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Enhancing Youth Development Through

Sport
a a b b
Steven Danish , Tanya Forneris , Ken Hodge & Ihirangi Heke
a
Virginia Commonweatlh University , USA
b
University of Otago , New Zealand
Published online: 11 Mar 2011.

To cite this article: Steven Danish , Tanya Forneris , Ken Hodge & Ihirangi Heke (2004)
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport, World Leisure Journal, 46:3, 38-49, DOI:
10.1080/04419057.2004.9674365

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 WORLD LEISURE No. 312004 O Copyright by the authors

Enhancing Youth Development

Through Sport
& TANYA
STEVENDANISH FORNERIS
Virginia Commonweatlh University
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& IHIRANGI
KENHODGE HEKE
University of Otago

Abstract
It is commonly believed that through sports, children and adolescents learn values and skills that
will serve them well as they prepare for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, many youth sport pro-
grams are neither properly structured nor implemented in a manner that these life skills can be
learned in sport and later transferred to other life domains. The purpose of this article is to pro-
vide an overview of positive youth development, to describe the role sport can play in preparing
youth to learn essential "life lessons," to discuss why so few programs achieve this goal, and to
provide examples of several sport-based programs designed to achieve these goals. In addition,
various issues relating to the design, implementation and evaluation of these programs and future
sport programs are discussed.

In the United States, sport has always been
more than a game. Beginning in the 20thcen-
tury, it was seen as a "training ground for life."
It was assumed that through sports, children
and adolescents would learn good sportsman-
ship and other values and skills that would
serve them well as they prepared for the rest
of their lives (Danish, 2002). But as we enter
the 21" century, sport has become less a rec-
reational outlet and more a vehicle for busi-
ness and entertainment for far too many in
the U.S. Championship teams visit the White
House. Star athletes rival stars of television,
movies and music as the most sought-after
celebrities. Athletic achievement has become
an end in itself. What is perhaps most distress-
ing is that this "sport as business" mentality
has become so commonplace in youth sports.
Parents encourage their children to ploy sport
at a younger and younger age, push them to
join travel teams, and pressure coaches to give
them starting positions, in part, because their
athletic skills may lead to a college athletic
scholarship offer. This emphasis on achieve-
ment versus participation in youth sport is one
of the reasons for the widening gap between
sport and recreation.
There are several aims of this paper. First,
we will define positive youth development and
describe the role sport can play in preparing
youth to learn essential "life lessons" so that
they may be successful adults. Included in this
analysis will be a discussion of why so few pro-
grams achieve this goal. Second, we will pro-
vide examples of several sport-based pro-
grams that, when properly structured and im-
plemented, may both reduce the decline in
sport porticipation that takes place with age

