Navigating the professionalisation of school sport in South Africa – Greg Wilmot Introduction

The key driving force behind the rise and popularity of sport in Public and Grammar schools of Britain following the Industrial Revolution, and thus by historical consequence the adopted model / structure and philosophical maxim of South African schools, was the Victorian ethic of “Mens sana in corpore sano” (A sound mind in a healthy body) (Townson, 1997). Sport in Victorian schools was seen as an essential component of the curriculum that was required in the sublimation of “unnatural adolescent urges” (Townson, 1997), to reiterate the significance of following the rules and as a platform for celebrating those who demonstrated “pluck” (Townson, 1997) and courage in the face of adversity. Currently in South Africa, only a relatively small proportion of school-going age learners have access to well-resourced and structured sports programs.

The availability of these resources and opportunities is largely limited to the historically privileged former Model-C and Independent schools where the main sports played by learners are rugby, netball, hockey, cricket, athletics, tennis and waterpolo. Typically, these schools have a massive complex of available resources that include sports fields, courts, pools, equipment, coaching staff, internal or external transport systems, internal fundraising systems, corporate sponsorships and numerous other additions and inputs based on their needs and capacity. The availability of such resources permits a large number of learners across a broad age-range to participate in training sessions in a highly organised and structured extra-curricular program and to participate in weekly “derby” fixtures against other young sportsmen and women from other traditionally privileged former Model-C or Independent schools.

Such programs and fixtures are typically contingent on internal school policies that make it obligatory for learners to participate in one sporting activity given the available options that might vary from one season to another. There is urgent need to critically engage with how this small pockets of privilege play a significant role in the perpetuation of anachronistic colonial discourses of “pluck” which, in turn, over-values the importance of an individual’s or a school’s sporting quality.

The growth of Professionalisation

Over the last five to ten years, there has been a small groundswell of opinion in South Africa amongst a small handful of journalists, psychologists, medical professionals, some Heads of schools and, on occasion, parents and coaches that school sport in South Africa has entered a professionalised era. Examples include; writers such as Theo Garrun and Luke Alfreds writing about their concerns in newspaper articles and blogs; parents look for additional emotional and psychological support structures outside of the school; school fixtures have been abandoned due to the “unfair” nature of the competitions (e.g. Glenwood versus Hilton in 2015); Dr Glen Hageman has expressed concern about doping in school sport Dr Jon Patricious have expressed their concerns about and concussion. While no formal definition of professionalisation exists, there is consensus across these opinions that school boys and girls in South Africa are being placed under ever greater levels of high quality performance expectation, they partake in elite-level-like training programs and play their sport within a results orientated context such that it mirrors an adult professional training and sports performance setting.

With almost no research to speak of in South Africa, each of the opinions and viewpoints around the professionalization of school sport is little more than anecdotal comment on personal observations and concerns. Much of the anecdotal opinion and post hoc concern about the professionalisation of school sport speaks to a monumental gap between the espoused values and benefits of sport and the professional-like “performance” (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999, p.644) or “motivational climate” (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999, p.643) and performance expectations that typifies professionalised school sport. What lies in the abyss between these two ends of the spectrum and what effects it has on young sportsmen and women needs desperate attention.

What do we know so far?

Currently we can only speculate on the lived experiences of young athletes, what positive or negative effects they encounter and how this translates into their long-term peer relationships, identity development, body image, views on health and physical activity, individual psychological wellness and countless other aspects of child and adolescent development. While a single event does not allow for neither valid nor reliable research data nor speculation about the impact it has on a particular population, there have been a number of high and low profile events and changes on the school sport landscape that might offer some insight into why sections of professionals, coaches, schools and parents are concerned about the current professionalised school sport climate. What follows is a brief expansion of a number of these events and observations. Much of this information is neither supported nor validated by research but speaks to the need to open up discussion and research around these topics;

The perception that sports results are a valid measure of a school’s educational, moral and social quality

It is common knowledge across many privileged South African schools that great value is accorded to the performance and results of their Open or U19 First Team with particular emphasis on rugby, cricket, hockey, netball and waterpolo. Schools whose First Teams consistently perform well and who are competitive on a regional and national level might be defined as “good” or “better than” other schools that do not achieve the same First team results. Coaches, parents, alumni and young male and female athletes place great importance on the results of their school’s First Teams and view their performance and success as both a subjective measure of that team’s overall quality and a falsely objective measure of the school’s educational, moral and social quality.

