‘More than a game’: impact of The First Tee life skills programme on positive youth development: project introduction and Year 1 findings

Abstract

This manuscript introduces our long-term project and provides Year 1 data on evaluating the effectiveness of The First Tee life skills programme in promoting positive youth development. To set up subsequent articles on this multi-phase project, we provide: (a) a review of the positive youth development theoretical framework and studies in the physical domain, (b) an in-depth description of The First Tee, a sport-based youth development programme, (c) overall project purposes and research design, (d) Year 1 samples, methodology, procedures and evaluation methods and (e) Year 1 findings for learning and transferring interpersonal and self-management skills that were taught in the programme. Findings provide initial data-based evidence that The First Tee is having a positive impact on promoting youth development in the golf context and in the transfer of life skills to other domains.

Keywords:

• sport-based youth development
• coaches
• parents
• adolescents
• golf

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a grant awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. The authors express their sincere gratitude to The First Tee administrators and life skills education staff for allowing us access to chapters at multiple regional sites that enabled us to carry out a research study of this magnitude. We especially thank Beth Brown, Director of Curriculum & Research at The First Tee, for her constant and reliable support throughout the process, and chapter directors, coaches, youth participants and parents who graciously facilitated our research efforts, were generous with their time to participate in interviews, and provided us with valuable information about their experiences in The First Tee.