True-Sport-Report

V. The Importance of Others in True Sport—
Coaches, Parents, Peers, and Celebrity Athletes
Except for informal sport, where children organize and conduct
their own play, children and youth play organized sport under the
supervision and watchful eye of coaches, teachers, parents, and spectators.
These adults play an important role in making the experience positive—or
negative—and in serving as role models for young athletes by teaching and
modeling positive and ethical behaviors. In addition, children and youth
are likely to seek role models among their peers, college and Olympic
athletes, and professional sport figures.
The social learning approach to development focuses on the role of
significant others in a child’s moral development, particularly with regard
to the reinforcement of appropriate or inappropriate behaviors. 120 Longterm
research by Smith 121 focused on how children learn illegal hockey
behaviors from coaches, parents, and teammates. Research by Stephens
et al. 122 measured youth soccer players’ perceptions of their coach’s
motivational orientation. They found that a player is more likely to cheat
and behave unfairly in a game when he or she perceives his or her coach
as having a “win” orientation. Research by Stephens 123 conducted with
youth basketball players produced similar findings. A primary predictor of
a player’s likelihood of engaging in inappropriate aggressive play was the
coach’s orientation and his or her request that players do so.
Adults responding to the Sport in America survey believe that those
with whom children interact directly, including coaches, parents,
teammates, and teachers, all have a positive influence on today’s youth,
and they perceive Olympic athletes as offering children the greatest
indirect positive influence (Figure 6). Although none of the groups
earned a strong completely positive evaluation, Olympic athletes garnered
the highest completely positive score. Following the Vancouver Olympic
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