Abstract
Organisations governing the practice of high school sport in Canada communicate through their mission statement that sport is a viable setting in which to promote the positive development of students (Camiré, Werthner, & Trudel, 2009). In recent years, there has been a proliferation of football programs in the province of Quebec and the sport is often seen as a valuable tool to motivate boys, who have the highest dropout rate in the country, to remain in school (Richards, 2012). However, research findings indicate thatsport is not a panacea and cannot automatically prevent students from dropping out of school (Danish & Nellen, 1997). Rather, it is the quality of the relationship formed with coaches that is most likely to lead to positive developmental outcomes (Petitpas et al., 2005).The purpose of this study was to document athletes' perspective on life skill development through football and the role played by coaches in promoting positive development. Eighteen male high school football players from Quebec participated in focus groups ranging from 37 to 49 minutes (M = 45). Results demonstrate that participants believe they learned a number of life skills such as leadership, teamwork, and emotional control through football. Participants also acknowledged that coaches played a key role in their development as they made intentional efforts to nurture quality relationships with players and used a number of strategies to promote the learning of life skills. Results are discussed using the positive youth development through sport literature.Acknowledgments: This study was supported by a grant from SSHRC.