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‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season

Sam Elliott Orcid Logo, G. Fernandes, O. Anthoney, M. Drummond Orcid Logo, Camilla Knight

Sport, Education and Society, Pages: 1 - 20

Swansea University Author: Camilla Knight

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/13573322.2025.2563693

Abstract

To better prepare parents for negotiating the complex and challenging nature of the youth sporting season, more attention is warranted around how clubs ‘onboard’ and support parents from the beginning of their involvement. This study utilised a multi-sport, rapid ethnography approach to examine how...

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Published in: Sport, Education and Society
ISSN: 1357-3322 1470-1243
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70633
first_indexed 2025-10-10T12:54:40Z
last_indexed 2025-12-19T04:25:27Z
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spelling 2025-12-17T16:31:56.9193547 v2 70633 2025-10-10 ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60 Camilla Knight Camilla Knight true false 2025-10-10 To better prepare parents for negotiating the complex and challenging nature of the youth sporting season, more attention is warranted around how clubs ‘onboard’ and support parents from the beginning of their involvement. This study utilised a multi-sport, rapid ethnography approach to examine how sport clubs engage parents at the beginning of the season and the impact of these interactions on the broader sport experience. Across four competitive youth sport settings (Australian football, netball, swimming and tennis), data were collected through 320 hours of covert field observations and 41 collaborative interviews with parents, coaches, and club leaders. Reflexive thematic analysis led to the development of three themes: (1) personalising the onboarding experience, (2) thanks and recognition, and (3) chats, check-ins, and consultations. The themes highlighted inconsistencies in club communication and onboarding practices, often leaving parents feeling dismissed, misunderstood, or undervalued. The findings emphasise the importance of prioritising meaningful and early engagement efforts with parents, which can potentially strengthen parental support, volunteerism, and contribute to a safer and more inclusive parent-supportive sport environment. Suggestions for clubs, sporting organisations, and policy makers are provided. Journal Article Sport, Education and Society 0 1 20 Informa UK Limited 1357-3322 1470-1243 Ethnography, parents, engagement, early season interactions, youth sport 31 10 2025 2025-10-31 10.1080/13573322.2025.2563693 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was supported by the Government of South Australia’s Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing under a Special Initiatives Grant [SIG00034]. 2025-12-17T16:31:56.9193547 2025-10-10T13:45:37.2120598 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences Sam Elliott 0000-0001-5348-3999 1 G. Fernandes 2 O. Anthoney 3 M. Drummond 0000-0002-2321-6803 4 Camilla Knight 5 70633__35308__bfc61050bd9c4ccbb5890ce41de670c0.pdf 70633.VOR.pdf 2025-10-10T13:53:09.1602558 Output 893570 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
spellingShingle ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
Camilla Knight
title_short ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
title_full ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
title_fullStr ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
title_full_unstemmed ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
title_sort ‘Engage me!' A multi-sport investigation of club interactions with parents at the beginning of the sporting season
author_id_str_mv 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60_***_Camilla Knight
author Camilla Knight
author2 Sam Elliott
G. Fernandes
O. Anthoney
M. Drummond
Camilla Knight
format Journal article
container_title Sport, Education and Society
container_volume 0
container_start_page 1
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1357-3322
1470-1243
doi_str_mv 10.1080/13573322.2025.2563693
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences
document_store_str 1
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description To better prepare parents for negotiating the complex and challenging nature of the youth sporting season, more attention is warranted around how clubs ‘onboard’ and support parents from the beginning of their involvement. This study utilised a multi-sport, rapid ethnography approach to examine how sport clubs engage parents at the beginning of the season and the impact of these interactions on the broader sport experience. Across four competitive youth sport settings (Australian football, netball, swimming and tennis), data were collected through 320 hours of covert field observations and 41 collaborative interviews with parents, coaches, and club leaders. Reflexive thematic analysis led to the development of three themes: (1) personalising the onboarding experience, (2) thanks and recognition, and (3) chats, check-ins, and consultations. The themes highlighted inconsistencies in club communication and onboarding practices, often leaving parents feeling dismissed, misunderstood, or undervalued. The findings emphasise the importance of prioritising meaningful and early engagement efforts with parents, which can potentially strengthen parental support, volunteerism, and contribute to a safer and more inclusive parent-supportive sport environment. Suggestions for clubs, sporting organisations, and policy makers are provided.
published_date 2025-10-31T05:37:37Z
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