and enhance positive development. Third, we
will present various issues relating to the de-
sign, implementation and evaluation of these
programs and future sport programs.
Defining Positive Youth Development
Positive youth development is increasingly
seen as a goal of after-school activities, al-
though it is not new to leisure professionals.
Among the organizational leaders studying
positive youth development has been the
Carnegie Council on Adolescent Develop-
ment. They have identified a number of de-
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sired adolescent development outcomes or
competencies. Among these outcomes are:
(a) learning to process information from mul-
tiple sources and communicate clearly; (b)
learning how to learn and adapt to different
educational and working environments; (c)
becoming a good citizen by participating in
community activities and feeling concern for,
and connection to, the well-being of others;
(d) becoming a caring and ethical individual
by acting on one's convictions about right and
wrong; (e) becoming a healthy person; (f)
learning how to form close and lasting rela-
tionships; (g) developing a sense of self-worth;
(d) achieving a reliable basis for informed
decision-making, especially on matters of
large consequence; (e) being able to use
available support systems; (f) having a positive
future orientation; and (g) learning respect
(Carnegie Council, 1989; 1995).
Bloom (2000) provided a short hand ver-
sion of these skills by defining the needed
competencies as to work well, play well, love
well, think well, and serve well. We believe
that "be well" should be added to the list be-
cause being healthy is an important compe-
tency. Either list covers what others might de-
fine as character education, social-emotional
learning, life skills and/or emotional intelli-
gence. What is interesting about the outcomes
identified is that they are not of recent origin.
The concept of developing competency in
youth has existed for several decades. In fact,
the foundation of this concept extends back at
least to Erikson (1959) and White (1 963).
How we define youth development signifi-
cantly affects the kinds of sport activities that
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport
are designed for youth. For some, especially
individuals who are prevention-oriented, youth
development refers to the elimination of such
problems as obesity, substance use, bullying
and violent behavior and inappropriate
sexual behavior. However, whereas reducing
or eliminating health-compromising behaviors
is clearly important, defining everything in
terms of problem reduction is limiting. We
should assess youth not in terms of their prob-
lems, or lack of problems, but in terms of their
potential. Being problem-free is not the same
as being competent or successful. Therefore,
we must define and teach youth the skills, val-
ues, attitudes, and knowledge necessary to
succeed with the same intensity as we work to
teach the prevention of certain health-com-
promising behaviors and attitudes.
Regardless of how they are defined, acquir-
ing these competencies would enable adoles-
cents to better be able to develop confidence
in the future, acquire a sense of personal con-
trol over themselves and their environment
and to become better citizens.
The Potential of Sport as a Means of
Facilitating Youth Development
Considerable evidence exists to support the
positive physical and psychological health
benefits that accrue from regular participation
in sport (ISSe 1992; US Surgeon General Re-
port, 1996). However, the psychosocial ben-
efits of participation in sport are not transmit-
ted through mere participation in games. De-
spite the claims that participation in sport fa-
cilitates positive youth development, there is
nothing about sport itself that is magical.
Being on the field or the court does not by it-
self contribute to positive youth development
(Hodge & Danish, 1999). Researchers who
have studied the effects of participation in
sport and leisure activities have found both
positive and negative effects (Mahoney &
Stattin, 2000, Strean & Garcia Bengoechea,
2001). Strean & Garcia Bengoechea (2001 )
concluded that it was the individual's experi-
ence of sport that determined whether partici-
pation was viewed as positive or negative.
Mahoney & Stattin (2000) found that the
structure and context of the activity was impor-
 Steven Danish, Tanya Forneris, Ken Hodge, lhirangi Heke
tant in determining whether participation led
to positive or negative outcomes. The National
