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The purpose of this study was to examine parenting styles and associated parenting practices in youth sport. Following a season-long period of fieldwork, primary data were collected via interviews with 56 parents and supplemented by interviews with 34 of their female children. Data analysis was guided by Grolnick's (2003) theory of parenting styles. Analyses produced five findings: (1) Autonomy-supportive parents provided appropriate structure for their children and allowed them to be involved in decision making. These parents were also able to read their children's mood and reported open bidirectional communication. (2) Controlling parents did not support their children's autonomy, were not sensitive to their children's mood, and tended to report more closed modes of communication. (3) In some families, there were inconsistencies between the styles employed by the mother and father. (4) Some parenting practices varied across different situations. (5) Children had some reciprocal influences on their parents' behaviors. These findings reveal information about the multiple social interactions associated with youth sport parenting.

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We assessed young adolescent female soccer players' perceptions of their peer group experiences. Data were collected via interviews with 34 girls from two youth soccer teams (M age = 13.0 years). Following inductive discovery analysis, data were subjected to an interpretive theoretical analysis guided by a model of peer experiences (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Five categories of peer experiences were identified across three levels of social complexity. At the interaction level players integrated new members into the team and learned to interact with different types of people. At the relationship level players learned about managing peer conflict. At the group level a structure of leadership emerged and players learned to work together. Findings demonstrated interfaces between peer interactions, relationships, and group processes while also simplifying some apparently complex systems that characterized peer experiences on the teams studied.

Federally funded Canadian sports are required to have a Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) plan. Alpine ski racing developed the Husky Snow Stars (HSS) program to represent the fundamentals and learning to training phases of its overall LTAD plan. The purpose of this study was to evaluate coaches' and parents' perceptions of the implementation of the HSS program at a local level. Using a multiple case-study approach, four Alberta ski racing clubs were purposefully sampled. Data were collected via interviews with eight coaches and 18 parents of ski racers from these clubs. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to categorical aggregation analysis. Analysis revealed themes related to perceptions of (a) the LTAD plan and its available resources; and (b) assessment of racers' abilities. These findings provide a preliminary assessment of one sport-specific athlete development plan and may inform research into the local level implementation of other sport-specific talent development systems.