The challenge of engaging young children in sport
Issue: Volume 28 Number 4
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that, in 2004, 62 per cent of Australian children aged 5–14 years participated in organised sport. These figures represent more than 1.6 million Aussie kids who are regularly involved in sport for a variety of reasons.
Understanding these reasons is a critical first step towards helping children to have the best possible experiences in sport.
Research has shown that intrinsic rewards, such as merely being involved in sport with their friends, mean more to children than the extrinsic rewards of receiving trophies or prizes.
According to children, they play sport to:
- have fun develop fitness
- make friends
- learn new skills
- enjoy competition
- be challenged.
For the most part, children drop out of sport when their needs (such as those mentioned above) are not met.
What does this mean for coaches?
It is essential that a coach understands what motivates people, especially young people, to be involved in sport. Weiss (1994) describes three ingredients of motivation — perceived ability (the participant’s belief about their ability in sport) social support and enjoyment — as necessary for sustaining children’s ‘love of the game’.
The following key coaching behaviours will help to ensure that motivation amongst children will thrive.
Be organised
Effective planning helps to ensure that the coach provides a safe environment, while maximising participation, fun and enjoyment. A carefully planned session increases the coach’s confidence, which will help motivate players.
Recognise achievement and positive reinforcement
We know that praise and encouragement are two of the best motivational techniques of all. The majority of junior athletes will develop self confidence and the motivation to try harder when they receive recognition for their efforts, especially when it comes from someone they look up to such as a coach.
Set challenges for all levels of ability
Coaches often pitch their challenges at the middle level of the group. Athletes at the bottom get turned off because the activities are too difficult, while those at the top get bored because it is too easy. Coaches need to offer graded activities that are challenging for all participants, while offering the opportunity for athletes to experience success.
Use a Game Sense approach
Children love to play games. How many times have coaches heard the cry ‘When can we play a game?’ Game Sense is an approach to coaching that is ‘game centred’ rather than the traditional ‘technique centred’. It makes the game, rather than the technique or technique drills, the focus of an activity session.
In the Game Sense approach to coaching, the coach is more a facilitator than a director. The coach guides, rather than directs, children in their understanding of playing of a game. They design activities that progressively challenge and motivate children to develop an understanding of the strategies, skills and rules required to succeed.
It provides important motivation for most children by ‘giving the game back to the kids’.
Reduce emphasis on competition
Stratton (1996) cites enjoyment of competition as one of the key reasons children play organised sport. However, further research has shown that an overemphasis on competition by a coach or parent is often the reason why young people drop out of sport.
MacPhail, Kirk and Eley (2003) suggest that for young people, a motivational climate that fosters hard work and improvement is more conducive to continued participation than a climate based solely on winning.
For coaches it means success or failure should not be determined by the scoreboard, nor by the number of competitions won. It is important that coaches provide opportunities for all their athletes to experience success by setting goals in both the short and long term. Goal setting can have a dramatic, positive effect on both motivation and skill development.
An essential feature of goal setting for motivation is giving frequent feedback. Otherwise, tracking progress may become difficult, and minor improvements may not be obvious.
Provide a supportive learning environment
Keeping children safe from physical injury in sport is something that good coaches do. Safety from verbal harassment or abuse, particularly when it comes from other children, is no less important. An unsympathetic coach or bullying from other kids is often cited as main reasons why children drop out of sport.
Coaches are one of the most important people in the lives of athletes, especially when these athletes are children. There is no question that coaches need to be encouraging, supportive, competent and ethical in all of their activities.
A code of ethics gives coaches guidelines as to how they should treat athletes under their care. Such codes also show clubs, parents, athletes, schools and employers that coaches are expected to demonstrate appropriate standards of behaviour.
If coaches are to perform effectively, it is essential that they understand the roles and responsibilities expected of them, as outlined in their sport’s coach’s code of ethics.
Recent statistics suggest that, for children, participation in organised sport has increased only marginally for boys, with no significant change for girls. Coaches and parents continue to be dismayed when a child says ‘I just don’t want to do it any more’.
By understanding what motivates children to participate in sport, and putting in place the strategies suggested in this article, coaches will be seen as playing their part in helping children experience sport in the positive way — the way we know it can.
References and further reading
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1994, Children’s participation in cultural and leisure activities, Australia, ABS, Australia. Page numbers?
Australian Sports Commission 2004, junior sport fact sheets, ASC web site, Canberra. URL?
Kirk, D 2000, FHS, Leeds, England, pp. 20–2.
Light, R 2003, ‘Light up the sport with Game Sense’, Sports Coach, 26(2). Page numbers?
MacPhail, A, Eley, D and Kirk, D 2003, Listening to young people’s voices: youth sports leaders’ advice on facilitating participation in sport’, in North West Counties Physical Education Association and SAGE publications, London. Page numbers?
Stratton, R 1996, ‘Motivation of young athletes. Part 1: why kids want to participate in sports?’, Coaching youth sports, September/October. Page numbers?
Weiss, MR 2004, ‘Coaching children to embrace a “Love of the Game”’, Olympic Coach, 16(1). Page numbers?