Furthermore, schools are afforded the opportunity to present and market themselves through television broadcasts. An example of the consequence of such value being accorded to sports results is the “Traditional State Boys Schools Sports Charter” drafted in 2013. The drafting of this document demonstrates and acknowledges sports results have become a benchmark for evaluating the quality of a school through its statement that; “[O]ur sports programmes are being undermined by an overemphasis on success in contests (winning), by the notion that the school is only as good as its sports results and by practices that have developed to encourage this kind of narrow success.” (The Traditional State Boys Schools Sports Charter, 2013 at: http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/?p=6905 Accessed on 14 April 2016.).

Good sports results achieved by a school become a powerful marketing tool through the means of attracting both talented future sportsmen and women but also corporate sponsorship. Understandably, businesses will look to utilise the greater degree of public and media coverage through a top performing school in comparison to a lower ranked or poorly performing teams might not otherwise offer access to public exposure. Consequently then, it is essential to explore the influence of external funding might have on coaching decisions, player wellness and whether schools emphasise the importance of good sports results. There are documents published by online school sports magazines listing a comparison between academic performance and national rugby ranking (e.g. Ruby schools’ matric results rankings 2015 at http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/?p=13143 accessed on 17 April 2016).

However, there is need for more in-depth analysis over a longer period of time to be able to mine any link between correlation and causation as no research data or evidence that top sporting schools produce either better or worse academic results than smaller schools who focus more on academics. Nonetheless, research into the relationship between sport performance and academic results could make for interesting reading.

The introduction of a national ranking system and mega-derbies

The “Derby Day” is the mainstay of many South African inter-school sports competitions. A full day of fixtures across all age and skill-levels culminates in the First team match. The result of the First team game more so than any other match played that day has the greatest bearing on the strength, quality and national ranking of that school in comparison to others. In response, a great deal of energy and public interest is dedicated to formulating and updating a national log or table that details the top performing schools in sports such as rugby, hockey, netball, cricket, tennis, and waterpolo. Different ranking systems and tables have formulae for working out how many “points” are awarded to a team based on their performance against other teams and the two team’s relative seeded rankings. For example; www.saschoolsport and www.schooboyrugby.co.za. The effects of this over-emphasis and hyper-focus on one team as the sole representation of the quality and strength of a school is unknown but could be considered to be detrimental for a number of reasons, chief among which is the projection of performance demands and pressure onto those playing in the First Team fixture. If the outcome of a match is so valued, it is conceivable that some young sportsmen and women might experience the pressure negatively and so have their own enjoyment and / or performance compromised.

The dilemma of self-selecting body types

Body size, shape and innate athletic ability has given advantage to certain young sportsmen and women based primarily on their genetic heritage and when they were born; in sports such as rugby, heavier, taller and stronger natural body-types are afforded an advantage and children born from January to May have a size and weight over their peers born in the latter half of the year. Furthermore, children or players with a physical advantage at an early age are likely to receive more training at an earlier age giving them a further advantage over their younger and smaller peers (Epstein, 2013). David Epstein (2013) noted that weird bodies are becoming weirder; extraordinary body types such as greater height, weight or arm span are advantaging some athletes in sports while excluding equally skilled athletes that are unable to meet physical criteria that would allow them to be competitive.

This narrow ‘self-selection’ has the effect of creating a highly specialised but very small talent-pool from which players are selected. Being outside of the ‘self-selecting’ group places pressure on those outside of that group to look to try and gain their own form of leverage or advantage to gain an equal opportunity of being selected. With available access to highly specialised training and gym programs young sportsmen and women that do not have the genetic advantage have the opportunity to be able to modify or adapt their natural body shapes, size and strength such that they can meet the demands of their chosen sport. Athletes may not be able to get taller in the gym but they can become stronger and heavier. However, only a small proportion of young sportsmen and women with the ideal body type or the ability to modify that shape are suitable for some forms of sport.

