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Research on positive youth development (PYD)-focused coach education programs have provided valuable insights on how to increase youth sport coaches’ ability to facilitate PYD. Variables such as key program stakeholders’ behaviors (e.g., parents) and course instructors’ behaviors, however, have not been studied. This paper offers suggestions for conceptualizing and organizing research on PYD-focused coach education programs and interventions that expand beyond coaches. Specifically, research on PYD-focused coach education programs should consider including sport leaders and parents in such interventions, and provide training for coach instructors to teach youth sport coaches how to facilitate PYD. Conducting this type of research will help researchers have greater real world impact and facilitate an understanding of the sustainability of PYD behaviors.

Given that coaches who enroll in coach education courses may have diverse levels of openness to learning about positive youth development (PYD), the purpose of this study was to profile coaches’ openness to PYD before, during, and after their participation in a coach education course. A multimethod approach that involved field notes, nonparticipant observations, and interviews was used to create three profiles illustrating coaches’ varying levels of openness. Participants were three male coaches involved in competitive and recreational youth sport who had been coaching youth for more than 12 years. The profile of Graham represents a coach who was open to PYD. The profile of Fonseca represents a coach who was partially open to PYD. Finally, the profile of Taylor represents a coach who had no openness to PYD. Results are discussed in relation to how performance outcomes remain a high priority in youth sport, compelling some coaches to pay “socially desirable lip service” to PYD without any real intentions to modify their coaching practice. Revised policies and funding models, developed with input from multiple levels of stakeholders in the sport system, may prove useful in inspiring more coach openness to learning about PYD. This study may help further our understanding on how coach educators can use differentiated pedagogical approaches that may help make PYD a worthwhile and tangible objective for coaches who register in PYD coach education courses. Moving forward, future investigations on coach openness could be expanded to other sport contexts and coach development systems.

The main objective of this study was to examine Portuguese and Brazilian coaches’ and researchers’ perceptions of the factors that influence the knowledge translation processes in sport. Data were collected via focus groups with 36 coaches and 25 researchers from both countries. Results of a reflexive thematic analysis were captured by the themes: knowledge creation, barriers, knowledge dissemination and knowledge implementation, and evaluation. In both contexts, there was a gap between researchers’ and coaches’ needs, which hindered the knowledge translation process. The lack of partnerships in place between these stakeholders also created difficulties in the process of knowledge translation. Moving forward, universities and polytechnic institutes should forge meaningful partnerships with coaches so they can implement evidence-based practices and use research as a tool for improving the quality of the coaching process.

Purpose: To validate the English version of the L’Echelle de Perception du Climat Motivational within a Portuguese context and analyze students’ perceptions of the motivational climate in physical education and its relationship to demographic variables, participation in extracurricular sports, and students’ grades. Methods: A total of 476 Portuguese students participated in the study and completed the L’Echelle de Perception du Climat Motivational (249 men = 52.3%; 227 women = 47.7%). Statistical analysis was used to evaluate the importance of motivational climate in physical education classes. Results: Our results suggest that the Portuguese version of the L’Echelle de Perception du Climat Motivational is valid and reliable. Furthermore, motivational climate is a predictor of both extracurricular sports participation and grades. Discussion and Conclusion: The finding that motivational climate is a predictor for extracurricular sports participation and grades supports the relevance of the climate fostered by physical education teachers and its influence on learning. This study discusses implications for research and practice.

Team captains play an important role in promoting positive life-skills development (PLSD) in their teammates. However, little research has been conducted to understand how team captains perceive the value of PLSD in high-performance sport. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to understand how team captains integrate PLSD in high-performance sport. The participants in this study were 10 team captains from high-performance sports with teammates ranging from 14 to 38 years old. Data collection was conducted through 2 semistructured interviews. Results indicated that participants considered themselves PLSD-focused leaders and acknowledged the need to develop specific PLSD strategies. Nevertheless, team captains recognized the need to obtain support from their coaches to implement PLSD. Moving forward, coaches could provide a support system for athlete leaders to further enhance their ability to promote PLSD in high-performance sport.

