Author: Kayleigh O'Donnell
O'Donnell, Kayleigh, 2025 Leading the way: Coach, parent, and leader perspectives on navigating social and cultural responsibility in organised youth sport., Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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Youth sport plays a significant role in the lives of Australians. Sporting clubs are often described as multifaceted settings with convening power, which has popularised the settings as a site for various social and cultural programs and initiatives. Furthermore, a large body of literature has focused on youth sporting clubs through investigations about sport participation, health promotion, and socialisation. Since there is an absence of literature explicitly about youth sporting clubs’ integration of social and cultural responsibilities among constituents and stakeholders, the literature review guiding this study was underpinned by three inter-related fields of research: inclusion and diversity, mental health and wellbeing, and social relationships. Existing literature in these fields has found that clubs often struggle to navigate social and cultural responsibilities because of a lack of organisational capacity, financial and voluntary resources, stakeholder resistance, and a lack of access to and application of knowledge.
With increasing social pressures to provide and facilitate broader responsibilities in a club setting, it is vital to understand how South Australian youth sporting clubs already involved in social and cultural programs or initiatives have navigated and developed their capacity to do so. This study includes clubs offering Australia Rules football, tennis, surf lifesaving, hockey, and netball; and provides a strengths-based perspective, rather than taking a deficit stance, to deliver a basis for new knowledge. Consequently, this study sought to develop a better understanding of how South Australian youth sporting clubs understand, perceive, and enact social and cultural responsibility in youth sport. Utilising an interpretive description study design, this study employed semi-structured individual interviews with parents and coaches (n = 30) and focus groups with club leaders (n = 16) and analysed the data using a unique blend of reflexive thematic analysis and interpretive description.
The findings of the study provide an in-depth understanding of current facilitators of and barriers to implementing social and cultural responsibility from the experiences and perceptions of parents, coaches, and club leaders. The findings generated from this study are organised into six core themes. The findings suggest that the navigation and development of social and cultural responsibilities are contingent on genuine, passionate leadership; personal connection to the responsibility; visible promotion of and support for responsibilities; support and recognition of volunteers’ efforts and burdens; clear club expectations, values or ethos; community collaboration; promoting a holistic environment; identification of volunteers’ skills; self-promotion and reputation; clear support or directives from organisational bodies; contingency plans for future change or instability (e.g., COVID-19); and long-term, consistent volunteers (low rates of turnover). Finally, this study concludes with recommendations for practice, in areas relating to volunteer support and retention, club culture and values, organisational capacity, community engagement, and strategies for leadership; alongside recommendations for future research.
Keywords: youth sport, social and cultural responsibility, mental health, inclusion and diversity, social relationships, organisational capacity, social responsibility, Australia
Subject: Health & Physical Education thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2025
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Associate Professor Sam Elliott