Understanding an Action Research Process in a Youth Sport Organization

Abstract

Youth sport is often considered a setting for ‘youth development’ and for young people to acquire ‘life skills’. In shifting from a sole focus on physical fitness and sporting competence to a more complex understanding of young person and ‘life skills’, the coach becomes a youth worker. Yet, to claim that youth sport can play a role in youth development is complex and dependent on the theoretical and practical chosen frames of youth development and their corresponding goals and values. When ‘life skills’ are presumed to be acquired- these too have social meaning- they are often done within an adolescent and/or ‘positive youth development’ frame and are obtained inequitably across age, social class, ethnicity, gender, geography, and the like. This suggests existing understandings of ‘youth development’ and ‘life skills’ in youth sport are narrow and inadequate, in social terms and of themselves, without full recognition of social class, ethnicity, gender, and other social demographics. Thus, an opportunity to expand the embodied meanings of ‘youth development’, and what outcomes are desired, in youth sport exists- both those of adults and those of youth players. One possible approach is through democratic process embedded in a civic youth work orientation and potentially overlapping classic youth coaching strategies and carried out through an action research process, one more common in other areas of education practice.This dissertation sought to understand action research as an individual, team, programmatic, and organizational change process in a youth sport organization in an upper-middle class, suburban, Midwest community. To do this, an action research project was developed, implemented, and assessed in a new youth soccer club. The study had two levels- the action research project focused on exploring the core values with youth players (Level I), and a self-reflection on the process of doing action research (Level II). The project consisted of twenty four, one-hour sessions with ~ twenty eight youth- boys and girls from two soccer teams- a co-facilitator, and myself. The project took place over a period of five months and was informed by community youth development and social justice youth development theories, a civic youth work orientation, and the researcher’s expertise as a licensed soccer coach. Data were collected before, during, and after the project in the form of interviews, field notes, observations, artefacts, documentation, a learning journal, archival records, and dialog with ‘critical friends’ and were analyzed for qualitative themes. Several findings emerged at Level I and Level II of the study. Youth players shared a commitment to and were able to live out the soccer club’s core values (teamwork, respect, leadership, ownership) in their everyday soccer lives, and sometimes in other youth life realms, and enjoyed the experience. Parents and club directors expressed their satisfaction with the project. I learned about my ability to create a democratic youth work space in a youth sport organization (Level I) within my coach training and also with the young people and with my co-facilitator. The action research project showed itself as possible in the youth sport club and trust and relationship building emerged as essential to the project’s start, implementation, and completion in the youth sport organization. These findings suggest youth sport can be amenable to a civic youth work practice and a democratic process is possible in U.S. youth sport clubs, albeit with difficulty, patience, skill, and fortuitous conditions. This study has implications for exploring youth sport as a place for youth work and it provides evidence of specific “life skills” that can be achieved through such practice. For those youth workers who utilize theories of community youth development or social justice youth development, or for social workers who identify as youth and community workers, these findings can be read to encourage further consideration of the ways economic inequality influences outcomes and opportunities and/or the way that cultural differences may alter taken-for-granted values and practices. Finally, this study can inform youth sport policy to better align with desired coaching practices, and for action research as a coach development process within sport. However, given the realities of the club and the youth and families included in this study, it is vital that civic youth development work also be undertaken with young people, families, and communities from a wider array of social class, ethic/racial background, and geographic communities in order to understand the cultural and social contexts of such goals and practices. My professional development brought into personal tension the differences, as well as similarities, between my coaching training, orientation, and practice and that school of youth work called community youth work. This should be explored more deeply across social class, gender, ethnicity/race, and geographic spaces. Keywords: Youth sport, youth work, action research, social work