An exploration of the perceived health, life skill and academic benefits of dinghy sailing for 9–13-year-old school children

ABSTRACT

Research evidence suggests that outdoor education offers significant potential in priming healthy physical activity behaviors, developing life skills, enhancing self-esteem and promoting improved academic performance. The aim of the current study was to explore from a cross-sectional perspective the perceived benefits of a dinghy sailing program on 9–13-year-old school children. Participants (n = 38) were drawn from a diverse range of relevant participation and stakeholder groups, including school children, teachers and sailing instructors. Semi-structured interviews (adults) and focus groups (children) were used to collect data, with inductive data analysis methods applied. Six superordinate themes arose from the data highlighting physical and mental health benefits as well as the potential to development key life skills, self-esteem and the possible interaction with other aspects of the school curriculum to enhance student learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Dinghy sailing
• health
• well-being
• self-esteem
• life skills

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Stewart T. Cotterill

Dr Stewart T Cotterill is a reader in sport and performance psychology in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Winchester, UK.

He is a sport and performance psychologist with 14 years’ experience as a researcher, consultant and lecturer. He gained his PhD in Sport Psychology from the University of Edinburgh in 2007 and has since built a reputation for research in applied sport and performance psychology.

Hazel Brown

Dr Hazel Brown is Head of School for the School of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Winchester. She completed her PhD at the University of Southampton focusing on the expectations and perceptions of undergraduate students studying sport degrees, focusing on the student experience. Recently, Hazel has led the development of coaching and sports pedagogy research at the University of Winchester and is engaged in a number of international research projects.