Literature discussing youth sport coaching indicates the importance of a holistic coaching approach, particularly related to the use of positive youth development (PYD) approaches promoting the development and transfer of life skills. However, in the shadow of recent sociopolitical movements such as Black Lives Matter and Me Too, raised awareness of mental health concerns and an ongoing global pandemic, there are calls for a reimagined perspective of PYD through a social justice worldview. The purpose of the current article is to posit how coach education programs and coach development systems can inclusively meet the diverse needs of coaches, youth athletes, and society alike. Specifically, two questions guided the development of this article: 1) Why should coach education and coach development integrate social justice life skills? and 2) How may social justice life skills be integrated into coach education and coach development? Ultimately, as researchers and coach developers, we must not only be advocates for social justice in youth sports, but critically engaged activists who progress youth – and societal – development forward.

Positive youth development is one of the primary goals of high school sport participation, yet the process of how youth transfer life skills from sport to other life domains is in need of greater examination. To offer a unique perspective, the purpose of the study explored teacher-coaches’ perceptions of the process of life skills transfer for student-athletes from high school sport to the classroom. Using a constructivist approach, 12 teacher-coaches (9 male, 3 female) with an average of 13 years (SD = 5.7) experience as a teacher-coach completed in-person, semistructured interviews. Using model for life skills transfer as a guiding framework, the theoretical thematic analysis revealed specific student-athlete characteristics (e.g., internal assets, external assets), high school sport factors (e.g., inherent demands, coaching characteristics), and high school classroom factors (e.g., classroom contextual factors, student-athlete psychological processes) that helped or hindered the process of life skills transfer. The critical influences of individual awareness and agency and of congruence between contexts highlighted the value of understanding life skills transfer through a developmental systems lens. Results are discussed with specific recommendations for researchers and practitioners related to understanding life skills transfer. Lay Summary: Positive youth development is a primary goal of high school sport participation, yet researchers can do more to understand the developmental outcomes from high school sport. In this study, teacher-coaches identified specific factors that can help and hinder student-athletes’ ability and likelihood of transferring life skills from high school sport to the classroom.

Positive developmental outcomes for youth are likely to occur when adults intentionally design environments to facilitate that development. However, in sport, studies typically examine only one adult relationship at a time, as opposed to the many that exist. The purpose of this study was to examine high school student-athletes’ perceptions of how a variety of stakeholders in their sport-ecosystem contribute to their life skills development and well-being. Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-Ecological Model and Prilleltensky’s concept of psychopolitical validity served as a guiding framework for interviews conducted with student-athletes (N = 46) in three different states in the United States of America. Themes suggested that the student-athletes’ relationships have a reciprocal interaction with their developmental experiences to create three different forms of development. Student-athletes had basic life skills recognition when learning without meaning was fostered by low-engagement relationships, development through adverse experiences when learning through necessity occurred through challenging relationships, and meaningful development when anchored learning experiences were supported by transformative relationships in their sport world. Lay summary: High school student-athletes were asked about their life skills development and how adults in their sport system influenced or hindered that development. Student-athletes favored highly engaged adults that supported opportunities by anchoring their learning in meaningful experiences. The relationship with the adult and the meaningful experience reciprocally influenced each other.

"Hematuria and leptospiruria in a foal" published on 15 Jul 1993 by American Veterinary Medical Association.

Despite the fact that research supports the positive impact coach education has on increasing the quality of athletes’ developmental experiences in sport, there remains resistance regarding the use...