Facilitating Positive Youth Development in Elite Youth Hockey: Exploring Coaches’ Capabilities, Opportunities, and Motivations

Abstract

Youth sport has been identified as a viable means to facilitate positive youth development (PYD) and nurture fully prepared and contributing adults. However, questions have arisen regarding elite youth sport as a context to effectively foster PYD, and specifically the role of the coach in this process. To explore how coaches facilitate PYD in elite youth sport, the first author immersed himself in the elite youth hockey setting as an assistant coach. Using an ethnographic research design, he observed four AAA minor hockey head coaches of four teams in a large urban center in Ontario over the course of one season. In addition, each coach participated in two semistructured interviews. Framed within the COM-B model, we examined how coaches’ capabilities, opportunities, and motivations influenced their behaviors related to facilitating PYD. The coaches discussed and demonstrated several behaviors (e.g., setting high standards, providing leadership opportunities, communicating with the athletes) with the potential to facilitate PYD; however, the sport structure (i.e., professional sports model that focuses on competition and performance from early childhood) often restricted their ability to do so. Further, coaches’ own motivations to achieve performance success presented a challenge to fostering PYD on some occasions. The results are situated within PYD literature and may evoke practical considerations for elite youth sport coaches aiming to foster PYD more effectively.

Lay summary: Four AAA minor hockey coaches were interviewed and observed over the course of a season. Although the coaches were capable and motivated when it came to fostering the personal development of their players, the performance-oriented structure of the minor hockey system meant that coaches often prioritized winning over player development.