SPORT AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION

SPORT AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION:
Greater Expectations for Professional Leadership In Promoting
And Sustaining Positive Values Through Sport

Gary T. Barrette, Ed.D.

The Preface
Like many of you, I have devoted a substantial portion of my professional and indeed my personal life, immersed in the pursuit of knowledge and informed practice in sport, physical education, and physical activity. As a youth, I found excitement, personal meaning and rich life experience in sport participation and competition. It was played out in a community of peers and friends who shared relatively common values and perspectives regarding our social interaction in our play experiences. These values and perspectives were tested and refined as I grew to be a young man, parent, youth and elite coach, researcher, university professor and sport education consultant. It has been a most exciting and fulfilling journey, one I am sure most of you can relate to, since I suspect that many of you plan to follow a somewhat similar path or have already done so.
We are gathered here from various parts of the world, because we share a common and abiding interest in the focus of this international conference, “Sport and the Sustainable Development of Sport and the main theme of “Sport, Civilization and Peace.” And, although we meet here this week wrapped in our respective “cultural blankets,” we will be able to converse effectively, because of the virtually universal appeal of sport as both a social and educational phenomenon. At the outset, let me say that I am most honored to be here at the kind invitation of professor Rusli Lutan and the conference organizers. It is indeed a privilege to be included among the many distinguished speakers, some of whom I have known and shared memorable times with on numerous occasions at a variety of conferences around the world.
On occasions such as this, I believe that it is helpful for the audience to know a little about the speaker, since it provides at least a modicum of context and background for my remarks. Therefore, you should know that I am a recently retired professor from Adelphi University, Garden City, New York where I was Coordinator of Teacher and Coach Preparation. Last year I served as the Dean of Academic Affairs at the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Alabama and now serve as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Just this past year, I founded the Sports/Education Consultancy, dedicated to improving sport for youth. I am now working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Florida in order to further that cause. In my younger professional years, I was the basketball and baseball coach at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, although at times, I have some difficulty remembering that far back. I mention this background so you will understand that my past and continuing experience in sport has always had one foot firmly planted in sport pedagogy theory and research, but, equally so, the other foot just as firmly planted in the world of sport practice. My special niche and interest is to help my colleagues to translate theory and research into practical strategies that are useful and meaningful to practitioners of sport. Thus, the perspectives and ideas I am about to deliver here today are greatly influenced by these disparate, yet powerfully complimentary vantage points; the theory of sport and the practice of sport.
Let me begin on a philosophical note. More than twenty five years ago, Bill Harper (1977) in his essay, Sport: Ars Liberalis, made a poignant comment about the necessity and importance of sport. He stated, “… sport is simply thought to be not very important-even to be wise about. The lot of man being what it is, theorizing about what is unnecessary, like sport, is presumed to be unnecessary. What is not necessary, however, is not always unimportant. Indeed, most of man’s creative and imaginative pursuits are, by most standards, not necessary at all. Nonetheless, they are still enthusiastically taken up, usually resulting in an experience of personal, if not universal significance. Sport may be one example of an unnecessary but not thereby unimportant activity.” (p.15)
The evidence about this observation is quite clear. Sport is and will continue to be an important part of the social fabric in every country around the world. Thousands of professionals like us have participated in and continue to work for the advancement of sport. Scientific and popular publications consistently delineate the rationales and benefits of sportive activity throughout the life cycle. There seems to be virtual unanimity that children, especially, can learn and develop important personal skills and social values when programs are conducted under proper pedagogical and developmentally appropriate principles. Among these outcomes are self-discipline, persistence, assertiveness, cooperation, and good sportsmanship. These experiences and their outcomes can provide important perspectives about balancing the desire to win with a healthy respect for the meaning-making benefits that the sport process can provide. Under such conditions, the benefits of the sport experience can have a positive and enduring effect on personal and social behavior.


The Past
When I was a youngster, sport was an exciting and alluring experience. Like many young people, it seemed to be at the very center of my universe, albeit a child’s universe. After school and on weekends, my friends and I would get together to play whatever sport was in season. Over those formative years, along with my friends, I learned some important and enduring lessons about sport, myself and the many people I encountered within the world of sport, a world that I had freely chosen to enter and engage in. In those early days, there were no referees and no parents observing, only the simplest of equipment, rough hewn playing surfaces, and an almost complete absence of coaches. Sportsmanship was the norm and was carried out through the tacit acceptance of the rules and conventions of the games we learned to play. Our child’s minds understood that we were all in it together and without mutuality of interest and commitment to play and compete together, we would run the risk of having no sport at all. Those who didn’t abide by the rules of the game or broke the bonds of our mutual accepted conventions were persuaded to change their ways and, if not, were excluded from participation, what is termed a “suspension” in today’s sport lexicon. If disputes arose before, during or after games, we learned to resolve them for the good of the group. Fifty years later, as a parent of two grown children and now a grandfather of three, and with almost forty years of professional involvement in physical education and sport, I am still addressing issues about sport, youth and values.



