Understanding Young Athletes’ Learning at the Youth Olympic Games: A Sport Development Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines young athletes’ experiences, perceptions, and learning derived from participating in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). We draw from Lillehammer 2016 YOG Games-time field notes, observations, and interviews with 36 young athletes to demonstrate young athletes learning about important aspects of the Olympic Movement through first-hand experience. Young athletes focused on their competition and performance, while benefitting from their interactions with other athletes and with the context, as they engaged in formal and informal learning activities. Findings demonstrate progressive degrees of young athlete learning particularly from a development of sport, but also a development through sport perspective. Our study contributes to the examination of Games-time activities, logistics, and processes experienced by the athlete who benefits from a sport (athletic) and social (lifelong) development perspective.

从体育发展角度认识青年奥运会中青年运动员的学习情况

本文旨在研究青年运动员参加青年奥运会后的经验、感受和学习情况。2016 年利勒哈默尔青年奥运会上, 我们对赛场情况进行记录、观察, 并抽取了36名年轻运动员进行采访, 希望能够证明年轻运动员通过亲身参加奥林匹克运动学到了很多重要的相关知识。年轻运动员在正式和非正式学习活动中, 不仅仅关注到自身的比赛和表现, 在与其他运动员和比赛环境的接触过程中也受益良多。研究结果凸显了年轻运动员运动能力方面的进步, 也显示了他们通过体育视角所获得的成长。我们的研究有助于对从运动（体育）发展和社会（终生）发展角度受益的运动员的赛事活动、后勤和比赛过程进行检测。

Keywords:

• Youth Olympic Games
• athletes
• sport development
• development of sport
• development through sport
• events

关键词:

• 青年奥运会；
• 运动；
• 体育发展；体育的发展；通过体育发展；赛事

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Eric MacIntosh (Ph.D., University of Western Ontario, Canada) is an Associate Professor in Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ottawa, Canada. His research interests include the functioning of the organization and how leadership can form and shape organizational culture which can transmit positively internally and outwardly into the marketplace. He is the Co-Author of Organizational Behavior in Sport Management with Laura Burton

Milena Parent (Ph.D., University of Alberta, Canada) is a Professor in Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ottawa, Canada. She is interested in the governance and management of the relationships between organizing committees and their various stakeholders.

Diane Culver (Ph.D., University of Ottawa, Canada) is an Associate Professor in Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Ottawa, Canada. Her research interests are in the area of (1) coach development, (2) social learning theory, and (3) qualitative research methods.

Notes

1 The first summer YOG edition took place in Singapore (2010) followed by Nanjing (2014), whereas the first winter YOG edition took place in Innsbruck (2012), followed by Lillehammer (2016) and Buenos Aires (2018).