Missing Out, as Well: The Absence of Youth Sports and Its Effect on Parents During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

in The Sport Psychologist

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Niel Strydom School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0438-661X *
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Alex Murata School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1088-6354
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Jean Côté School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3242-599X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2022-0088
Keywords:
sport parenting; parental behavior; parental socialization; consumer behavior theory
First Published Online:
29 Aug 2023
In Print:
Volume 37: Issue 4
Page Range:
233–243
Restricted access

In December of 2019, COVID-19 began spreading globally. As a result, many youth sport organizations were forced to halt programming. While unfortunate, this imposed disengagement from youth sport provided an opportunity to explore what youth sport means to parents, being that this was the first time many were without it. As such, researchers aimed to explore the attitudes and perceptions of youth sport parents regarding their child’s sport participation in its absence. Semistructured interviews were conducted to explore these perceptions, and three themes were constructed through thematic analysis. Findings suggest that sport parents miss their experiences as “live-in” sports fans of their child’s sport participation due to the absence of their spectator experiences, social opportunities, and feelings of success, which drive their motivation for continued involvement. Understanding parental motivations to support youth sport participation may lead future researchers to uncovering the influences of parental behavior in the youth sport context.

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