Coaching life skills through sport: An application of the teaching personal and social responsibility model to youth sport in eSwatini

Abstract

Coaching life skills through sport: An application of the teaching personal and social responsibility model to youth sport in eSwatini Zenzi Huysmans Adolescence is a formative developmental period where youth learn the life skills and values needed to become compassionate and civically-engaged young people and navigate increasingly challenging global environments. Youth in eSwatini face major context-specific challenges that impede their healthy development as well as limited engagement with government initiatives intended to support their development. This feasibility study aimed to employ youth sport as a creative and engaging context to facilitate life skills development in underprivileged youth in eSwatini. Specifically, this study explored the youth participation experiences, positive youth outcomes, and implementation successes and challenges of a sport program for underprivileged youth in a community in eSwatini. The sport program was designed using the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model, which is a well-established instructional model for life skills education through sport. Although this model had been widely applied in Western contexts, the current study explored how the model might operate differently in a non-Western context where youth face different developmental challenges. An intervention design was employed to implement a three-week sport program for youth in a small community in the Lobamba region of eSwatini. Local coaches were the primary implementers of the program and participants were youth (N=33), aged 11-15 years old, who attended the grade six and seven literacy development afternoon club at a community-based children's organization. Findings from the current feasibility study provided further support for the value of using the TPSR framework in the design and implementation of sport-based life skills education programming in a novel youth context in eSwatini. The focus of the model on building caring coach-youth relationships, creating an enjoyable sport experience, fostering small successes, and providing intentional opportunities for youth to actively practice and engage in their own learning were the most meaningful elements of the model in the current youth context. The developmental outcomes and changes in life skills associated with participation in the current program may also be highly pertinent to helping youth navigate the most salient health and resource challenges in the community. Notably, the current study also identified culture and context-specific considerations that should be made when implementing TPSR-based youth programming in eSwatini. These included, but are not limited to, adaptations to the awareness talk and selfreflection time, the use of active learning strategies and behavioral management techniques, and the provision of fruit and food to meet basic survival needs. Continued future explorations of the program design elements and coaching strategies that most meaningfully contribute to a holistic youth development and a positive sport p...

A systematic review of sport-based life skills programs for young people: The quality of design and evaluation methods

“…We assessed 15 studies against the QATID, a total score of 16 represented the highest score that any paper could achieve. Scores ranged from 3 to 10, with Huysmans, Clement, Whitley, Gonzalez, and Sheehy (2019) the only one to achieve a score of 10 (see Table 1).…”

“…Furthermore, in line with our working definition of life skills whereby transfer is highlighted as a crucial aspect within the life skills domain, we have provided overall quality scores for the papers in which life skills development and transfer is evidenced (see Tables 2 and 4). These included the three papers identified as moderate-high quality (i.e., Bean et al, 2016;Huysmans et al, 2019;Jacobs & Wright, 2019); six of the 11 papers identified as moderate quality (i.e., Goudas & Giannoudis, 2010;Hodge Kanters, Forneris, Bocarro, & Sayre-McCord, 2017;Holt et al, 2013;Waldron, 2009;Weiss et al, 2013;Weiss, Bolter, & Kipp, 2016); and the one paper identified as low quality (i.e., Lee, Park, Jang, & Park, 2017).…”

Expanding the Boundaries of TPSR and Empowering Others to Make Their Own Contributions

“…Internationally there are also many examples of TPSR based out-of-school or extracurricular sports-based programs. These include in Brazil where TPSR based programs in handball, dance and futsal were implemented with three different age groups (Almeida & Pick, 2018), a sport for development program with vulnerable youth in Eswatini (Huysmans, Clement, Whitley, Gonzalez, & Sheehy, 2019) and a sports-based program for adolescents in South Africa (Whitley, 2012). TPSR has also formed the basis of sport for development programs around the world including two major initiatives in Belize and Sri Lanka (Wright, Jacobs, Howell, & Ressler, 2018).…”

“…In considering who delivers TPSR programs, in the majority of published studies the TPSR implementation was facilitated by a university academic delivering the program to teachers, teachers in training, or program leaders who taught TPSR within their normal program (Huysmans, et al, 2019;Severinsen, 2014). In some studies, however, the academic leader was also involved in or was fully responsible for the direct delivery to youth (Filiz, 2019;O.…”

Does Adlerian Play Therapy Increase Social, Physical, and Task Appeal More Than Content Mastery Services in Elementary School Students?

“…Good social development makes children have a good self-concept (Benninger & Savahl, 2017) and makes children easier to adjust (Santrock, 2018). The children have trust in other people (Kress & Elias, 2019), then this belief will build the children's social spirit (Huysmans et al, 2019). With this social spirit, children will create a reflection on themselves (Green, 2019).…”