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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1439822
This article is part of the Research Topic Towards a Psychophysiological Approach in Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sports-Volume III View all 9 articles

Delivering Project SCORE in Competitive Youth Sport Settings

Provisionally accepted
Marta Ferreira Marta Ferreira 1,2*Fernando F. Santos Fernando F. Santos 1,3María A. Fernández-Villarino María A. Fernández-Villarino 2Jason Mergler Jason Mergler 4Leisha Strachan Leisha Strachan 4Dany J. Macdonald Dany J. Macdonald 5
  • 1 Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 2 Faculty of Sciences of Education and Sports, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
  • 3 inED, Centro de Investigação e Inovação em Educação, Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Portugal, Porto, Portugal
  • 4 Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • 5 Department of Applied Human Sciences, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, Charlottetown, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Project SCORE intervention in fostering Positive Youth Development (PYD) within competitive youth sport settings in Portugal. Project SCORE is an online PYD-focused tool developed to assist coaches in promoting the 4Cs-competence, confidence, connection, and character-within their coaching. The research involved 13 coaches and 70 youth athletes from football and rowing teams. Methodologically, this study analyzed the pre-and post-Project SCORE intervention data, assessing the perceptions of coaches and athletes towards the development of the 4Cs. Results indicated significant improvements in athletes' perceptions of 4Cs post-intervention, and among coaches' perceptions, there was a significant improvement in the practice and transfer of life skills. Particularly, coaches showed enhanced abilities in fostering life skills and facilitating the transfer of these skills to competitive environments, although some dimensions like sport climate did not sustain positive changes. The findings highlight the benefits of customized PYD-based programs in competitive youth sports and suggest the need for further research to enhance their widespread and consistent implementation.

    Keywords: Coach training, coaching, Athlete development, Youth development, Values, Competitive sports

    Received: 28 May 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ferreira, Santos, Fernández-Villarino, Mergler, Strachan and Macdonald. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Marta Ferreira, Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.