an interview with Dr. Lenny Wiersma, an assistant professor in the Division of Kinesiology and Health
Science at California State University at Fullerton, and co-director of the school's Center for the Advancement of Responsible
Youth Sport.
What are the psychosocial benefits of sport for youth?
Research has found that after-school youth sports programs are probably the best after-school programs there are in terms
of psychosocial benefits. Involvement in youth sport is a better predictor of academic success than are family income or education.
And kids who participate in sports programs, whether they are school-based or not, have better attitudes about school, less
absenteeism and higher GPAs in high school. A U.S. study by the National Federation of High School Associations looked at
adolescents who dropped out of school and found that 96 per cent of dropouts didn't participate in after-school sports. Sports
somehow keep you connected to school.
There are many other benefits. Some kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder do better with physical activity than
with drugs and with fewer side-effects. Sports can also improve self-confidence and self-esteem, especially with girls. Hillary
Carlip's book Girl Power looked at the diaries of adolescent girls, a group among which depression and anxiety levels are high. But what Carlip saw
was a trend of very hopeful, very powerful, assertive females who had all been engaged in sport. Girls engaged in sports are
less likely to be in abusive relationships or to have premarital or unsafe sex. Sports can also enhance girls' sense of what
they can do with their bodies very positively instead of getting acceptance from boys.
When are sports a protective or risk factor for mental health or substance use problems?
In a sports context, the opportunity for kids to engage in substance abuse happens in two conditions: One is when team mates
use the team atmosphere for drinking and drugs. We're seeing more incidents of hazing on sports teams with alcohol and drugs.
When an atmosphere is set up on a team where that's the venue for drug and alcohol use, you'll see more of those activities.
Another risk factor is when sports enhance an athlete's sense of immortality. When athletes are treated differently by peers
and adults, such as teachers, because of their athletic status, this heightens their sense of immortality - they wear seatbelts
less, do more drunk driving, have unprotected sex. But that's when the environment is structured that way. A lot has to do
with the notion that "I'm not just young, I'm indestructible." This kind of environment exists on some high school teams.
But when it comes to most kids, especially at-risk kids, sports can be a big protective factor. In the United States, one-third
of kids under 12 go home to no parental supervision. They often engage in unhealthy sedentary behaviours. But sports can be
most positive for this population - those at risk for violence, substance use and obesity. Sports can be a healthy way of
feeling accepted by peers. If adolescents don't find acceptance in a healthy environment, they'll find it elsewhere. Research
with delinquent and violent kids has found that when these kids participate in after-school sports programs, they have a 50
to 75 per cent decline in re-offences compared to a 60 per cent increase among those who after first arrest don't engage in
such programs.
When is competition in youth sport healthy and unhealthy?
Competition is healthy when adults - parents and coaches - focus on encouraging co-operation and personal improvement rather
than emphasizing outcomes. That's when sport can be the ultimate character builder. But when kids are taught that certain
behaviours are acceptable in sport that aren't acceptable outside sport - when coaches encourage players to hurt and intimidate
other players or to cheat - adolescents may not be mature enough to stand up and say they won't act that way because they
see it within the context of sport as acceptable.
Brenda Bredemeier, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, calls this bracketed morality - when you set aside your normal
sense of what's right and wrong in a certain context. So when you're doing a sport, you think, "Well, it's a contact sport,
so I can be overly aggressive." And it doesn't help when officials are determining what's right or wrong because it takes
all the responsibility off the child for determining what's right and wrong.
Hockey Canada has a good media promotion called "Relax, it's just a game." The program takes scenarios where adults try to teach their kids things that would be totally unacceptable outside the
game. For example, a kid playing hide and go seek is hiding behind a shrub. His father yanks him out, yelling at him, and
tells him to hide in a manhole. It's clear that this kind of behaviour is wrong outside the rink, so what makes it right at
the rink? Parents need to take a step back and look at what they're teaching their kids. When achievement, loyalty to a team
and winning replace positive values like co-operation, it's easy for kids to make decisions about being aggressive, hurting
another player or fighting.
Is aggression in youth sport increasing? And if so, why?
It is more common, both among players and parents and coaches. We see parents and adults getting out of control and fighting
at games. Rising aggression could reflect what's happening in society - we have road rage, and now we've got sports rage.
Many parents don't understand how miniscule of a chance their child has of getting into professional sport. Reebok recently
signed a big endorsement contract with a three-year-old basketball whiz. Other parents see this and want their kids to follow
suit; they're focussed only on outcome. Yet there's no single predictor of long-term success in sport. It's not only unhealthy
to focus on achievement and winning at such a young age; it's useless in determining success in the long run. This focus on
winning and achievement as opposed to co-operative activity has implications for how kids behave.
There are also professional players who model poor behaviours. But the leagues use those hard hits, body checks and taunts
to promote themselves to kids and teenagers. What kids don't see is the punishments for these behaviours after the game.
Another factor adding to aggression is that kids are starting in organized sports very young. So they bypass what kids used
to do for recreation - the old sandbox and informal games, organized and regulated by themselves. There was a huge benefit
to co-operating with peers when playing in parks or in the street. If you didn't co-operate, if you were a poor sport or a
bully or a cheater, you wouldn't be allowed to play. Kids had to learn very early how to co-operate, how to be a good sport.
Now parents sign up their kids for hockey or soccer at a very early age, when these kids haven't had the opportunity to learn
on their own how to control aggression, how to be responsible for their behaviour. I'm a huge proponent of keeping very young
kids out of organized sport. I'd rather have my kids playing in the street as long as it's safe. It's sad to have a generation
of kids who will be leaders without having developed those skills.
What can coaches and parents do to facilitate healthy youth sports?
Adults need to keep in mind that kids look for a model of how to act when it comes to winning, losing, being healthy. In the
United States and Canada, we're seeing an increase in leagues requiring parents and coaches to sign codes of conduct. Coaches
tend to put the onus of good behaviour on themselves - if they don't act as the model, if they're out of control, parents
will be out of control and kids will be too. Yet most leagues don't properly prepare coaches. If anything is done to prepare
them, it's to get them to understand the sports skills and rules. But their training doesn't get into coaching philosophy,
how to be a role model, how to control behaviour and communicate effectively with kids. But learning these skills is important
to give kids a positive sports experience.
Leagues also need to be very upfront about their philosophy and what they want kids to get out of the program. I'm drawing
up a proposal to have youth leagues rated in a way similar to how films are rated. If your objective is to train champions,
come right out and say it. But if the league has developing sportsmanship, skills and co-operation as its philosophy, rate
the program low. Leagues need to be clear about their philosophy so parents know what to expect.
Leagues are also doing things like "Silent Saturdays," where parents and coaches aren't allowed to talk during the game, not
even cheer. This really illustrates how much of a difference it makes to just sit back and let kids play. Some leagues put
bleachers beyond the outfield so parents are far away, but this takes the joy out of what parents get and subjects everyone
to the consequences of the one to five per cent of parents who exhibit bad behaviour. We need to communicate to parents that
they need to be an anchor for their children, they need to be there for their kids. Forget the post-game analysis or number
of goals scored. Ask, "Did you have fun?" Sports is a great way to teach kids to focus, to deal with adversity, to be leaders,
to set goals for themselves. Everything else that happens in terms of achievement is just a bonus.
Hema Zbogar
Centre for Addiction