Research Council and Institute of Medicine
(2001) identified eight features of a positive
developmental setting. They are: physical and
psychological safety, clear and consistent
structure and appropriate adult supervision,
supportive relationships, opportunities to be-
long, positive social norms, support for effi-
cacy and mattering, opportunities for skill
building, and integration of family, school and
community efforts. It seems clear that if such
settings characteristics are necessary, plan-
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ning is necessary and the activity must be pur-
posefully structured and taught (Weiss, 1995).
One critical component that seems to be
often overlooked by sport organizers is why
youth participate. While there are multiple
motives, the most common are to improve
skills (i.e., develop physical competency
through a task orientation); to have fun; and
to be with friendslmake new friends (i.e., de-
velop social competency through peer rela-
tions) (Athletic Footwear Association, 1990;
Weiss & Petlichkoff, 1989). Thus, if sport is to
be an attractive activity for youth, it must be
organized so that each individual is able to
reach her or his personal goals and derive sat-
isfaction from doing so (Danish, Petitpas &
Hale., 1993; Danish, Nellen & Owens, 1996;
Hodge, 1994a, b). Successful and satisfying
goal accomplishment such as this is regarded
as a powerful mediator of psychosocial devel-
opment. One of the advantages of using sport
examples to signify goal accomplishment is
that the goals in sport are typically tangible,
short-term and easily measured. This gives an
individual a better opportunity to see the value
in goal setting and to experience success in
setting and achieving goals (Bandura, 1995)
Few effective sport-based youth develop-
ment programs exist. What seems to be miss-
ing is the roadmap as to how best to teach the
assets, competencies or what may be consid-
ered "life lessons" to youth. These lessons are
really habits that are difficult to develop and not
equally accessible to all. The most effective
means for teaching youth these lessons during
childhood and early adolescence is to have
continual exposure to individuals of social influ-
ence such as parents. Unfortunately, too many
parents have abdicated this role because of
time constraints, an absence of these qualities
themselves, or other related reasons. As a re-
sult, this responsibility has been left to other
adults such as teachers, coaches, and religious
and community leaders. Some of these adults
have assumed this role effectively; others have
not. Even when these non-parental adults want
and can serve as role models and providers of
the lessons, they may not have the extended
period of time required, the necessary skills, or
a receptive audience (Damon, 1995). The re-
ceptivity of adolescents diminishes with age, as
peers rather than adults become the major
source of influence (Petersen and Hamburg,
1986). Therefore, other mechanisms to teach
these lessons are necessary.
What sometimes are chosen as substitutes
in sport settings are lectures on the importance
of these life lessons. Although information is
easy to disseminate, it does not predictably pro-
duce the desired result. At best, information
may augment other efforts as it describes what
to do, but not how to do it. We believe that a
better alternative is the teaching of skills. Skills
can teach the lessons of how to succeed in life,
especially when the instruction is combined
with information about why such skills are im-
portant and when the use of the skills is rein-
forced in multiple settings. Moreover, skills,
whether directed toward enhancing athletic
performance or success in life, are taught in the
same way - through demonstration, modeling
and practice (Danish and Hale, 1981).
When skills have as their end the learning
of life lessons, they are considered life skills.
We define life skills as those skills that enable
individuals to succeed in the different environ-
ments in which they live, such as school, home
and in their neighborhoods. Life skills can be
behavioral (communicating effectively with
peers and adults) or cognitive (making effec-
tive decisions); interpersonal (being assertive)
or intrapersonal (setting goals) (Danish,
Petitpas, & Hale, 1995). The World Health Or-
ganization (1996) defines life skills as the
abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that
enable individuals to deal effectively with the
demands and challenges of everyday life.

