Participant Development Literature Review

Participant Development in Sport: An Academic Review, Bailey R, Collins D, Ford P, MacNamara A, Toms M & Pearce G, 2010, April

A systematic review of the literature on how participants develop through sport which will be useful to coaching system builders working on Participant Development Models, academics and coaches.

Click here to read the report

Click Here to read the executive summary

About the Report

Participant development is a central aspect of any sports development framework as it is concerned with the activities experienced, the pathways followed and the obstacles encountered by players during their sporting and/or physical activity careers.

This review seeks to identify the main findings/principles associated with participant development, the methods used to generate this information, and the strengths and weaknesses of the supporting research.  Areas covered include:

• Underpinning philosophy
• Models of participant development
• The biological domain
• The psychological domain
• The Social Domain

The review also contains a summary of findings, suggested ways forward and recommendations.

More information

The project was conceived by sports coach UK, and funded by sports coach UK and Sport Northern Ireland.

To download a copy of the report or executive summary click on the link in the Related Information section on the right hand side of the page.