Dr' Siobhain McArdle

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• Dr. Siobhain McArdle
• Understanding the Psychological Needs of Children
• December 3rd 2005

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Estimated Number of Participants in Underage
Senior Gaelic Games (2004)
140000
Hurling 78,945 U 29,490 S
120000
100000
80000
of Players
Football 130,950 U 57,360 S
60000
40000
20000
0
Underage
Senior
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Senior Players Represent 59 of Under-Age
Players41 Attrition
Senior Players
Attrition
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Why do Children Participate in Sport??

• Learn new skills
• Fun
• Affiliation
• Competitive challenge/success

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Why do Children Drop-Out of Sport

• Failure to learn new skills
• Lack of fun
• Lack of affiliation
• No challenge/failure

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The Underlying Psychological Motive for
Participation or Withdrawal

• Children who participate and persist in sport
  differ from those who drop out or who do not
  participate in sport in their level of

PERCEIVED COMPETENCE
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Building the Foundation

• Enjoyment
• Satisfaction
• Self Esteem
• Confidence
• Persistence
• Expectations of Success
• Physical Activity Levels

Perceptions of Competence
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Presentation Overview

• Developing perceptions of competence
• If sport participation peaks between the age of
  10 13, how can we as concerned adults develop
  perceptions of competence in
• A) very young children (under 6)
• B) children aged 7 to 12

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How do very young children (under 6) form their
perceptions of competence in sport?

• What information do they use to determine whether
  or not they are good or not so good at a
  particular sport or sport skill?

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Early Childhood under 6

• Think they are good at something if they can
  successfully complete the task
• Overestimate their ability
• Place a lot of emphasis on the effect of their
  task performance
• Think they are good at something if their
  parents, teachers or coaches tell them so

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What We Know..

• Parents coachs beliefs, expectations and
  behaviours have an influence on the development
  of childrens own belief about their ability
  their future expectations of success

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The Role of Parents in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence
Fredericks Eccles, 2002
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The Role of Parents in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence
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10
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Academic
Child
6
Competence
Parents
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2
0
Group A
Group B
(Phillips, 1987)
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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children Under 6

• Provide children with many opportunities to feel
  they have successfully completed or done
  something
• All young children need to get positive feedback
  from significant adults for their performance
  accomplishments

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children Under 6

• Avoid giving feedback that compares one child to
  another
• If possible highlight the childs task
  accomplishment with sensory feedback

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Punt Kick (U-6)
Cone knock with punt kick. Two players active,
one to fix cones THE BUILDER! Rotate
regularly. Begin with standing punt kick. Head
down, toe down, foot pointing to
ground. Practice off both feet. Progress where
player must start at cone Y and walk/slow run to
cone X and then punt kick.
X
Y
With the permission of the GPO of Clontarf GAA
Club
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What We Know

• By 5/6 years children hold sport-based
  perceptions about their ability, enjoyment and
  usefulness of sport that carry over time

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How do children (ages 7 to 12) form their
perceptions of competence in sport?

• What information do they use to determine whether
  or not they are good or not so good at a
  particular sport or sport skill?

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Childhood Years (7-12)

• Importance of feedback from parents declines and
  importance of feedback from otherscoaches and
  peers increases
• Feedback is no longer taken at face value

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Childhood Years (7-12)

• Use of peer comparison to judge competence
  increases steadily in importance from approx. 6/7
  yrs. of age
• Accuracy at judging ability improves typically
  around 9/10yrs of age
• Depending on cognitive maturity level by 11/12
  children will make judgements about their ability
  success in sport in one of three ways.

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3 Different Ways of Perceiving Ability Judging
Success

• Outcome
• being the best
• Use of comparison
• Improvement
• skill mastery
• Increased understanding
• Increased fitness
• Both Outcome Improvement

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Why Place More Emphasis on Mastery of the Game
vs. Winning the Game???