Examples of Sport-Based Life Skills
Programs
Although there are examples of recreation-
based programs designed to enhance positive
youth development and life skill (see, for ex-
ample, Project Adventure [Henton, 19961 and
Project K [Dingle, 19971 and a review article
by Hattie, Marsh, Neill, and Richards [I9971
discussing their effectiveness), there are fewer
sport-based programs that have been devel-
oped. Perhaps the difference is that sport is
typically focused more narrowly on physical
skill development and competitive success
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Nevertheless, three sport-based programs that
are focused on facilitating positive youth de-
velopment, two designed by the authors, will
be described here.
I . Teaching Responsibility through Physical
Activity (Hellison, J 995)
This program was developed for teachers
and coaches to teach responsibility through
physical activity. Teaching Responsibility
through Physical Activity was developed in
Chicago but has been implemented elsewhere
(Hellison, Cutforth, Kallusky, Martinek, Parker,
& Stiehl, 2000). The model consists of five lev-
els of what it means for students to be respon-
sible and what they need to be responsible for:
(a) respecting the rights and feelings of others;
(b) understanding the role of effort in improv-
ing oneself in physical activity and life; (c) be-
ing self-directed and responsible for one's own
well-being; (d) being sensitive and responsible
for the well-being of others; and (e) applying
what you have learned in different non-physi-
cal activity/sport settings. Cummings ( 1997)
examined the impact of the program on
school attendance, grades and dropout rates.
She found that the control group had a 34%
school dropout rate as compared to none in
the program group. No differences were
found between the groups with respect to
school attendance or grades.
2. SUPER (Sports United to Promote Educa-
tion and Recreation) (Danish, 20026)
SUPER is a peer-led series of 18 modules
taught like sports clinics. Participants are in-
volved in three sets of activities: learning the
physical skills related to a specific sport; learn-
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport
ing life skills related to sports in general; and
playing the sport. SUPER is patterned after na-
tionally known, award-winning Going for the
Goal (GOAL) program (Danish, 20020).
GOAL is the 1996 winner of the Lelo Rowland
Prevention Award given by the National
Mental Health Association. It has also been
honored by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services as part of its Freedom
from Fear Campaign and received an
honorable mention by the Points of Light
Foundation.
A description of the 18 modules is in Table
I. Each module or workshop is 20-30 minutes
in length. For an extended discussion of the
conceptual framework for SUPER, readers are
referred to Danish, Nellen & Owens (1996)
and Danish, Petitpas & Hale (1993). The SU-
PER Program has been implemented in con-
junction with several sports including basket-
ball, soccer, golf, rugby and volleyball. Col-
lege student-athletes were trained in a service-
learning course (Giles & Eyler, 1998) to serve
as leaders and to coach and teach the pro-
gram to middle and high school-aged stu-
dents. In some of the programs taught by oth-
ers who have adopted SUPER, workshops
have varied in length and not all workshops
have been taught.
Student-athlete leaders ore also taught
how to use the Sport Observation System
(SOS). The SOS involves focusing on how
youth participate and not just on how wellthey
perform. Understanding "how" provides infor-
mation on the mental skills participants have
in dealing with coaching/teaching and is likely
to be indicative of how they will respond to
other forms of instruction such as school and
job training. The SOS is presented in Table II.
SUPER student-athlete leaders are asked to
speak to the members of their team about
what they observed. A "life skills report card"
is given to each participant at the end of the
program. The report card provides feedback
to the participants on the "how" and "how
well" they have done. (Issues of training and
selection will be discussed later.)
Hodge, Heke, & McCarroll, (2000) have
applied the SUPER model in the development
of the Rugby Advantage Program (RAP) in
Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 10:53 09 October 2014
 Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport

