| Until recently, research (Flay, 2000; Biglan, Ary, Smolkowski, Duncan & Black, 2000; Wandersman & Florin, 2003; Trudeau & Shepard; Dwyer, Sallis, Blizzard, Lazarus, & Dean, 2010) focused on youth development primarily applied a `deficit reduction' approach. Current research highlights the potential of youth sport contexts to facilitate positive youth development (PYD) (Fraser-Thomas, Cote & Deakin, 2005 & Larson, Hansen & Montea, 2006); however, little is known about PYD in non-club sport settings and the mechanisms by which PYD occurs through sport contexts. As such, a mixed methods case study approach was employed to explore a) youths' experiences developing life skills through school-based sport and physical education (PE) programs and b) the transferability of skills learnt in the sport environment to general life settings. The findings of this study demonstrate that youth in PE class and competitive school team develop life skills through their various experiences. Additionally, while students expressed that the life skills they were learning on school sport teams were important, they did not experience transfer into their general life. |
