Abstract
Recent research highlights the potential of youth sport contexts to facilitate positive youth development (PYD) (Fraser-Thomas et al., 2005). Increasingly, research has focused on the process of PYD in competitive and recreational sport contexts; however fewer investigations have focused PYD in school contexts. The objective of this study was to explore youths’ experiences developing life skills through school-based physical education (PE) and sport programs. Data was collected through semi-structured focus group interviews using a case study design. Twenty-six grade 7 and 8 students (50% female) involved in mandatory PE classes and a variety of competitive school teams participated in the study. A unique finding emerged regarding the process of PYD in the school context. Specifically, negative experiences were found to facilitate the development of positive life skills. While youth may have initially perceived experiences to be negative their reaction was to re-define the experiences as positive learning or growth experiences. For example, boys on competitive school teams reported in-team fighting as a negative experience. However, they discussed that this experience facilitated the development of teamwork skills that would prevent a similar negative experience from occurring in the future. Findings extend current research which has primarily dichotomized experiences into positive and negative domains (e.g., Fraser-Thomas & Côté, 2009); it is possible that the division may be concealing the potential development of resiliency. Findings will also be discussed within the context of positive growth following adversity (Tamminen et al., 2013) and schools as optimal contexts for learning through mistakes (OHPEC, 2010).