Table II. The Sport Observation System

The Sport Observation System

1. How attentive are participants when given instructions or observing demonstration?
2. What happens when participants cannot perform an activity to their expectations?
3. Do participants initiate questions when they do not understand something, or do they wait for someone
else to talk first?
4. Do participants initiate conversation with others, or do they wait for someone else to talk first?
5. How do participants respond when they hove a good or a bad performance?
6. How do participants respond when others hove a good or a bad performance?
7. How do participants respond when someone gives them praise or criticism?
8. Do participants give up when they don't do well, or do they persist?
9. Do participants compete or cooperate with teammates?
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New Zealand. Danish and his colleagues
(Danish, 2001; Danish, Brunelle, Fazio &
Hogan, 2000) have applied the model to golf
in the development of the First Tee Life Skills
Program. Papacharisis, Goudas, Danish &
Theodorakis (2004) applied the program to
soccer and volleyball.
3. Hokowhitu Program (Heke, 2001)
Although the sport-based life skills pro-
grams described above have been taught to
individuals who live in New Zealand's domi-
nant culture (see Hodge, Heke & McCarroll,
2000), a life skills program loosely based on
the SUPER Program has been developed by
and for an indigenous population of that
country as well The Hokowhitu Program
(Heke, 2001) is a sport-based intervention
program designed by New Zealand Maori for
New Zealand Maori. The program used Maori
language and culture both in program devel-
opment, implementation and evaluation. This
Table Ill. Hokowhitu Program
approach was known as "Kaupapa Maori Re-
search" and appropriates Mdori preferred
learning and investigation styles.
Several contemporary sport-based pro-
grams have facilitated the development of
sport outcomes among the Maori in New Zea-
land, but the Hokowhitu program sought to
use sport to teach life skills such as decision-
making, time management, task-related disci-
pline and goal setting. Since Mdori, and ado-
lescent Mdori in particular, have historically
had limited success academically, are over-
represented in the untrained labor force, and
have a very high incidence of drug and alco-
hol abuse (Durie, 1998) the Hokowhitu pro-
gram seemed overdue. In addition, Maori
health statistics indicated that Mdori health
was deteriorating at a rate higher than that of
non-Maori (Cram, Karehana & Pitama, 1999;
Te Puni KGkiri, 1995a; Te Puni KGkiri, 1995b;
Van Wissen, Williams, Siebers & Maling,
1994).

Workshop 1 Awheawhe Tuatahi: Whakamonatia o Moemoea: How to Dream of Achieving.