For example, normative data from the BokSmart Height and Weight Norms for Provincial and National age-group and Open categories shows that less than 5% of any average population will meet the average height and weight specifications required by certain positions (e.g. Props and Locks) such that it will allow them to compete at a professional or international level in rugby (Pre-season testing and physical profiling of players accessed at http://boksmart.co.za/content/testing-and-physical-profiling on 17 April 2016). While there is enormous value in young athletes being sufficiently strong and conditioned, those who are not able to meet the baseline physical characteristics required for their chosen sport (e.g. an ectomorph body shape playing rugby) there is concern that they might look to employ the use of poorly research supplementation or even the use of illegal substances such as steroids.

Increased prevalence of supplement and illegal performance enhancing substance use and abuse

Unpublished research (Hageman, Unpublished) has shown that body image and the pursuit of a constructed physical aesthetic are major contributing factors (63% of male respondents) behind young male and female athletes using supplementation and illegal substances such as steroids. Only 30% of male respondents identified “Improved performance” as the reason they have or would use steroids. The research further revealed that nearly 40% of the sample population of adolescents did not believe that the use of substances such as steroids was a form of cheating. It is well known and patently obvious in various forms of media that supplementation has become an enormously profitable and competitive market.

It is currently estimated that the South African nutritional supplementation industry is worth R7-billion. In 2012, the global nutritional supplementation industry was estimated to be worth $32-billion (Makholwa, 2016). Ranging from meal replacements to high protein shakes, the growth supplementation industry has grown due to demand from numerous sectors including school sports. Worryingly, the supplementation market is unregulated and not subject to any quality testing or scrutiny over claims of efficacy and performance enhancement. The impact that marketing of these products and their use by school-going athletes is again in need of research.

The expansion of television and media coverage

Sports festivals and derbies have over the last 10 years received greater print and online media coverage and received more air time on television. Easter school rugby festivals (e.g. St Johns, KES and St Stithians), FNB Classic Clashes and Mutual & Federal Premier Inter-Schools Rugby have become major televised sports features. Numerous websites, either connected to media houses specialising in professional sport (e.g. SA Rugby Magazine) or specifically school sport (e.g. www.saschoolsports.co.za) are contemporary portals to information, reviews, fixtures and ranking tables centred around the main sports with particular emphasis on rugby during winter. Schools and members of the public have Facebook pages and Twitter profiles that report on events, results and even give “running commentary” on live matches allowing the audience to reach far beyond those present on match day. There is need to look closely at the language and influence that magazines, websites, televised matches, and public social media have on the motivational and performance climate of school sport. Does television and online or print media increase the subjective experience of performance pressure? How do young sportsmen and women react to their school, family or strangers commenting on match results and individual performances?

The “trading” and “poaching” of school-aged sportsmen

As recently as January 2020 and stretching over a number of years previously, there have been many anecdotal and well documented reports of one school “poaching” adolescent players, mostly boys, from other schools through offering them preferential benefits in the form of reduced fees, sports scholarships and possibly even selection into age-group representative teams (Adams, 2016, Schools player poaching: Who’s to blame?, accessed on 28 April 2016 at: http://schools.sarugbymag.co.za/player-poaching-whos-to-blame/). For example, in a recent incident involving Parktown Boys’ High and KES in Johannesburg, it is alleged that two U16 Provincial rugby players were “poached” by KES. This is despite an an agreement in December 2015 between the schools and Provincial Rugby Board (GLRU) stating that two U16 Provincial rugby players would stay at Parktown. However, the boys were enrolled at KES in early 2016 in breach of the agreement. Subsequently, Parktown suspended all its sporting fixtures with KES. In fact, the problem of player “poaching”, particularly in school boy rugby has become so rife that a “Traditional State Boys Schools Sports Charter” was agreed upon between 24 Government schools in November 2013.

