Parent Coaches’ Experiences and Insights into a Youth Soccer Program

Abstract

Municipal governments continue to struggle with decreased funding. In order to offset depleting funds, agencies rely on volunteers to provide resources to the public. In youth sport programs, parents provide much of the support, and it is estimated that 90% of youth sport coaches are parents. Given that parents have been instrumental in youth sport programs, the purpose of this study was to understand parents' experiences and insights associated with volunteering by using a youth soccer program located in a mid-sized town in Illinois as a case-study. Specifically, the study was designed to examine (a) parents' motivations in volunteering, (b) challenges parent coaches faced while volunteering, and (c) parent coaches' recommendations to agency personnel. Using a qualitative approach, 11 parents were interviewed. Findings indicated that parents were motivated to volunteer in order to help their children, and several expressed a desire to give back to their community. The primary motivation and benefit for volunteer coaches was their relationships with the children. Relationships with other adults in the program were also significant, but they tended to be secondary. Challenges in volunteering included working with the children, parents, and agency staff. Recommendations included providing incentives to coaches, conducting player assessments, ensuring that recruited volunteers share the agency's philosophy, and addressing volunteer concerns.

Harmonious or Conflicted? A Qualitative Study of Father-Coach and Daughter Relationships in Youth Sport

“…Previous studies have revealed both positive (e.g., children receiving special attention, praise, and being involved in decision-making) and negative features (e.g., control, harsher criticism) of parent-coaching (Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017;Schmid et al, 2015;Weiss & Fretwell, 2005). These previous studies have provided few insights into how and why there are (seemingly contradictory) positive and negative outcomes of parent-coaching.…”

“…Following Research Ethics Board approval, participants were recruited through criterion sampling (Patton, 2002). Fathers and daughters were targeted to address limitations of previous studies that have focused on fathers or parents coaching boys (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017;Weiss & Fretwell, 2005). To be eligible, parents must have been fathers who coached their own daughter for a minimum of one season.…”

“…Strengths of this study included the participation of children, which is important because some previous studies have only included parent-coaches (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017). The focus on father-coaches and their daughters was another strength, adding to previous work that has focused on fathers or parents coaching boys (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017;Weiss & Fretwell, 2005). The use of a dyadic analysis (Jowett et al, 2007) enabled us to provide a nuanced account for similarities and differences between two types of father-coach and daughter relationships.…”

“…The current study also addresses certain methodological limitations in the existing parent-coach literature. Some studies (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017) have included only parent-coaches themselves, and the perceptions of children within the par-ent-coach dynamic are less clearly understood. Furthermore, research has tended to focus on fathers or parents coaching boys (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017;Weiss & Fretwell, 2005).…”

“…Some studies (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017) have included only parent-coaches themselves, and the perceptions of children within the par-ent-coach dynamic are less clearly understood. Furthermore, research has tended to focus on fathers or parents coaching boys (e.g., Elliott & Drummond, 2017;Kerins et al, 2017;Weiss & Fretwell, 2005). The perceptions of girls who are coached by their fathers have not been widely studied.…”