Workshop 2 Awheawhe Tuarua: Kohikohi whainga: How to Set Achievable Goals.
Workshop 3 Awheawhe Tuatoru: Whokataurio o Whainga: Presentations by Local Sportspeople about
How They Achieved Their Goals.
Workshop 4 Awheawhe Tuawha: Mahi Whokatakataka Whainga: Goal Setting Practice.
Workshop 5 Awheawhe Tuarima: Mahi Whokotauria he Arohanga Whainga: Making a Goal Ladder.
Workshop 6 Awheawhe Tuaono: Ngd Tirtaki ki o Whainga: Roadblocks to Achieving Your Goals.
Workshop 7 Awheawhe Tuawhitu: Whakatina o TCI taki: Overcoming Your Roadblocks.
Workshop 8 Awheawhe Tuaworu: Mahi Whakarite atu me Kohikohi Awhina: Making Better Decisions
and Seeking Help.
Workshop 9 Awheawhe Tuaiwa: Turapa me Matapopore: Rebounding from Setbacks and Rewarding Your
Successes.
Workshop 10 Awheawhe Tekau: Nohoia: Celebration
 Steven Danish, Tanyo Forneris, Ken Hodge, lhirangi Heke
At present very little published material is
available regarding teaching life skills through
sport from an indigenous perspective. Some
research had determined that intervention
programs for adolescent Mdori require a dif-
ferent approach since mainstream programs
based on non-Maori cultural paradigms are
often ill suited to Maori people (Blair, Heke, &
Siata'ga, 1996). In New Zealand, life skills
training through sport continues to be limited
for adolescent Mdori despite the fact that
Mdori are highly involved in sport (T~ta,
1995). For many Maori, sporting achievement
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is a source of widely accepted mana (pride)
and social prestige (Best, 1976). To take an
area of natural strength and build a program
around these attributes was a way to connect
with the culture.
However, it is not just the design of the pro-
gram that makes it unique; it is also its devel-
opment. Maori are enlisted as active partners
in producing a program that is relevant and
valid within their community. As an indigenous
approach to education and intervention,
Kaupopa Maori signifies the need for any in-
tervention with Maori to be initiated, deter-
mined, and validated in terms of the worldview
of Maori (Bishop, 1996; Smith, 1992).
According to Tuhiwai-Smith (1999)
Kaupapo Maori research has evolved as a re-
flection of several important Maori initiatives.
Some of these were the Waitangi Tribunal (a
tribunal focused on settling land claims),
Kohanga Reo (a Maori language nest initia-
tive), Kura Kaupapa Mdori (a facility for teach-
ing higher education in the Maori language)
and the validation and acceptance of social-
science based research approaches. Bishop
(1995) stated that in the New Zealand con-
text, Kaupapa Maori research challenged the
individualistic appearance of many non-Maori
research approaches. Te Awekdtuku (1991)
stated that Kaupapa Mciori research was a re-
sponse mechanism to a loss of self-determina-
tion among Maori. According to Stokes
(1992) Kaupapa Mdori research identified
Maori perceptions, opinions and attitudes and
then used this knowledge to conduct research.
In the Hokowhitu program it was very im-
portant that Maori ancestral ideologies and
social imperatives were retained as there has
long been a historic and contemporary use of
ancestral prerogatives to assist Mdori in mak-
ing sense of their Te Ao Mdori (Maori world)
(Durie, 1985; 1986). In addition to using a
Mdori preferred learning approach, several
important cultural concepts were adopted.
They included: He kanohi kitea (meeting face
to face rather than email or phone contact for
organizing participation), manaaki ki te
tangata (providing funding for travel to and
from events including food and supervision for
school age participonts), kaua e takahio te
mano o te tangata (ensuring appropriate re-
spect for participants and importance of ob-
taining informed consent), kaua e mahaki
(sharing all information with participants so
that the community is able to get direct ben-
efit) and Tuakana 1 Teina (older students as-
sisting younger students).
Heke (2001) identified several reasons why
Maori youth have engaged in health-compro-
mising behaviors (Perry & Jessor, 1985). Ac-
cording to Heke (2001), peer pressure, inad-
equate coping with negative emotions and a
lack of optimism about the future have con-
tributed to adolescent Maori giving up on
school and their future earlier than their non-
Maori counterparts. Prior to programs like
Hokowhitu, Maori youth had not been pro-
vided with the appropriate opportunities to be
taught how to avoid health-compromising
behaviors through sport (Tapine and Waiti,
1997). Unfortunately it has been Maori par-
ents who have been wrongly held responsible
for not providing an environment that empha-
sized academic improvement and for not en-
couraging retention of the Maori culture. The
result has often been that the youth are
not sufficiently optimistic about the future.
Consequently the Hokowhitu program was an
invaluable initiative. (Walker, 1990; Tuhiwai-
Smith, 1999).
The Hokowhitu program involved ten, two-
hour workshops taught by eight Tuakana: year
12 (form 6) and year 13 (form 7) senior high
school students aged between 16- 1 8 years old
(See Table Ill for a brief description of the 10
workshops). Although the Tuakano benefited
from being involved with the Hokowhitu pro-