The problem had reached such epidemic proportions that it was agreed by all those that signed the charter, it was necessary to gain consensus that it was necessary to state; “We reject approaching and offering money to boys to allow or encourage them to switch schools.  We believe that scholarships (by definition for high academic achievers) and bursaries (for needy children) linked to the admission process should operate at Grade 8 level only.” (Author unknown, 2013, The Traditional State Boys Schools Sports Charter, accessed at http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/?p=6905 on 14 April 2016). The need for such a charter or declaration speaks to a highly professionalised context that mirrors the need for agreements, rules and oversights to ensure equitable practices in the trading or transferring of professional athletes between clubs or franchises. Further, this also begs the question about the impact on the lived experiences of young sportsmen and women at the heart of trading and poaching.

Highly specialised training programs and pre-season conditioning

As the performance demands on young sportsmen and women have increased, so has the need for pre-season training, specialised conditioning and specialised nutrition to meet the calorific needs of these young athletes. Undeniably, as the performance demands and physical challenges of school sport increase, it is extremely important that young sportsmen and women’s bodies are able to meet these demands while also needing to mitigate injury. This makes conditioning and training with the input of well qualified professionals such as Physiotherapists or Bokineticists necessary. However, there are important questions to ask such as; what is an acceptable threshold of training demands to place on young athletes? How much training is detrimental to academic and personal wellness?

Parent, spectator and player emotional over-investment in sport and performance

The negative behaviour of parents and spectators on the sideline and stands has entered school sport mythology as an evil truism. Many coaches, parents, or casual spectators would be able to recall at least a few instances of parents or spectators ‘causing a scene’; their comments and/or behaviour being deemed as “inappropriate”, “unacceptable” or “over-invested”. As an extreme example, there are media reports of parent spectators assaulting adolescent sportsmen during rugby games when they are displeased with the actions of either the match official or players of the opposing team (Saville, 2010). Equally, young sportsmen and women are highly invested in their matches; so much so that there are media reports of young sportsmen punching referees and mass pitch invasions during games (SA School Sports, 2010).

Verbal input from the sideline has been identified as an important form of parental involvement as they, the parents, are “the principal providers of these [sporting] experiences” (Dorsch, Smith, Wilson & McDonough, 2016, p. 19). Such emotional investment and the hope for a good performance and outcome is difficult to criticise as most parents would be expected to be emotionally invested in their child’s wellbeing and growth. However, verbal instructions and behaviour by parents (and even spectators) has been linked to the goals and outcomes they perceive to be important. Often, this is in contrast to both the child’s performance goals and what is socially mediated and accepted in such a context (Dorsch, Smith, Wilson & McDonough, 2016).

Parent and spectator behaviours and the content of their verbal instructions has received greater attention on the USA, UK and Australia in comparison to South Africa but it is by no means any less important or influential on young sportsmen and women’s quality or performance and enjoyment. Again, there is an urgent need to research and implement programs that directly address detrimental spectator behaviour in the South African school sport context.

The availability of sport as a viable and desirable career option

It has been a common dream of many schoolboys in both this century and the last to emulate their sporting idols. The hope of being able to achieve the same successes and glory has motivated many young schoolboys to dedicate themselves to training in the hope of making it into a Provincial or National team one day. Increasingly, this has become true for young and adolescent female athletes who are equally motivated by the allure of being able to succeed on the local, National or International stage. With the growth of professional sport globally following massive injections of corporate money, it has become a viable career option for young and adolescent sportsmen and women to pursue sport after school. There is, again, a need to explore whether there is a transfer of externally or internally-generated pressure, hope or expectation onto young sportsmen and women to construct their school-based sports performance as a stepping-stone towards competitive and professional sport at a Tertiary and later level.

What can we deduce about school sport thus far?

