Strategies Table of Contents
As Youth Sport Coaches Take to the Sidelines, Important Pedagogical Practices to Remember
Christopher Barton Merica
A foundational pillar in American society is the equal opportunity for all school-age children to participate in organized sport (Frey & Eitzen, 1991; Jarvie et al., 2013). Participation in sport provides children with a diverse range of advantages, including physical, social, emotional, and cognitive benefits (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], 2020). They also receive several academic benefits. Children who participate in sport are more likely to have a higher grade point average (Owen et al., 2022), increased daily attendance (Merkel, 2013), and greater high school graduation rates than their nonsport participating peers (ODPHP, 2020).
Unfortunately, participation in organized sport has been in decline for almost two decades. Since 2008, nearly 3 million fewer children participated in organized sport and currently less than one in three children between the ages of 6 and 12 participate in a sport (Solomon, 2019).
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