TY - JOUR
T1 - Educating and supporting tennis parents
T2 - A grounded theory of parents’ needs during childhood and early adolescence
AU - Thrower, Sam
AU - Harwood, Chris
AU - Spray, Christopher
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - The purpose of this study was to identify British tennis parents’ education and supportneeds across contexts and developmental stages. Data were collected in 2 high performance tennis centers and consisted of 6 months of fieldwork and interviews with parents, coaches, and ex-youth players (n 29). Using a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data were analyzed through a process of open coding, axial coding, and theoretical integration. The resulting grounded theory highlights the need to provide tennis parents with education that covers their introductory needs, organizational needs, development needs, and competition needs during childhood/mini tennis (5–10 years) and early adolescence/junior tennis (11–14 years). The theory is based on the notion that these needs can only be fulfilled if parents are placed in a supportive learning environment that provides them with structured education, the effectiveness of which will be determined by parents’ motivation to learn and ongoing support from key stakeholders (e.g., coaches). The content, structure, and timing of parent education and support in high-performance tennis centers are discussed.© 2016, American Psychological Association. This is an author
produced version of a paper published in SPORT, EXERCISE AND PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY uploaded in accordance
with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version
(version of record) is available online at the link below. Some minor
differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We
suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from
it.
AB - The purpose of this study was to identify British tennis parents’ education and supportneeds across contexts and developmental stages. Data were collected in 2 high performance tennis centers and consisted of 6 months of fieldwork and interviews with parents, coaches, and ex-youth players (n 29). Using a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data were analyzed through a process of open coding, axial coding, and theoretical integration. The resulting grounded theory highlights the need to provide tennis parents with education that covers their introductory needs, organizational needs, development needs, and competition needs during childhood/mini tennis (5–10 years) and early adolescence/junior tennis (11–14 years). The theory is based on the notion that these needs can only be fulfilled if parents are placed in a supportive learning environment that provides them with structured education, the effectiveness of which will be determined by parents’ motivation to learn and ongoing support from key stakeholders (e.g., coaches). The content, structure, and timing of parent education and support in high-performance tennis centers are discussed.© 2016, American Psychological Association. This is an author
produced version of a paper published in SPORT, EXERCISE AND PERFORMANCE PSYCHOLOGY uploaded in accordance
with the publisher’s self- archiving policy. The final published version
(version of record) is available online at the link below. Some minor
differences between this version and the final published version may remain. We
suggest you refer to the final published version should you wish to cite from
it.
KW - parents
KW - tennis
KW - grounded theory
KW - education and support needs
U2 - 10.1037/spy0000054
DO - 10.1037/spy0000054
M3 - Article
SN - 2157-3905
VL - 5
SP - 107
EP - 124
JO - Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology
JF - Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology
IS - 2
ER -