It is unlikely that those who express their concerns about the professionalisation of school sport are all members of the ‘Flat Earth Society’ but it is worth appreciating that each opinion stems from positions of experience and concern and may have some validity that needs further exploration. Without comprehensive and valid research, there is only room for conjecture, opinion, subjective observation and a few hypotheses without clear insight into cause or correlation. Based on experience and the inherent dangers of sprouting opinions, it is very hard to be able to say much at all without treading into potentially hostile territory. Again, in such a landscape, there is a dire need for research and research funding by government, tertiary and secondary educational institutions and sports governing bodies. Based on my experience and research and through speaking to numerous parents, coaches, teachers and young sportsmen and women in my Practice, there are some broad deductions that can be carefully made.

Overemphasis on First Team results and performances

The overemphasis on First Team selection and performance is undeniably territory that needs very close analysis and reviewing. First Teams have become a highly commodified marketing asset for schools desperately needing funds, as a draw-card for new pupils and as a motivational driving force behind tradition and commitment to the school’s overall identity and ideology. There is enormous risk in devaluing the status, importance and effort of younger and less successful teams within the school sporting hierarchy. The emotional toll of not making a team that is more highly valued than another can be crushing for a young athlete, not only in the short term but certainly it can affect self-worth, confidence and identity formation over their lifespan.

A First Team is the pinnacle of a school’s sporting complex. By playing for the First Team a particular status is both attained and anointed upon the sportsmen and women by the structures, staff and students within that school. Enormous status and privilege is bestowed on First team players based on a constructed (and strictly maintained) social hierarchy. In fact, it could be speculated that so desirable is that status of a First team player in both the eyes of the audience (i.e. school staff, parents and alumni) and the young athletes themselves, it is undeniable that enormous internal constructed pressure and external imposed pressure co-construct an atmosphere and motivational climate that promotes a “whatever it takes” commitment to training and performance. As a proportion of all the schoolboys and girls playing sport in South Africa currently, only a very small percentage are ever and can ever be First Team players. So why then do we pour our enthusiasm to the performances of 7, 11 or 15 individual players and their result on a Saturday?

There are few resources to help young athletes cope with increased training and performance demands

The extremely competitive nexus of school sport that is highly influenced by external performance demands (e.g. Televised Derbies, National ranking logs, social media etc.) will always translate into young sportsmen and women experiencing psychological pressure. It is universally true that as learners get closer to the final Matric exams and both teachers and parents start to ramp up pressure, the learners will in turn experience greater pressure; sometimes good, sometimes bad. Old-school logic dictates that the closer one gets to exams, the harder one must study. Similarly, on the sports field; if the demands are greater, it is expected that one must train harder. However, I don’t know of any schoolboys or girls that write their exams in front of, up to, several thousand people and have each solution to a maths equation televised, scrutinised and ranked on social media. Why then, do we permit such grandiose scrutiny over performances and value so highly the successes of a schoolboy or girl’s performance sports? Within the academic context, learners are offered a broader and broader array of support, resources and even concessions to help them cope with the mounting pressure but also their own specific needs. As the performance demands of a professionalised sporting context increase, what support resources are in place to ensure that these young people can cope?

Adults are responsible for increased performance pressure and professionalisation

In their roles as teachers, coaches, parents, alumni, business leaders and adults engineer and broadcast the most dominant messages that determine the motivational and performance climate in which young sportsmen and women train and perform. The actions of these adults has a direct effect on the lives and beliefs of the young people who absorb these messages and then need to respond to them with what resources they have available. For many young children and adolescents, competitiveness and comparison are a major feature of their home and school life. Parents, siblings, school systems and social media all contribute to an air of constant comparison that children and adolescents adopt and perpetuate as their own. Further, there is no denying the time, energy and emotional investment and enthusiasm of young sportsmen and women and how their actions and contribute to the increased hype and pressure they encounter on and off the sports field. Children and adolescents do not have the ability nor the power to actively change their performance climates or cope with external demands and pressures without acquiring skills that should be given to them by those coaching them. There is an urgent need to review the actions and beliefs of the adults who are “in charge” of arranging fixtures, broadcasting media messages, planning training and attaching marketing and business value to school sporting fixtures. It is the grown-ups have the responsibility to understand and reign-in child and adolescent beliefs and actions that negatively contribute to performance pressure. Equally, parental investment, verbal behaviour and their actions while spectating school sport needs urgent reflection as this is one of the major contributing factors to increased performance pressure and expectation that is projected onto young athletes and schools who are ‘employed’ as the organisation that must fulfil these expectations. Having the insight and skill to do this is an enormous challenge and should be an integral component of teaching, coaching and being a sports parent.  