The Problem
This presentation speaks to the need to seriously address our assumptive roles and responsibilities for promoting and sustaining positive values through sport, especially for young children and young people. Although many proponents of youth sport claim that present programs produce positive personal and social outcomes, a growing and ever more vocal group of youth sport program critics have questioned and criticized the direction it has taken in the past two decades. Many sport education professionals have chronicled what they believe to be “degradation of the youth sport experience.” They attribute the decline in the quality of youth sport to factors like “the win at all cost” mentality and the lack of sportsmanship demonstrated at all levels of competition. These factors have had a significant impact on how youth have come to perceive and participate in sport and are indicative of the pathology of the youth sport culture. They warn that sport participation for youth, conducted in an unfettered “winning is the only thing” manner, cannot remotely achieve the personal and social interaction outcomes we seek for young people. We must have a greater expectation for youth sport, one that explicitly addresses and promotes personal and social development, at least as much as who happens to win or lose a particular sport competition. Unfortunately, far too many youth sport programs are designed and conducted in ways which parallel the “professional sport model.” Even a casual observation of youth sport practice provides one with clear indications of the similarity of structure and function to the professional practice model. The problem is that youth sport participants are not professional athletes and are not well served in that context. We need more educationally grounded sport practice models in order to be more responsive to youth development through sport.
Don Hellison (1995), among the foremost North American scholars on social responsibility and personal development through physical activity underscores this concern when speaking about the claims made in the name of sport when he states: “Unfortunately, these claims far outdistance the evidence (despite the personal testimony at athletic banquets). While some are supported by research, others are not, and many times the evidence points in different directions… This is not to say that the potential for personal and social benefits is non-existent. It’s just risky to assume that such outcome automatically accrue form participation in sport, fitness or physical education. Changes in participants’ feelings, attitudes, values, and behavior are more likely to occur if they are planned for and exemplified by someone whose presence reflects the desired qualities.” (p.1) Concern about these issues is not limited to recreation and community sports programs.
Dr. Bruce Kidd (1995) former Canadian Olympian, speaking at the 2nd Joint International Session for Educationists and Staff of Higher Institutes of Physical Education, spoke to the “good news”, “bad news” issues in the Olympic sport context when he said, “While participation in Olympic sport may be educational and beneficial, it may also be pathological.” He went on to say, “… there is no guarantee that the provision of difficult challenges in sport or any other activity is by itself educational in a humane, beneficial or ethical way.” (p.14)
Numerous sport pedagogy scholars (Crum 1993; Hellison, 1995; Lawson, 1998) have pointed out the need to ask important questions and to be vigilant about the purposes, conduct and outcomes of sport related to youth participants. The following questions represent major areas of concern:
- Whose interest is being served through youth sport?
- What values are sought through youth sport?
- Who is included in youth sport and who is excluded from youth sport?
- Who is responsible for leadership in youth sport?
- How can leadership transform youth sport?

