Mental health is one of the most prominent global burdens of disease among young people, while organized youth sport is one of the most popular activities for children and adolescents worldwide. Organized sport can be an engaging vehicle for the promotion of mental health, but participation also brings several meaningful risks and detriments for young people’s mental health. This paper contains a review of the evidence underpinning the relationships between sport participation and mental health during childhood and adolescence and also outlines the key areas of risk for mental health problems. Relevant theoretical frameworks are discussed, as are the key concepts underpinning 2 exemplar sport-based interventions to promote mental health and reduce the risk of mental health problems. Recommendations for best practice in organized youth sport are not available. However, relevant frameworks are outlined, from which administrators, coaches, and athletes can base the design and delivery of sport programs to be consistent with relevant theoretical and philosophical approaches such as the athlete-centered approach to youth sports.
Search Results
Mental Health and Organized Youth Sport
Stewart A. Vella
Maltreatment in Youth Sport: A Systemic Issue
Gretchen Kerr, Anthony Battaglia, and Ashley Stirling
in sport and their protection from harm. At the microsystem level, proponents of athlete-centered sport models argue that partnership rather than an autocratic relationship between athletes and adult stakeholders may help alleviate the problematic use of positions of power and authority held by key
Exploring Coach Perceptions of Parkour-Style Training for Athlete Learning and Development in Team Sports
Ben William Strafford, Keith Davids, Jamie Stephen North, and Joseph Antony Stone
1 —Thematic map: coaches’ general perceptions of parkour. Underlying Knowledge About Parkour The coaches described parkour as an “athlete-centered sport,” which requires participants to solve unstructured movement challenges to move from point a to point b creatively: Yeah I have heard of Parkour
