Knowledge and Application of Long-Term Athletic Development Concepts in Youth Athletes: A Pilot Study

摘要

The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of an instrument used to identify knowledge and application practices of individuals currently able to apply long-term athletic development principles in youth sport environments (i.e. sport and strength and conditioning coaches, athletic and club directors). Participants completed an online survey regarding their knowledge of the Long-Term Athletic Development Model (LTAD), Developmental Model of Sports Participation (DMSP), and Youth Physical Development model (YPD) and if their training reflects the principles specific to one model over another. Participants included 217 males and 71 females with a mean age of 32.8 +/- 11.2 years that identified themselves as either a sport coach (n = 134) strength and conditioning coach (n = 108), sport administrator (n = 25), or other (n = 17). A principal component analysis was used on the Likert items that qualified for inclusion based on their KMO and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity values. Eight components were extracted based on the correlation of individual items and relationships between components were identified and discussed. The items were also forced into three components in order to be compared with the sections of the survey. These components were more reliable, although they explained less variance than the original model. Additional research is needed to obtain more reliable data that can be used to evaluate and modify coaching education systems of sport organizations to align with the principles of long-term athletic development outlined in the LTAD, DMSP, and YPD models.