The Promise of Leadership
So this is where we all come in. Collectively, we represent higher education, governmental agencies, professional associations, and national and international sport organizations concerned with the advancement of sport and sport pedagogy. Our philosophies, policies, advocacy positions and actions regarding the range of roles and responsibilities of sport leadership are critically important. After all, we design and plan sport programs and structures, train and educate coaches and teachers, conduct research and promote scholarship in almost every facet of sport education, and generally carry the banner of sport pedagogy on to the field of conflicting ideas about the goals and practices of sport itself. We should be expected to engage in a continuing critical analysis of sport and in so doing, provide informed judgments and develop strong advocacy positions regarding sport and the values of sport. And, when appropriate, we must provide the necessary leadership to act responsibly and with conviction, in order that positive social and educational goals of youth sport can be realized.
Truly achieving these goals may require more than superficial reform initiatives. Reform suggests tinkering and tweaking with both the stricture and process, what I call “the rearrangement of furniture.” Instead, what is needed is a transformation of youth sport practices; a much more serious, comprehensive and radical change; one that has the potential for setting and achieving greater expectations for the future of youth sport.
In the past the prevailing leadership model has often been what some call “transactional leadership” (Burns 1978). It focuses on the exchanges that occur between leaders and their followers. Coaches for example, exhibit transactional leadership when they create and offer performance incentives to their players, who in turn reap rewards for reaching or surpassing these goals. Transactional leaders exchange things of value, often to advance their own as well as their subordinate’s agenda.
By contrast (Northouse, 2001) “transformational leadership” refers to the process whereby an individual engages others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. A recent example can be observed in the life Ryan White. White raised American awareness about AIDS and in doing so became a spokesperson for increasing government support of AIDS research. Mahatma Gandhi was also a classic example of transformational leadership when he raised the hopes and the demands of millions of his people and in the process was changed himself.” (p.132) Now, I am not equating the AIDS problem in the United States or India’s problem with English colonialism, with the problem of confronting issues in youth sport. However, I am suggesting that the same level of advocacy and urgency must accompany our efforts in affecting positive and meaningful change in the youth sport culture. Our concern and focus must be re-directed toward the service we can provide through our involvement in sport and sport policy and not fixated on the products produced through the sport enterprise.
I was influenced and inspired years ago by an article by Hal Lawson (1991) in which he outlined the moral, aesthetic and procedural tenets of those entrusted with the responsibilities of educating and supervising teachers and coaches. He titled it “A Normative Order for Physical Education Teachers. Essentially it is a framework that lends itself to the development of transformational leadership; straight forward, easy to remember and powerful in its application. It includes the following:
MORAL PRESCRIPTION
1. Place each client’s needs, interests, and aspirations before self-interest
and need
2. Enhance each client’s development, health and well being
3. Demonstrate caring concern for each client
4. Strive for virtue and justice via personal values, thoughts and behaviors
AESTHETIC PRESCRIPTION
5. Enhance each client’s enjoyment of and involvement in forms of
exercise and sport
6. Facilitate each client’s discovery of personal meaning (e.g., beauty,
self-discovery) in forms of exercise and sport
PROCEDURAL PRESCRIPTION
7. Involve clients at appropriate stages in goal-setting, consent-activity
selection, and evaluation
8. Strive to personalize for clients’ instruction and performance feedback
9. Incorporate relevant research-based knowledge and new technologies
in practice
10. Engage in reasoned deliberations about the moral implications of work
practices and personal lifestyles (p. 31)
In a different, but equally humanistic way, Don Hellison’s (1995) book Teaching Social Responsibitlity Through Physical Activity, is instructive as an exemplar of professional leadership that underscores the importance and efficacy of values education. In the program he advocates he identifies four major values outcomes. Effort and self-direction are categorized under personal well-being, while respecting the rights of others and caring about others are categorized under social well-being. These intended outcome are defined operationally and modeled in kind, in order that participants in the program understand them clearly. The primacy of these outcomes and their centrality to the program is significant. They are not viewed as just ancillary or concomitant objectives, but are the core concerns that guide the design, development and decision-making elements of the physical activity program. This approach differs significantly from other programs that focus almost exclusively on competitive outcomes and assume that positive personal and social outcomes will automatically occur.
The challenge of translating nice sounding philosophies and theories into practical and functional realities can be a difficult and daunting task. But, a clear conception of the goals to be achieved and a belief in their validity and efficacy makes the task more plausible. In my own work with youth sport through my Sport/Education Consultancy, I have attempted to develop a sport instruction agenda enunciating a clear and unambiguous message about the way a sport instruction agenda should be used as a positive and effective vehicle in contributing to the development of important personal and social life-skills.
My work at Adelphi University and now with the Boys and Girls Clubs in Florida is based on what I call the SMART SPORT FRAMEWORK (Students Making Appropriate Responses Together in Sport). Much of my work in helping practitioners is devoted to modifying traditional instruction and competition models in ways that translate these framework concepts into daily positive sport activities for youngsters. The framework consists of five components. Each component identifies a major criteria for sport experience for all youth engaged in competitive sport experiences. Each requires that every effort is made to maximize the application of each component. For example creative ways can be found to minimize exclusion from activity, especially during sport practice time.
SMART SPORT FRAMEWORK:
1. Creating a safe learning environment
2. Promoting inclusion
3. Teaching personal and social responsibility
4. Maximizing success for all children
5. Valuing and rewarding efforts and improvement
In order to make the SMART SPORT FRAMEWORK operational and unamgiguous, I created the Fit Sport Teaching and Coaching Model (1993). It is defined as a conceptually integrated decision-making system designed to effectively link program goals and outcomes with sport teaching and coaching plans and actions. By “integrated” I mean that the four criteria are intended to be applied contemporaneously at every level and every minute of an instructional event. The model facilitates achieving developmentally appropriate sport and fitness outcomes, while attaining outcomes related to positive self-concept and social responsibility. The model consists of four complimentary pedagogical criteria. They are:
1. High motor engagement time for each participant
2. Task relevancy for each participant in individual and team outcomes
3. Balance between cooperative and competitive learning experiences
4. Use of fitness related activity during skill and team practice
When these criteria are used they produce a “good fit” for achieving positive values for youth within the sport experience. Often, the application of the criteria takes the form of game modifications that appropriately challenge and motivate all participants to maximize the benefits of their mutual experiences in sport participation. I have come to term such strategies as “coached competition.” In essence they are coach designed competition sets directed at maximizing technical, personal and social outcomes for every participant regardless of ability level within a competitive situation. The competition sets may be applied under drill or game practice conditions. The conditions for participation are determined by a number of variables including but not limited to, ability levels, individual and group goals, practice time available and proximity to formal competition against other competitors. The instructional strategies comprising the model and the game modifications that are utilized are designed to directly inform participants as to their respective personal and social roles and mutual responsibilities to each other, in order to develop a sense of ownership in the sport experience. These modifications are based on research and tested professional practice. For example, (Chase 1998) research clearly demonstrates that children under the age of 10 most likely enjoy activities in which they can complete the skills or tasks through active participation. A clear and decisive outcome of who wins or loses is not as important as who finishes. Successful performance and sense of improvement and achievement become more apparent to children as they move on from the age of 10.” (p.85) Numerous other research findings and applications are routinely utilized within the SMART SPORT FRAMEWORK and the Fit Sport Model. They include task relevancy, opportunities for success, teaching for understanding and team building to name a few.
I have prepared two samples for you. Hopefully they can give you some idea of how the framework and model are applied. They are not intended as the only means of planning and coaching action in practice contexts, but will give you some idea of how I use them in my work. [Insert table 1 and 2 here]

