Browsing by Subject "youth sport"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Fair Play in Youth Football: Reducing Injury Rates Through Improved Sportsmanship Behavior
    (2018-01) White, Andrew
    Sport participation is one of the leading causes of injury among American youth and poor sportsmanship behavior contributes to the risk of sport-related injury. Theories of behavior modification suggest operant conditioning can lead to behavior change, as can other environmental and personal factors. Additionally, models of sport-related injury show behavioral change can alter injury risk. One context injury prevention research should focus on is youth American football, as the competition injury rates are higher than those of other sports. The current study implemented modified Fair Play rules, which utilize operant conditioning, in a youth football league to determine if, compared to teams using standard rules, teams using Fair Play rules had (a) better sportsmanship behavior and attitudes and (b) lower injury rates; (c) if there was an effect, the study also aimed to determine how Fair Play rules impacted injury rates. These purposes were examined over two football seasons with one group of teams using Fair Play rules both seasons (FP-FP), one group using standard rules both seasons (Std-Std), and one group switching from standard to Fair Play rules after one season (Std-FP). At the beginning of this study, participants were on average 12.19 (±0.44) years old, Caucasian (85.1%), and male (99.4%). Linear mixed models revealed the only statistically significant group difference for injury rates was a significantly higher rate of head/neck injuries for the FP-FP group than the Std-Std group when Fair Play penalty yards per game was not accounted for. Similarly, collapsing across groups, the rate of opponent head/neck injuries significantly increased after the first season, but no other changes over time were significant. A MANOVA revealed no group differences in athlete self-reported sportsmanship behavior and attitudes or athletes’ perceptions of coach sportsmanship behavior. High variability and small group sizes limited the power to detect differences, but examining mean values of injury rates revealed complex patterns across groups and time. Results suggest Fair Play rules and player sportsmanship behavior affect injury rates in youth American football; however, this effect is complex and further research is required to clearly determine the effect of Fair Play rules in this context.
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    Sport Parent Sideline Behavior in Youth Baseball and Ice Hockey
    (2016-04) Dutove, Julia
    Over 75% of children in Canada participate in organized sport (Active Healthy Kids Canada, 2015) and parents are an important source of support in youth sport participation (Omli & Wiese-Bjornstal, 2011). While many parents display good behavior on youth sport sidelines, some poor sideline behavior still exists and can detract from the positive environment desired for youth sport participants (Bowker et al., 2009). This study combined research from the fields of sport psychology and sport management to examine, from the perspective of parents, personal and situational factors that influenced parent behavior on youth sport sidelines. An ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) of influences on sport parent sideline behavior is presented and was used to create an online survey for ice hockey and baseball parents in provincial sport organizations in western Canada. In total 1040 parents completed the survey, 625 baseball parents and 415 hockey parents. Some differences based on personal (gender and sport experience) and situational (sport type, stakes, and occurrence) factors were found, but overall parents reported poor behavior was low and most poor behaviors were unacceptable, regardless of the situation. Results from this study can be used to educate parents and inform future sport parent sideline behavior studies.