Chapter 2: “Put Me in, Coach”: The Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity for Young Adolescents

At a recent “Future of School Psychology” national conference, the keynote speaker Deborah Crockett (2003) noted several critical psychosocial issues children face as they move into the twenty-first century. These include but are not limited to: poverty, violence, bullying and harassment, teen pregnancy and sexual behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues and services, diversity and tolerance, education, and technology. While not mentioned in her talk, another critical issue facing children today is the threefold increase in obesity over the last twenty years (National Middle School Association, 2006). Sport and physical activity can provide opportunities for young adolescents to combat the stresses they face in everyday life by teaching them how to feed their bodies properly, help them acquire mature “character” behaviors like good sportspersonship, take on leadership roles, and decrease behaviors related to unwanted pregnancies and the use of illegal drugs (Women’s Sports Foundation, 2006). This does not happen automatically, however. Educators, parents, coaches, and administrators must make a concerted effort to structure sport and physical activities so that they contain such “characterbuilding” emphases.