The Prospects for the Future
So what are our responsibilities in promoting and sustaining the development of positive values through sport? What action is required of each of us, in order to work toward a youth sport culture that may nurture everyone and exclude no one? If you believe that we need to transform sport practice that has “gone astray” and sustain those sport practices that are desirable for all our youth, then this is a good time to rededicate oneself to further that cause. One might refer to this as a “Sports Transformation Initiative,” one that requires the strongest professional leadership and collective effort. Figure 1 displays the goals and outcomes for a Transformational Sport Initiative and our possible mitigating roles. [Insert figure 1 here]
In closing, I offer some points that may serve as the beginning list of recommended actions. I am confident that you can add some of your own points to this modest list.
1. Develop leadership and sports advocacy education programs.
2. Develop collaboration training for sport education professionals.
3. Develop community outreach programs through and among higher education, government, professional associations and national and international sports organizations.
4. Develop professionally supervised turnkey certification for volunteer coaches and sport education orientation for parents.
5. Establish a stronger and philosophically congruous connection between
school-based physical education and out of school sports programs
with greater emphasis placed on effort and improvement within a
youth sport model.
If you choose to act on these points or any you might add, then you have entered into what I am calling the “Transformation Game.” So when you are ready to get into the game, you need to be in it, in a “big way.” To do the “right thing.” And to be in it, in the “right way.” It is the same advice I give to youngsters who wish to enter the sport or play world. I tell them to give sport their best effort (to be in it, in a “big way”); to always be a good sport (to do the “right thing”) and to respect themselves and others (to be in it, in “the right way”).
Then, I add one more thought. It is appropriately, a sport metaphor about our journey together through life, sharing our common humanity as men, women and children of the world. In contrast to the Harper quote about sport cited earlier in this paper, the following conveys a more hopeful message that I believe is both necessary and important in guiding us in the establishment and maintenance of sensible and appropriate youth sport programs
“Remember, when the GREAT SCOREKEEPER comes to mark against your name, he will not ask whether you have won or lost, but
HOW YOU PLAYED THE GAME.”

Who Wins and Who Loses

One of the most difficult, and most important, things for parents and coaches to remember is perspective. The simple question of what is really important, and how important an action is in the grand scheme.

Sports provide a safe, contained opportunity for children to learn and practice life lessons. Part of our jobs as parents and coaches is to create and encourage that development.

Too often, we get carried away in the moment and make choices that do not set the best example for our children.

Last week, my son had a baseball game. We are in week three of the season, and it was a regular Tuesday night game. According to the rules of our league, weeknight games for our division can last a maximum of 1 hour and 45 minutes because the 8, 9, and 10 year olds playing in the league need to get home, shower, eat, finish homework, etc., and it’s a school night. The spirit behind the regulation is that games start at 7pm, so they finish by 8:45, leaving a reasonable amount of time for kids to get home and get to bed and function well at school the next day. Good rule.