How can we navigate the way forward?

In response to the urgent call for research, reflection and action in school sport it would be pointless to apportion blame to a single group such as parents, teachers, schools or coaches. Instead, a collaborative and highly considered approach is urgently required. Based on good research, professional input and with a clear vision of the aims for school sport in South Africa, school sport can and should remain the crucible that produces highly skilled Provincial and National athletes. The following are my views on how we can navigate the way forward to improve and to continue developing school sport in South Africa;

Research

A consistent call throughout this paper has been the need for research to be conducted across multiple domains and facets of school sport in South Africa. A great deal of Sport Psychology interest in young researchers is directed towards the ‘high performance’ component while the narratives of successes, failures and identity formation within the complex of professionalised school sport is lacking. Young researchers must not fall for the same bright lights of perceived glory and success in school sport with it being seen as a stepping stone into ‘real’ professional sport. There in inherent ethical, funding and practical challenges facing researchers in this domain. However, failure to explore the lived experiences, strengths and weakness of the professionalised school sport complex will contribute to continued detrimental practices. We need to know more.

Reviewing school philosophies and policies

Major driving forces behind the professionalisation of school sport are internal and external demands and systems. Teachers, coaches, and even the learners themselves apply great pressure for a school and its sporting program to be highly successful. Externally, parents and alumni apply great pressure on a school to be successful financially, academically and on the sports field. Maintaining a high perceived (and real) value through sporting and academic performance attracts staff, money and good learners that, in turn, sustains the image of the school. In addition, the historical identity of the school is also a major driving force; one that places enormous value on maintaining a public image of success. That schools and school systems reinforce a monochromatic identity based on the performance of a sports team stands in stark contrast to many educational philosophies. Also, the repetitious construction of adolescent identities and definitions of masculinity and femininity are anachronistic and contrast starkly with contemporary views on child and adolescent development.

Children and adolescents are inherently comparative as they seek to establish and affirm their own identities. However, school sporting systems are hyper-focused on a select few individuals whose sporting success or failure has bearing over other children’s identity and self-worth depending almost solely on what school they go to; something that is usually beyond their control. De-emphasising the value or importance of a single team’s success and the amorphous school identity through the actions and sporting policies of a school could contribute positively to a value system and motivational climate that celebrates effort ahead of results. Schools need to critically engage with how they are internally and externally pressured by colonial discourses and ideologies of heritage, academia and sport. Reflecting on how staff and learners themselves invest emotionally in sport as a mechanism that reflects self-worth and value through ranking systems needs serious critical engagement.

There is no denying the need for schools to generate income to sustain academic and infrastructural standards when funding from the government sector is limited. However, there is need for critical engagement with discourses emerging from sport being perceived as a marketing platform and how this translates into performance pressure experienced by school sportsmen and women needs close attention.

Emotional and Psychological support and resources

One cannot be so naïve as to believe or wish that we can put an end to or stop school sport that places young sportsmen and women under performance pressure. I have often described the professionalisation of school sport as a “runaway freight train” we cannot stop; what we can do, however, is put systems and support in place to mitigate some of its worst effects. Just as we increase training, funding, tactics, equipment and facilities to improve a player’s on-field performance, we also need to increase the quality and care given to young sportsmen and women such that they can cope with increased pressure and performance demands both on and off the field. This does not require that each school has its own Sports Psychologist or that every player should be seeing the school Counsellor but rather that we are both sensitive to the wellness and needs of young sportsmen and women and that appropriate support systems and referral networks are in place as and when the need arises.

