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Findings in Sport, Hospitality, Entertainment, and Event Management

Streaming Media

Abstract

Over 27 million children in the United States are playing youth sports.  Many of those youth are being coached by their own parent. Although this phenomenon is commonplace, little research has been done to study how parent-coaches balance their dual roles.  To better understand communication, roles, and relationship dynamics in youth sports environments, this study examined the experiences of parent-coaches and their athlete children. There were two ethnographic investigations. In the first, 76 participants (34 parent-coaches and 42 child-athletes) ranging from age 8 to age 80 participated in semi-structured Zoom interviews. Personal networks and snowball sampling were used to invite participants. Interview transcripts were examined to identify recurring themes. To determine whether comparable experiences existed in high-performance settings, three elite high school athletes were interviewed for a follow-up study. Five important themes surfaced in both studies: the influence of family history on participation in sports, the importance of parent-child communication, upholding perceived fairness within the team, maintaining awareness of external perceptions, and reducing parental involvement as the child progressed to higher levels of competition. Creating clear boundaries between the roles of coach and parent while keeping lines of communication open about expectations and experiences was stressed by most participants. The results indicate that mutual understanding, open communication, and an emphasis on positive sport experiences rather than competitive results are critical components of successful parent-coaching relationships. These observations add to the body of research on parent-coaches and provide organizations and families with useful advice on parent coaching in youth sports.

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