In the third inning, we were down by two. In the fourth inning, we came back and tied the game. The time: 8:39pm. The parents’ shoulders slumped when we realized the time constraints, but we started packing up our things commenting on the great comeback. But wait! The kids are back out on the field! The umpire explained that the coaches had reminded him we started the game a few minutes late, so we could get another inning in. The opposing team went up by two runs, and we came back with two runs of our own. The time: 8:55pm. Again, we go to gather our things, only to see the kids taking the field again. The parents cheer loudly, encouraging the kids as they go into the final tie-breaker. The other team goes up by two runs again. We match their two runs, and with two outs, bases loaded, one of our players hits a single to win the game. The kids pile on the hitter, the parents whoop it up in the stands, one parent promises pizza for the team at the next game for making the comeback.

Time when I got in my car: 9:18. Long past the 8:45 cut off.

Yes, it is a precious moment where the kids leave the field feeling like heroes.
But what is the other side? Did we, as parents and coaches, lose an opportunity to reinforce positive life lessons for our children?

What did we teach our children about rules? This would have provided a chance for adults to demonstrate that rules are in place for reasons, and even when they aren’t convenient, we follow them. The league rules do not state that weeknight games must end by 8:45 unless it’s a tie and the kids are having fun and it’s ok with the parents. They don’t state that it is up to the coaches and parents to decide whether to continue the game. The rule is cut and dry: games must end by 8:45pm on week nights. We showed our children that we obey rules when they benefit us, but try to bend them a little when they don’t work for us.

When the inning ended at 8:39pm, the umpire attempted to call the game. He was cajoled by coaches and parents who wanted the kids to play. Lesson the kids learned from this: it’s ok to go against the umpire if you have the support of others, and if you are nice about it, and he probably will cave. The next time a child disagrees with a call and challenges the umpire, who are we to tell him he was wrong?

We taught our children that the outcome of the game – the win/loss – was far more important than the work they did in all the innings up to that point. Parents and coaches put the emphasis on the outcome, who wins and who loses, rather than the fact that it was an exciting game where our team clawed its way back and never gave up. Is it that it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game?

We forgot the importance, or lack of importance, of the game in the context of life. Many kids had tests the next day or had homework to finish, and we showed them that in the end, baseball was more important. This regular season Tuesday night game mattered more than getting them home to finish homework or prepare for their day ahead. What mattered, in that moment, was the game.

We also overlooked the larger questions of liability and responsibility. If a child had gotten injured in those last two innings, would an insurance company be required to provide services? The league rules state the game is over at 8:45. This play extended beyond the time set out by league rules. Does an insurance company have grounds to refuse services? If a child was injured, do his representatives have the right to sue the coaches, the Board – there was a Board member at the game – and the Umpire for failing to end the game at the prescribed time?

There is also a question of retention of participants. Although all the parents appeared supportive at the time, I have had more than one parent tell me they did not return to a sport because, “They always run late.” If a parent believes a child traded the ability to do well in school the next day for a short-lived win on a baseball field, and that neither the coaches nor the Board took action to enforce the existing rules, they may hesitate to make the commitment again. When a Board member promises that week night games always end by 8:45, parents rightfully are skeptical.

In hindsight, perhaps the better option would have been ending at 8:39pm, praising both teams for fighting hard and hanging in there, congratulating the opponent on a game well played, sending the kids home on time to prepare for the next day.

Elite Coaching Concepts Introduces Community Sports Training

Elite Coaching Concepts, LLC, a professional athletic educational organization, is now scheduling seminars in South Florida, and would like to introduce you to the ECC program.

Parents, coaches, and youth organizations have a responsibility to create a safe, positive, and rewarding experience in sports and empower children with the working knowledge to succeed. ECC gives organizations the tools to provide that opportunity.

Elite Coaching Concepts conducts seminars through youth organizations to educate parents and coaches on methods to maximize a child’s athletic experience and create well-rounded children. The primary pillars of the ECC system are progressional training, goal setting, problem solving, positive coaching, safety issues, and parent-coach-athlete communication.

The benefits of the Elite Coaching Concepts program include providing young athletes with the tools they need to succeed both in sports and in their future. In addition to laying the groundwork for positive coaching and parental involvement, it also meets insurance and safety standards and results in higher program retention. ECC’s progressive system training program increases communication, provides protocol for problem solving, and ultimately raises the standards of youth sports-related activities.

ECC seminars are tailored to meet the individual needs of each program, covering the rules and policies of sports-related organizations as well as their staff and clients.

“The main goal of our organization is to help develop well-rounded children who have mastered the major tenets of athletics and can translate those into life-skills.”