Coaches, teachers and parents should be consistently attuned to the subjective wellness of athletes in their care so that a well-timed and appropriate intervention can be implemented. Often, such an intervention might be a casual conversation on the side of the field. At other times, it might necessitate a referral to a Psychologist. What these interventions are and when they should take place is a crucial bit of new insight and understanding that needs to take place. To facilitate young sportsmen and women’s involvement in an ever increasingly demanding performance context, we can no longer accept the attitude that “the kids will be fine”. We can neither accept that a “one size fits all” coaching style of care or instruction is effective. An attitude of interest and care about young athlete’s individual lived experiences and needs is a hallmark of good coaching that promotes cohesion, motivation and resilience.

The content, quality and timing of verbal behaviour and actions

Dorsch, Smith, Wilson & McDonough (2016) note that parental verbal behaviour is primarily instructional and directed towards particular goals. However, the content and timing of verbal instructions is often blurred between the goals of the emotionally invested parent and the goals of the young sportsman or woman. Developing a better understanding of the performance, relational and identity goals of young athletes will better allow parents, coaches, spectators and event team mates to better understand what to communicate, how to communicate and when to communicate to them (Dorsch, Smith, Wilson & McDonough, 2016). There is a broad spectrum of what children want to hear from their parents and coaches at different times rather than what parents or coaches believe they need to be told. Greater sensitivity to this would go a long way to fostering a healthy motivational climate, individual motivation, goal-setting and resilience. There is need to challenge the out-dated belief that coach-athlete or parent-(child) athlete communication is uni-directional rather than existing within a two-person dyad.

Coaching coaches

While the school system at large might be a major contributing force to the professionalisation of school sport, coaches have the most one-on-one contact time with young athletes and can play a vital role in mitigating the detrimental effects of increased performance pressure. At many schools across South Africa, part of a teacher’s role is to coach sport. Many people with a passion for sport enter Primary or Secondary education as a means through which they can continue with their interest in sport and / or coach sport to young sportsmen and women. Other than personal experience of playing sport, it would make interesting research to find out how many coaches across all sports in Secondary and Primary schools attend coaching clinics or seminars. While programs such as BokSmart make it obligatory for rugby coaches to acquire a degree of proficiency to prevent serious injury, how many other Sports Governing Bodies (SGBs) make it mandatory for coaches to acquire a prescribed level of competence before they work with young athletes?

Again, more research and better interventions are needed. In addition to coaching skills and knowledge, coaches need support and assistance in developing self-reflexive skills and personal insight to understand what and how they might be contributing to excessive performance pressure and expectation. The content of coaching instructions, actions and the motivational climate they construct can have a significant impact on how young sportsmen and women experience performance pressure and the mental skills they utilise when facing a challenge.

Reviewing Selection and Talent Development

While talent, natural athletic ability and individual resilience are major factors driving team selection, it is coaching decisions, actions and verbal behaviour that greatly influences young player’s beliefs about selection and talent development. Ideally, coaches can demonstrate that dividing players into teams based on skill is not fixed once a player enters into a sport. Coaching attitudes and actions can model that skill or talent is fluid and can change over time with effort. Biddle, Wang, Chatzisarantis & Spray (2003) demonstrated that intrinsic task-focused motivation and self-referenced beliefs about success were contingent on an environment that supported incremental (fluid) rather than fixed entity beliefs about skill development. For example, if a coach provides performance reviews based on the premise that skill development is fluid and that players can improve incrementally over time, the feedback will have a greater positive motivational impact in comparison to a coach who will only select and focus on players with the immediately obvious skills that meet short-term performance expectations.

