One plausible avenue for these socializing agents to impact the development of young athletes is through the utilization of behaviour management techniques in sport, including punishment and discipline.īased upon the evidence of harms associated with punishment use, and the shift from the use of punitive to disciplinary strategies in other youth-populated domains, a question is raised about why punishment continues to be used in sport contexts. , referred to coaches and parents as vital “gears” who are seen as the most proximal and influential stakeholders to athletes within youth sport. The attainment of positive developmental outcomes is significantly influenced by youth athletes’ experiences with critical socializing agents, such as coaches and parents. Specifically, participation in organized sport can enhance self-esteem, improve social skills, increase confidence, reduce depressive symptoms and improve overall health behaviours among youth, such as better eating habits, decreased drug use, and safer sexual practices. Informed by sport-specific literature, the term ‘youth’ is used to broadly refer to participants between 10 to 18 years. When designed and delivered in a developmentally appropriate manner, participation in organized sport has been linked with positive physical and psychosocial outcomes for youth. The results underscore the necessity of imparting knowledge to the sports community regarding age-appropriate behavioural management interventions to foster safe and enjoyable athletic experiences for youth competitors. Participants confused punishment and discipline as interchangeable, thus suggesting a lack of awareness regarding developmentally appropriate strategies of behavioural management and highlighting the normalization of certain punitive tactics in youth sport. While participants interpreted excessive exercise and benching as punitive and/or disciplinary approaches to behavioural management, yelling was consistently viewed as punitive. Several behaviour management tactics were identified, of which exercise, benching and yelling negative comments were most often reported. Interviews ranged between 30 and 150 min, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Twenty-one participants, from one competitive (AAA) all-boys baseball team, including three coaches, eleven baseball players, and seven parents, were recruited to participate in an individual semi-structured interview. The following study employed an instrumental case study to investigate sport stakeholders’ understandings of behavioural management strategies used in competitive youth baseball, including the identification of common strategies and interpretations of these as punishment or discipline.
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