Exploring Life Skill Development Through Coaching in Emerging Adults

Much research has highlighted the potential of sport programming to foster youths life skill (LS) development, yet no similar exploration has focused on emerging adults LS development through their early coaching experiences. Guided by Holt and colleagues (2017) Model of PYD Through Sport, this exploratory qualitative study involved a partnership with a local sport for development (SFD) facility to gain an understanding of coaches experiences and LS development as emerging adults. Eight coaches and/or sport leaders employed at MLSE LaunchPad who identified as emerging adults (Arnett, 2000) engaged in semi-structured interviews with open ended questions framed around PYD through sport, LS development and emerging adulthood. Results emerged through five interconnected themes: (a) developing LS as young athletes, (b) conceptualizing LS at the SFD facility, (c) contrasting LS development in high performance sport and SFD, (d) recommendations for SFD facility, and (e) developing new LS as coaches. Findings offer insight into LS development through sport beyond youth (i.e., into emerging adulthood), in diverse roles (i.e., among coaches versus athletes), and in diverse contexts (i.e., in SFD versus high performance sport). This work is considered in the context of coaches utilizing an implicit and/or explicit approach to LS development (Bean et al., 2018), laying the foundation for extensive future work exploring LS development across the life course, while offering preliminary implications for the SFD facility.