gram, the main recipients of the Hokowhitu
program were 25 Teina: year 7 (form 1 ) and
year 8 (form 2) junior students (Teina) aged
between 10-13 years old. The Hokowhitu pro-
gram also recruited 'Lifeskill coaches,' or
Kaiwhakawaiwai, who were employed by
the Raukawa Trust Board (RTB) to train the
Tudkana in cornrnunication, group manage-
ment and the teaching skills necessary for
running the Hokowhitu program. The
Kaiwhakawaiwai remained on site while the
Hokowhitu program was being taught, but the
Tuakana were encouraged to teach independ-
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ently of Kaiwhakawaiwai intervention.
Throughout the ten sessions sport was used
as the metaphor for teaching life skills; how-
ever, a distinctly Mciori influence ran through-
out the Hokowhitu program. The workshops
were all named using the Maori language with
an English translation included. The impor-
tance of placing the Maori title first was to as-
sist the Teina and Tuekana in recognizing the
legitimacy of the Maori language.
The Hokowhitu program was conducted
and evaluated at an intermediate school. At
the program's completion a review by the Edu-
cational Review Office (Ministry of Education
of New Zealand) was conducted at the inter-
mediate school. They concluded:
A selected group of students has benefited
from involvement in an iwi-driven pilot
programme, Raukawa Hokowhitu. The
Tuakana-Teina model of a group of
trained Year 13 students mentoring Year
Seven and Eight students has used the
medium of sport to deliver an active
preventative life skills programme. The
success of this programme is largely due
to using the preferred learning styles and
protocols of Maori, delivered by Maori for
Maori. Student self-esteem, attitude and
focus have increased markedly and
greater confidence is shown in planning
for future career choices. It is hoped that
the program becomes part of the national
Health and Physical Education school
curriculum.
Although the health and educational status
of many Maori remains in a critical state
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport
(Smith; 1992, 1999), the Hokowhitu program
was partially successful in facilitating positive
changes in academic self-esteem for both the
junior and senior participants. One senior
teacher commented, "I think the Tuakana are
a lot more focused and they are asking me
more questions about university training than
they ever have."
At completion of the Hokowhitu program
none of the participating junior students dis-
liked school. Moreover, there were improve-
ments in coping with negative pressure, devel-
oping positive attitudes regarding future out-
comes and learning to cope with peer pres-
sure. However, the Hokowhitu program im-
provements by the adolescent Maori in aca-
demic self-esteem, intrinsic motivation for
schoolwork, career awareness and drug and
alcohol awareness remained the primary ob-
jectives for the project.
In sum, the aim of the Hokowhitu Program
was to integrate both the life skills and
Kaupapa Maori ideologies so that a sport-
based, life skills intervention could be devel-
oped that would prove effective with adoles-
cent Maori. Just as important, however, was
the sense of self-determination that existed -
Maori determining what is best for Maori and
teaching a program that is consistent with
Maori culture. This subtle difference of insti-
tuting a Kaupapa Maori approach has al-
lowed Maori to learn new life skills while re-
maining in an environment that does not view
Maori as a minority but as an equally valid and
purposeful group.
Training, Implementation and
Evaluation of Sport-Based Life Skills
Programs
h i n i n g and Selection of Peer Leaders. Com-
petitive sport programs exist in a variety of en-
vironments. However, programs integrating
life skills in sport need to be carefully designed
and implemented to maintain the reliability of
the program and flexible enough to effectively
adapt the program to various environments.
One of the key aspects in maintaining the bal-
ance between structure and flexibility is the
training and selection of the individuals re-
sponsible for implementing the program.
 Steven Danish, Tonyo Forneris, Ken Hodge, Ihirongi Heke
The training of individuals implementing
life skills programs in sport needs to encom-
pass a number of skills apart from learning the
actual material of the program. This is espe-
cially true when the implementers are peers.
First, it is important that leaders are trained to
be able to effectively lead and manage
groups, gain respect from participants, create
a positive learning environment and effectively
deal with problems that may occur in the
group. Second, it is important for the leaders
to understand how various types of communi-
cation can have an impact on the participants
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in the program. The leaders are educated
about nonverbal communication and the ways
in which it may impact the leaders' interaction
with the group. The leaders are also taught
how to give effective feedback and educated
about how it may influence the success of the
program being implemented. Third, the lead-
ers are taught how to teach skills effectively.
Leaders are taught that teaching skills is differ-
ent from teaching facts and information. It re-
quires the ability to name and describe the
skill being taught, understand and communi-
cate the importance of the skill being taught
and effectively demonstrate and practice the
new skill with the participants of the program.
Because in both SUPER and the Hokowhitu
Program older peers serve as leaders, selec-
tion and training become especially important.
We have chosen a peer leadership model be-
cause we have found that older peers can be
especially effective at teaching skills because
they are able to use their own experiences and
successes as an example and because they
serve as role models for the younger students
(Danish, 2000). However, in terms of training,
an additional skill that must be taught is how
to lead and teach and still be a peer. If the
peer-leaders become too much like adults in
their teaching style, they lose some of their ef-
fectiveness. On the other hand, if they act too
much like friends, they lose their ability to
communicate their message and maintain the
control necessary to teach effectively. Selec-
tion is usually a joint decision between the site
and the program. Student-athletes selected
must be good role models. Therefore they
must be good students, have good grades and
be motivated to do well in school, participate
in sport and other extracurricular activities and
be the kind of adolescent that younger adoles-
cents would look up to.
Program Implementation. A positive rela-
tionship with the organization in which execu-
tion of a program will occur is the first step
that will facilitate an effective implementation.
Positive support and open communication
with an organization enables all members in-
volved to work together to develop infrastruc-
ture for the implementation of the program
fe.g., when, where, how), discuss possible con-
cerns or ideas, effectively deal with any prob-
lematic situations that may arise and discuss
ways to evaluate the implementation. These
factors will help increase the effectiveness of re-
cruitment and training of individuals, increase
the likelihood of the program being imple-
mented in a consistent manner and increase
the overall effectiveness of the program.
Life skills programs implemented in sport
settings are designed to help the adolescent
learn both sport and life skills. Therefore, what
is learned in the athletic realm must be able to
be transferred to non-sport settings. In the
case of sport-based life skills programs, the
similarity between teaching sport skills and life
skills provides an immediate advantage. Both
sets of skills must be tought, not caught. It is
also important to remember that adolescents
are active individuals. Their life experiences
suggest they learn best by doing rather than
by talking. A Chinese proverb best describes
the ideal teaching process: " I listen - and for-
get, I see - and remember, I do - and under-
stand. "
There are a number of strategies involved
in implementation that can enhance the trans-
fer of skills. These include: designing condi-
tions that enhance transfer of the skill at the
beginning of the activity; creating similarities
between the environment of the activity and
the environment where the transfer is to occur;
providing opportunities to practice transferring
the skill during the activity; providing opportu-
nities to reflect on the experiences; involving
peers who have successfully completed the ac-
tivity; and providing follow-up experiences to
reinforce learning (Gass, 1985).