To meet the diverse needs of youth athletes within contemporary society, the privilege and responsibility of youth sport coaching must be reimagined. Critical positive youth development (CPYD)—which is grounded in Freire’s critical consciousness—emphasizes the urgency to empower youth to promote social justice and increase their ability to contribute to societal change. Considering the scarcity of CPYD in coach education, sport social workers may offer unique educational experiences and critical learning opportunities that may help fulfill a CPYD mandate within the youth sport landscape. From a social constructivist perspective, the aim of the current study was to explore the duality of sport social workers coaching competitive youth sport. Findings from 10 sport social workers suggest that the values, knowledge, and skills of the social work profession—particularly sport social work—seem to offer a transferable skillset and lessons to be emulated by CPYD coach education. For instance, because of their unique education and training, social workers are taught to use a strengths-based approach, maintain a holistic perspective, and teach life skills that contribute to PYD. However, findings also emphasize the notion that education may not solve all challenges concerning the need to foster CPYD, as many other variables make up the sport system.

Coaches’ role in positive youth development (PYD) has been extensively studied around the globe. Coach education has been considered crucial in helping foster PYD outcomes, such as emotional regulation, goal setting, and leadership. Thus, several researchers have attempted to provide a comprehensive understanding about how experiential learning could be utilized within PYD-focused coach education programs. The purpose of this article was to provide insight on the implications for research and practice associated with the integration of experiential learning opportunities within PYD-focused coach education. The authors shed light on how the existent literature on experiential learning may help bridge the gap between the delivery of PYD-focused coach education programs and actual coaching practices. Implications for research and practice are discussed in order to provide insight on how PYD-focused coach education programs could be configured to effectively train coaches and enhance their ability to promote PYD outcomes, such as life skill development, among youth athletes across a range of contexts.

Coaching positive youth development (PYD) represents a challenge for many participation and high-performance coaches across the globe, including in Brazil. Coach education has been acknowledged as a formal learning context that may help prepare coaches to effectively foster PYD outcomes and provide high-quality developmental experiences for athletes across different sport contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe the key concepts and existing guidelines for coaching and coach education in Brazil, and provide context-specific recommendations for coach education to include PYD materials. Coaching in Brazil includes a long preparation period that includes diversified opportunities for coach learning. However, there are some discrepancies between the objectives and outcomes prioritized by governing bodies and sport organizations and how learning contexts are framed. In other words, although PYD is considered to be a necessary endeavor, it is not explicitly included in any coach education program. Moving forward, we provide several recommendations, through a bottom-up approach, in order to embed PYD within the Brazilian sport system.

Coach education courses can be designed to help youth sport coaches improve their ability to foster positive youth development (PYD). To date, few studies have investigated coaches’ perspectives on their participation in PYD-focused coach education courses, and even less have observed coaches in the act of coaching before, during, and after course delivery to assess the extent to which they are implementing course material. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a process and outcome evaluation of a PYD-focused coach education course that was delivered online. Participants were seven Portuguese youth sport coaches who coached athletes between 10 and 18 years of age. Data were collected through non-participant qualitative observations, field notes, semi-structured interviews, and reflective journals. Process evaluation findings indicated that the coaches felt the course was well structured and appropriately delivered, yet limited in its ability to effect change due to the absence of a practical component. Outcome evaluation findings showed how coaches made efforts to implement the course material in their coaching practice, but their implementation efforts were met with limited success. Overall, the findings suggest that although online coach education courses are of interest to coaches due to their flexibility, they could be supplemented by practical components to enhance coaches’ ability to implement course content.

Positive youth development (PYD) is a framework that has been widely used within sport research to outline sport’s potential as a developmental context. Past research has indicated how coaches play important roles in facilitating PYD through sport and yet, PYD-related material remains largely absent from mainstream coach education courses (CEC). The purpose of the current study was to examine youth sport coaches’ perspective on PYD and its worth in mainstream coach education courses. The participants were twelve Portuguese youth field hockey coaches (one female and eleven males) who coached athletes between four and eighteen years of age. Findings indicated that coaches valued PYD within their coaching philosophy, but were also highly motivated by performance and improving their players’ motor skills. The participants deemed that CEC generally lack PYD-related material, adding that practical strategies informed by the PYD approach should be inherently part of CEC delivery. The findings have practical implications for coach educators, indicating a need and a desire on the part of coaches to have PYD-related content in mainstream CEC.