In the context of South African sport that is under pressure to embrace transformation policies and actions, talent identification strategies and pathways for talent development need very careful scrutiny. Actions and attitudes that focuses and selects narrowly from only those young players that demonstrate better skills earlier than their peers immediately constructs a very small pool of potential future sportsmen and women at age-group, Provincial and later National levels. This is further narrowed by the hyper-focus on former Model-C and Independent schools as talent pools from which Provincial and National players are selected. Such actions neglect the vast majority of potential athletes in under-privileged and rural areas. In short, biased talent development towards young players in privileged sporting and financial contexts that first demonstrate skill and who receive specialised training ahead of their peers does not support broad transformation in sport. Such actions constructs a tall, narrow talent pyramid that lacks a broad base of players from which to select. There is need to internally review how coaches select players, develop and nurture talent and, importantly, to scrutinise the motivation behind why coaches select the players they do; is there pressure to win and been seen as a ‘successful’ coach or are they selecting with an altruistic purpose of talent development regardless of concern about results?

Conclusion

The consistent call throughout this paper has been for the need for critical research into school sport in South Africa and the growing climate of professionalised sport. The current climate is typified by increased performance demands being placed on young sportsmen and women, elite-like training programs, corporate investment, and the use of sport as a vehicle for schools to demonstrate educational value. Despite the significant lack of research in South Africa, there are numerous anecdotal and media reports that suggest this climate is detrimental to the emotional, physical and psychological wellness of young athletes, their long-term involvement in sport and national talent development. There are numerous ways in which schools, parents, coaches and SGBs can assist young sportsmen and women to cope with the increasing training and performance demands.

The need for greater reflection on how schools, parents and coaches consciously and unconsciously contribute to and the professionalisation of sport is an essential starting point. Emotional, educational and financial investment amongst a host of other factors all influence the construction of a climate that demands high performance outcomes but does little to provide young athletes with the skills, knowledge and maturity to cope. As a departure point, schools, coaches, parents, spectators and even the young sportsmen and women themselves need to de-emphasise the falsely constructed on results and rankings while placing equal value of junior or lower ranking teams.

The motto of “effort ahead of results” should be under-pinning the approach to all games and derbies. Further, schools should focus on coaching coaches. Helping all coaches within their employ to utilise a broader range of knowledge and skills to increase player’s ability to cope with pressure and implement an array of mental skills. Lastly, there is need for schools, SGBs and coaches to be critically reflecting on talent identification, selection and player development that utilises up-to-date sport science knowledge and practices that is mindful of young athlete’s different physical attributes and talent expression that does not conform to a single or predictable timeframe.

References:

Adams, M. (2016, April 26). Schools player poaching: Who’s to blame? SA Rugby Magazine. Retrieved from http://schools.sarugbymag.co.za/player-poaching-whos-to-blame/

Alfred, L. (2016, February 25). School sport: it’s just not cricket. The Financial Mail.  Retrieved from http://www.financialmail.co.za/life/2016/02/25/school-sport-its-just-not-cricket

Biddle, S. J. H., Wang, C. K. J., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., & Spray, C. M. (2003). Motivation for physical activity in young people: entity and incremental beliefs about athletic ability. Journal of Sports Sciences, 21, 973-989.

Dorsch, T. E., Smith, A. L., Wilson, S. R., & McDonough, M. H. (2016). Parent goals and verbal sideline behaviour in organised youth sport. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 4(1), 19-35.

Epstein, D., 2013, The Sports Gene: Inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance. New York: Penguin. Garrun, T. (2016, February 26). Professionalism in school sport not always bad. IOL. Retrieved from http://www.iol.co.za/sport/professionalism-in-school-sport-not-always-bad-1990101

Makholwa, A. (2016, May 2). Nutritional supplement industry booming, Rand Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.rdm.co.za/business/2015/03/03/nutritional-supplement-industry-booming

Ntoumanis, N, & Biddle, S. (1999). A review of motivational climate in physical activity. Journal of Sports Sciences, 17(8), 643-665. Author Unknown. (2010, August 3). Referee punched in a schoolboy match! SA School Sport. Retrieved from http://www.saschoolsports.co.za/rugby/kwazulu-natal/referee-punched-in-schoolboy-match.html

Saville, S. (2010, May 17). Parents in punch-up at rugby game. The Witness. Retrieved from http://www.news24.com/southafrica/news/parents-in-punch-up-at-rugby-game-20100517

Townson, N. (1997). The British At Play – a social history of British sport from 1600 to the present. Cavalliotti.