A deliberate strategy for character development in an after-school football program

1. A deliberate strategy for character development in an after-school football program Tan YeonScherk Ministry of Education, Singapore

2. Background to the programme • I am inspired by… • Lickona (2004) : “of all the school’s extracurricular activities, sports typically have the greatest impact on the school’s moral culture, for good or for ill. Deliberate strategies are needed to make sport a character-building rather than a character-eroding experience” ( p. 74). • I am intrigued by the idea that… • Idle time is the devil’s playground • Sports build character • Purpose of Intervention • To use the CCA as a platform for character development

3. Theoretical framework: Motivational climate & character development

4. Literature Review • Motivational climate affects moral variables • Mastery climates appear to moderate participants’ goal orientations (Stornes & Ommundsen, 2004; Treasure & Roberts, 1998). • Positive correlations with mastery climate have been found for sportspersonship (Miller, Roberts, & Ommundsen, 2004; Ommundsen, Roberts, Lemyre, & Treasure, 2003), mature moral reasoning (Ommundsen et al., 2003) and prosocialbehaviour (Kavussanu, 2006; Sage & Kavussanu, 2007). • Team moral atmosphere has a direct effect on moral functioning (Kavussanu, Roberts & Ntoumanis, 2002). • Structural development • Children undergo age related changes in structure of moral reasoning - with age and appropriate experiences comes increasing moral reasoning competence (Shields & Bredemeier, 2007) • Character (with reference to moral will through training executive skills) can be developed (Shields & Bredemeier, 2009) • Moral regression in sports participation • The more seasons children participated in medium-contact sport, the more likely they would view rule-breaking as legitimate. (Conroy, Silva, Newcomer, Walker, & Johnson, 2001) • Older children were observed to show more antisocial behaviour and less prosocialbehaviour while perceiving a stronger performance climate and a weaker mastery climate in their team(Kavussanu, Seal, & Phillips, 2006).

5. Development of an intervention

6. The Intervention • Main tool:Training journal, for footballers to reflect on their experience in the CCA • Main purpose: For deliberate character development and positive youth development • Main ideas: Rules and regulations, Team philosophy, Inspiring and positive stories of role models, John Wooden’s(Wooden & Carty, 2005) Pyramid of Success • How conducted/ facilitated: Mentorship sessions facilitated by peers • Typical CCA season:

7. What did we hypothesise? • Participants will report a higher task orientation at the end of the programme. • Participants will report higher prosocial behaviours at the end of the programme. • Older participants will not report higher antisocial behaviours at the end of the programme. • There is a positive relationship between attendance at the programme and the outcomes for participants.

8. What did we do? • Mixed method approach • Stage 1: students responded to a questionnaire, which consisted of three instruments designed to investigate the motivational climate, moral behaviour, and goal orientation in the football CCA • A total of 44 (out of 53) male secondary school football players (i.e., equivalent to Grades 5-8 in the USA, Years 7-10 in Australia) returned a completed questionnaire package. • Stage 2: interviews were conducted with five participants who scored higher in task orientation at the end of the programme. Interview questions were designed to probe factors behind the students’ perceived motivational climate.

9. What did we find? (I) Pre- and post-intervention results

10. What did we find? (II) • Moderate positive relationship between attendance and prosocial behaviours (r = .368, p = .02). • Positive relationships also found between mastery climate and task orientation (r = .601, p < .001), and between prosocial behaviours and task orientation (.452, p = .003).

11. Discussion What does it all mean?

12. H1: Participants will have a higher task orientation at the end of the programme. Quantitative analysis • The analysis found no significant difference in task orientation before and after the programme Qualitative analysis • Themes suggest a form of task orientation, e.g., • Give 100% effort (IP1, IP2, IP5) • Want to work well together to win the game (IP2, IP3) • Friendship, even with opponents (IP2, IP3) • Want to be a better player/person (IP5)

13. H2: Participants will report higher prosocial behaviours at the end of the programme. Quantitative analysis • The analysis found no significant difference in prosocialbehavioursbefore and after the programme Qualitative analysis • Themes highlight a team focus on promoting prosocialbehaviours, e.g., • Majority of teammates will behave sportingly (IP1, IP3, IP4) • Team actively discourages demonstrations of anti-social behaviour (IP5) • Coach will not choose players who behave antisocially (IP2)

