The Youth Soccer Coaches’ Visions and Thoughts of Leader Support

The Objectives: The European Commission has highlighted the use of sports as an important venue for engaging citizens in health-enhancing activities, physical activity, volunteerism and active citizenship. Coaching is a central component of sports for children and youth, but there is little research on the promotion of sports coaches’ health. In the light of this gap, the aim of this paper was to elucidate youth soccer coaches’ visions and thoughts regarding leadership support from clubs and soccer associations.

Design and method: The study was based on an online questionnaire conducted with Swedish soccer coaches who coached children and young people between 6 and 18 years of age. In total, 1514 coaches received the online questionnaire via email and 764 coaches (50.5% of the sample) answered. Three hundred and seventy-five coaches answered the open question: ‘How would you describe the support you, as a coach, would like to receive from clubs and associations?’ Responses were analysed using method.

Results: Four main themes emerged from the analysis: financial and other resources support, recognition of contribution, sense of belonging to a value-based association and positive coach development.

Conclusion: We discuss the factors that support soccer coaches and how these can serve as health-promoting supports for coaches working with children and youth.