Youth sports can bring communities together around a common goal- the success and happiness of children. Sometimes, however, the tactics and strategies involved in the process are called into question. The recent debate surrounding the Icelandic documentary, Hækkum Rána, and the coaching methods of Brynjar Karl Sigurðsson, the girls’ basketball coach of the program, has brought much needed global attention to the topic of coaching practices in youth sports. Parents and the general public are passionate about their view, whether they support Coach Sigurðsson’s coaching style, or they subscribe to an alternate coaching philosophy.
The question remains, which side is right? There are two sides to this and every story. To answer the question, we must consider the larger question: what is the aim of youth sports in our society? Then we can decide which side of the argument gets us closer to our societal goal.
Most international sporting organizations, Icelandic and other national sports organizations, and private coaching organizations agree—the aim of youth sports is to provide positive youth development through sport. This positive youth development includes the nurturing of the physical, mental, technical, and tactical elements of the sport. There are a couple of different models we can look at for guidance of positive youth development.
First, the 40 Developmental Assets have been formulated to help us recognize that certain “building blocks” of healthy development support children and adolescents growing up to be thriving members of society. The Search Institute has developed age-based questionnaires that “are reliable and valid assessment of the strengths, supports, and social-emotional factors that are essential for young people’s success in school and life.” The more assets the child has, the more likely they are to thrive now and, in the future, the more likely they are to be resilient in the face of challenges, and the less likely they are to engage in high-risk behaviors. It can be argued that some of Sigurðsson’s methods seem to be effective to build external and internal assets for those on his team, such as in developing a sense of community and sense of purpose. Here are the 40 Developmental Assets for the age group he coaches, 8-12-year-olds. Watch the documentary again and score how many assets he fosters and how many are excluded.
Another way to look at the commendations/recommendations for his program is to look at the program through the lens of physical development. The Youth Physical Development Model, created by Drs. Rhodri Lloyd and Jon Oliver of the UK, shows the ages and stages for developing young athletes. There is a model for boys and a model for girls. This is because there are different rates of growth and development for girls and boys. The area with the darkest color for each chart indicates the period of greatest adaptability of the 10 fitness attributes. Since girls typically mature ahead of boys, their ages are between roughly 10-14 years of age (there is a span across growth and development at which each sex reaches the age at peak height velocity (the growth spurt, also known as adolescent awkwardness). For boys, the ages are about 12-16 years. This age is considered to be a critical age in the athletic development of both boys and girls as it is the time that if the building blocks for success are not developed, dropping out, burning out, and injury are of chief concern. Sigurðsson’s program has many qualities to build on, such as having a structured strength and conditioning program, setting the limit for practice and competition to no more hours per week than the ages of the girls in years, and the inclusion of parents in their daughter’s experience.