14. H3: Older participants will not report higher antisocial behaviours at the end of the programme. Quantitative analysis • No significant differences in antisocial behaviour found before and after the intervention Qualitative analysis • Themes highlight a sense of self-control against antisocial behaviours, e.g., • Fairplay (IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4) • Leave the referee to deal with the offensive player (IP2, IP5)

15. H4: There is a positive relationship between attendance at the programme and the outcomes for participants. Quantitative analysis • Moderate positive relationship found between attendance and prosocialbehaviour Qualitative analysis • Themes highlight application of learned values to relationships and other areas of life, e.g., • Loyalty to teammates (IP1, IP2) • Respect for authorities like parents & teachers (IP3) • Striving for personal improvement (IP5) • Integrity (IP2, IP4)

16. What does it mean? • Why no significant increase in task orientation and prosocial behaviour at the end of the programme? • As the programme started in Dec 2010, effects may not have been captured during time of data collection. Despite that, results were consistent with expected correlations between mastery climate and task orientation, as well as between prosocial behaviour and task orientation as found in several studies. • The correlation between attendance and prosocialbehaviour has been linked to the mastery climate created in this programme. Even the older participants did not regress in moral behaviour and those interviewed were able to transfer the positive values to their lives.

17. Limitations of the study • Small sample • Time frame for data collection – one year (or less). Timing of data collection. • Should track longitudinally over a longer period of time.

18. Moving forward Aims for 2013 • Empowerment- Responsible decision-making • Collaboration- sharing guidelines for mastery climate and widening to other sports CCA/sample size across Singapore • Data collection to begin earlier, e.g., during pre-game season • Track development year by year • Analyse for developmental differences between older and younger participants

19. Thank you for listening! ~ Question time ~

20. References • Conroy, D. E., Silva, J. M., Newcomer, R. R., Walker, B. W., & Johnson, M. S. (2001). Personal and participatory socializers of the perceived legitimacy of aggressive behavior in sport. Aggressive Behavior, 27(6), 405-418. • Eisenberg, N. (1995). Prosocial development: A multifaceted model. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Moral development: An introduction (pp. 401-429). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. • Kavussanu, M. (2006). Motivational predictors of prosocial and antisocial behaviour in football. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(6), 575-593. • Kavussanu, M., & Roberts, G. C., & Ntoumanis, N (2002). Contextual influences on moral functioning of college basketball players. Sports Psychologist, 16, 347-367. • Kavussanu, M., Seal, A. R., & Phillips, D. R. (2006). Observed Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Male Soccer Teams: Age Differences across Adolescence and the Role of Motivational Variables. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 18(4), 326 - 344. • Lickona, T. (2004). Character matters: How to help our children develop good judgment, integrity, and other essential virtues. New York: Simon & Schuster. • Miller, B. W., Roberts, G. C., & Ommundsen, Y. (2004). Effect of motivational climate on sportspersonship among competitive youth male and female football players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 14(3), 193-202. • Ommundsen, Y., Roberts, G. C., Lemyre, P. N., & Treasure, D. (2003). Perceived motivational climate in male youth soccer: relations to social-moral functioning, sportspersonship and team norm perceptions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 4(4), 397-413. • Sage, L., & Kavussanu, M. (2007). Multiple goal orientations as predictors of moral behavior in youth soccer. The Sport Psychologist, 21(4), 417-437. • Shields, D., & Bredemeier, B. (2007). Advances in sport morality research. In G. Tenenbaum & R. C. Eklund (Eds.), Handbook of sport psychology (pp. 662-684). Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. • Shields, D., & Bredemeier, B. (2009). True competition: a guide to pursuing excellence in sport and society. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. • Stornes, T., & Ommundsen, Y. (2004). Achievement goals, motivational climate and sportspersonship: A study of young handball players. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 48(2), 205-221. • Smith, R. E., & Smoll, F. L. (2012). Sport Psychology for Youth Coaches: Developing Champions in Sports and Life. Maryland: Rowmam & Littlefield Publishers • Treasure, D. C., & Roberts, G. C. (1998). Relationship between female adolescents achievement goal orientations, perceptions of the motivational climate, belief about success and sources of satisfaction in basketball. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 29, 211-230. • Wooden, J. R., & Carty, J. (2005). Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success Playbook: Regal/Gospel Light.