Sports from a pedagogical perspective

One of the responsibilities of the Netherlands Olympic Committee*Netherlands Sports Confederation (NOC*NSF) is to create a responsible youth sport policy within organized youth sport. This means that this policy is in the best interest of the child, and aimed at creating a pedagogical climate when practising sport. A pedagogical climate is a situation in which children and youngsters can develop themselves cognitively, socially, psychologically and/or physically and which holds educational values (pedagogical perspective). This is important because it has become clear that organized youth sport,next to family and school, is an important socializing context for children and adolescents (Kay 2009; Light 2010). In this way, sports have become known as the third pedagogical environment (Cotterell 1996; Dekovic 1999). The sports club is one of the most important sites for sports participationof youth (Coakley 1998). From the ages of 6 to 11 and 12 to 17 years, 66 per cent and 65 per cent of all Dutch children are members of a sports club, respectively (Tiessen-Raaphorst et al. 2010). There is, therefore, no doubt that children and adolescents are influenced by the social activity they participate in. Participation offers possibilities to learn, both consciously and subconsciously. Sports are no exception and offer children specific new experiences and new ways to act through engagement in practice (Light 2010; Kelly 2011). While I have outlined that sports are inherently social practices, researchersagree that pure engagement in sports does not automatically lead to positive outcomes and improved social, psychological and/or moral character (Shields et al. 1995; Todd and Hodge 2001; Coakley 2004 [1997]). Sports can also lead to the opposite: egotism, arrogance, bullying, discrimination and injuries, butthis effect is largely shaped by the context of youth sport participation. The actual effect of participation in sports on the child’s development principally depends on the way the sports are played or how the sports project is executed, and the social context in which it takes place (Krouwel et al. 2006; Stegeman 2007).