Ervaren pedagogische proceskwaliteit van jeugdvoetbaltrainers in Nijmegen

Abstract

Youth sport is increasingly seen as a way to attribute to children’s development. Participating in youth sports is also associated with some risks, like antisocial behavior. Youth sport coaches play a crucial role in this part of children’s development and therefore examining their pedagogical quality is very important. This study explored sports’ coaches views on and practices with regard to pedagogical process quality toward youth sports participants in four soccer clubs in Nijmegen. Eighteen sports’ coaches were interviewed in depth about six aspects of pedagogical process quality. The interviews were analysed qualitatively. Results showed that the pedagogical process quality of youth football coaches is different in the different aspects of pedagogical process quality. Especially for the aspects ‘talking and explaining’ and ‘supervising interactions’, there seem to be room for improvement. An important finding is that coaches showed a lack of proactive attitude. This study underlines the need to give youth sport coaches pedagogical support, for example through pedagogical courses.