Thinking about the transfer of life skills: Reflections from youth in a community-based sport programme in an underserved urban setting

Abstract

Research demonstrates that quality sport-based youth development (SBYD) programmes foster the teaching of life skills (e.g. leadership, self-control) and promote the use of these skills in youths’ social environments. Nonetheless, one criticism of this research is the limited evidence of “transfer” or application of skills in other contexts, potentially due to the narrow nature of how transfer has been conceptualised, i.e. equated with behavioural outcomes. A parallel line of research, called transformative learning, finds that transfer is a multi-dimensional experience that includes cognitive processes. Thus, the purpose this study is to examine youth perceptions of transfer of life skills from sport to life, with an emphasis on how they think about application of life skills. This study included 11 adolescent youth from a SBYD programme in an underserved urban setting. One focus group and two individual interviews with each participant were conducted examining youths’ understanding, perceived relevance, and motivation for applying life skills taught in the programme. Results indicated that participants’ perceptions of transfer were characterised by three themes: thinking about meaning, thinking beyond the self, and thinking through situations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.