Abstract
The positive youth development literature provides a number of different frameworks that can be used to conceptualize the "development of athletes." In particular, the 5Cs – Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring/Compassion (Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, 2000) can be hypothesized as desirable outcomes that should emerge from regular participation in sport. Côté and colleagues (Côté, Bruner, Erickson, Strachan, & Fraser-Thomas, 2010) recently reviewed the sport literature and proposed collapsing the 5Cs into 4Cs (Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character/Caring). This step was taken given the frequent integration of caring/compassion within the character development literature in sport (e.g., Shields & Bredemeier, 1995) and the overlap between these three constructs (i.e., character, caring, and compassion). The 4Cs represent a promising framework to conceptualize and examine youth development in organized and non-organized (i.e., deliberate play; Côté, 1999; Côté, Baker, & Abernethy, 2007) sport settings. This presentation will focus on the benefits of using the 4Cs to evaluate the impact of sport participation on youth development. Specifically, the two different contexts of youth sport participation that differ in the degree of youth and adult influence, organized sport and deliberate play, will be contrasted as potentially providing distinct developmental experiences.
