Abstract

This seminar offers a critical analysis of the relationship between youth, sport and citizenship development, in practice and in the UK policy context of sports coaching and physical education. It draws on data and insights from a recently completed ESRC funded research project in England, which identified substantial tensions in intergenerational relationships in sport and coaching, whilst suggesting wider international concerns and implications for policy and practice. Drawing heuristically upon the philosophy of Dewey ( 207¹⁹¹⁶), it is recognized that the concept of citizenship as a form of social practice should seek to encourage the development of complementary traits and dispositions in young people. To develop socially and educationally thus entails engagement in meaningful social and cultural activity, of which one potentially significant component is participation in youth sport, both within and outside formal education. However it is argued that nay confident assumption that sporting and coaching contexts will necessarily foster positive traits and dispositions in young people should be considered dubious and misplaced. We contend that in these contexts ‘liaisons’ and interactions between coaches and young people are often treated suspiciously , and regarded as potentially ‘dangerous’.