We have developed the following instruc-
tional design that reflects the strategies that
enable successful transfer of skills. First, we
teach the general concept of the skill. As part
of the instruction we emphasize that success-
ful athletes need to improve both their "below
the neck" (physical skills) and "above the neck"
(mental skills) abilities. Further, we explain and
provide examples through activities for how
both physical and mental skills can be practiced
and improved in sport settings and how the
mental skills can be practiced and improved
in non-sport settings. Opportunities are then
Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 10:53 09 October 2014
made available to apply and practice the skill
in the sport venue. We also have the partici-
pants apply the skill to other areas of their lives
and help them develop a plan to practice the
skill in these other domains. Finally, we have
the participants report successes and failures
in applying the skill in both contexts, both dur-
ing the session and at the next session.
Evaluatior~.Newly-developed youth devel-
opment programs in general struggle to gain
acceptance and wide-spread adoption. Al-
though there are a number of reasons why this
is true, a major one is the lack of rigorous
evaluation. Researchers who develop pro-
grams want to evaluate the programs they im-
plement. However, research conducted is not
always done well, and even when it is, is
not always relevant. Additionally researchers
rarely take the time and effort to work with or-
ganizations to translate the findings into prac-
tice. Although, individuals in the community
are interested in evaluating the programs im-
plemented in their organizations they become
frustrated with the process and lack of com-
munication and as a result become disinter-
ested in the evaluation process.
The first step toward rectifying this situation
is educating individuals working in these or-
ganizations about the importance of evalua-
tion and how they can incorporate the results
of evidence-based strategies or practices into
their organizations. When we conduct the
training for implementing the program we in-
volve individuals from the organizations so
that they gain an understanding of the pro-
gram and can build on the learning that has
taken place for the program participants.
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport
A second step is for researchers and pro-
gram developers to redouble efforts to con-
duct evidence-based research and communi-
cate the results in ways that will help organiza-
tions better understand the impact of the pro-
gram and how the organization can continue
to develop. For example, researchers can pro-
vide reports that outline the major findings
and how these findings specifically impact the
organization and provide examples of how the
organization can continue to implement the
program effectively.
Concluding Comment
We have always known that sport is more
than a physical activity. Plato ( 1 920) said, "The
moral value of exercises and sports far out-
weigh the physical value (p.46)." Pope John
Paul II (Unknown Author, 2001) recently called
sport "a total valorization of the body, a healthy
spirit of competition, an education in the
values of life, the joy of living" (p. 26). When
sport meets these objectives, it is an ideal ve-
hicle to teach positive youth development. Un-
fortunately, too often these programs are not
successful in reaching these objectives.
To be successful, we will face many chal-
lenges. We must develop ski!ls in instructional
design and program development and evalua-
tion. However, we must do much more. We
must reach more adolescents with these pro-
grams. Providing opportunities for more ado-
lescents to experience programs that teach
both sport and life skills will require recruiting
and training new coaches and retraining old
coaches to teach these programs. It will re-
quire expanding a community's capacity to of-
fer such programs by reaching out to its larg-
est and most untapped, yet valuable resource
-youth.
Finally, we must encourage organizations
that conduct sport activity programs for youth,
both school-based and after-school based, to
adopt these programs. Sport is a well-estab-
lished institution world wide with well-devel-
oped mores and traditions. Many individuals
and organizations, including adolescents
themselves, believe that sport already teaches
life skills, and there may be resistance. Col-
laborating with national organizations, includ-
 Steven Danish, Tanya Forneris, Ken Hodge, lhirangi Heke
ing professional sports organizations, to dis-
seminate effective programs will be necessary
if we wish to expand the number of adoles-
cents we reach and enhance the impact on
those we do.
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STEVEN DANISH & TANYA FORNERIS
Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)
KEN HODGE & IHlRANGl HEKE
University of Otago (New Zealand)
All Rights Reserved