• You are teaching them the skill of setting goals
  and the belief that ability can be improved
  through effort and persistence
• By teaching a child to learn that success is
  self-improvement as well as winning, odds are
  they will have greater opportunity to experience
  success

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• The challenge is to create a learning laboratory
  where every child regardless of maturational
  level motor skill proficiency is given the
  opportunity to develop their perceptions of
  competence in gaelic games

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• From a long-term perspective it is more important
  for children at this age to learn fundamental
  motor skills (throwing, catching kicking) than
  it is to win
• Objective should be to improve every player

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The Role of Coaches in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence

• What research tells us
• Coaches for the most part are unaware of their
  behaviour
• Coaches, unconsciously tend to interact with low
  expectation players differently to high
  expectation players

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The Role of Coaches in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence

• What research tells us
• Coaches tend to give low-expectation athletes
  poorer quality feedback are less persistent in
  teaching them difficult skills
• Given less playing time
• Coaches tend to give high-expectation athletes
  more instructional feedback are more persistent
  in teaching them difficult skills
• Given more playing time

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The Role of Coaches in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence

• Low-expectation players exhibit lower levels of
  self-confidence and perceived competence over
  time
• Low-expectation players exhibit poorer
  performances because they receive less effective
  reinforcement and generally get less playing time
• Low-expectation players think they have little
  ability. This supports their belief that they
  have little chance of future success

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The Role of Coaches in Developing Childrens
Perceptions of Competence
Rosenthal Jacobson (1968)
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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• Provide frequent, informational instructions
  feedback TO ALL PLAYERS
• Good coaching communication skills critical for
  players skill development
• Avoid information overload
• 1 or 2 pieces of critical information in your
  instructions
• Use demonstration

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• Phrase instructions using the positivewhat the
  child should be doing versus what the child
  should avoid doing

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• Provide opportunities for the child to concretely
  register that he or she is improving or learning
• Set goals for the players skill improvement
• Easier to do if you define practice in terms of
  time or number of attempts
• Incorporate goals in skill progression

• At approx 11/12 yrs of age more emphasis can be
• placed on understanding of the game.
• Understanding can come in milliseconds

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• Provide children with feedback that is based on
  their performance.
• Coaches who give praise that is empty risk
  losing credibility as information-givers. They
  are also potentially decreasing the childs
  perceptions of competence

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• To develop perceptions of competence based on
  self-improvement important to provide each child
  with optimally challenging skill activities
• Conditioned Games Training
• of players involved in the game
• Size of pitch
• Modified equipment
• Differential scoring
• Playing time

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence in Children 7-12

• In training small sided games of short duration
  recommended
• A good learning situation is one that encourages
  maximum individual participation
• Small sided games increase the odds that the
  number of touches for each player increases

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence inChildren 7-12

• Limit playing time of a mini training game
• By time
• By score
• A number of short games gives every player a
  chance to be reborn-learn from mistakes try
  again

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Recommendations for Developing Perceptions of
Competence inChildren 7-12

• Impose conditions within the game
• Maximises the development enjoyment of all
  players
• Examples,
• Each player rotates into goals after every minute
• Two players designated only these 2 players can
  take a shot on goal rotated
• Modified scoring 3 passes 1 pt
• Everybody gets a pass before a shot on goal
• Two players designated and these two players must
  touch the ball before a shot is taken on goal

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The Difference Between Playing Engaged in
the Play
Skill Progression
Setting Goals
Instructions/ Feedback
Conditioned Games
PERCEIVED COMPETENCE
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Conclusion

• Early continuing success is a critical element
  in the learning process is linked to the
  enjoyment of sport
• Providing players with opportunities to see
  concrete evidence of their improvement increases
  perceptions of ability success
• Coaches should place greater emphasis on skill
  technique, knowledge of the game than on winning
  or being the best on the team

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Conclusion

• Long-term objective should always be to improve
  every player versus the short-term goal of
  winning the next match
• Difficult choice but at the heart of a sound
  philosophy of sport education
• Winning isnt everything, nor is it the only
  thing(Smoll Smith, 2002)

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The most powerful drive in the ascent of man is
his pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do
what he does well and, having done it well he
loves to do it better (Jacob Bronowski)