Barriers to holistic coaching for positive youth development in South Africa^*

* Tables of the results of all analyses are available upon request from the first author.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify and explore the barriers to holistic coaching in a variety of sport settings in a non-North American-centric culture. Data were derived from a series of interviews drawn from two distinct samples: (a) focus groups conducted with 19 youth sport coaches throughout South Africa and (b) individual interviews with 10 coaches in an underserved South African township. The semi-structured focus groups and interviews were content analysed, with results revealing that coaches face a number of major barriers to teaching and coaching life skills. These include: (a) the competitive nature of sport overshadowing goals related to life skills development; (b) life skills absent or peripheral in coaching philosophy and selection; and (c) a lack of coaching knowledge and holistic coach education. Practical implications are explored in depth, with a particular focus on non-north American-centric cultures.

Keywords:

• Life skills
• coaching
• positive youth development
• sport for development
• underserved youth
• South Africa

Acknowledgement

Thank you to Dr. Elizabeth Bressan for her help in the data collection process.

Notes

* Tables of the results of all analyses are available upon request from the first author.