High Care Environments
As young athletes start talent identification pathways seeking selection into representative sport settings, the gravitas and motivational climate is sold to them by spruiking 'high performance environments'. But whilst there are many youth coaches that can position high performance appropriately to maintain positive developmental experiences, the term often translates into training, competition and even home settings as 'high expectations' and 'high results'.
The difference between grassroots participation and talent development has little to do with increasing levels of performance, but rather increasing levels of care. Care shown from athletes towards their craft, teammates and self. Care from coaches towards their athlete relationships, personal wellbeing, and the stimuli they expose the team to in order to achieve growth. To summarise by adapting Côté and Gilbert's research on the three levels of effective coaching, a high care environment is displayed across:
Intrapersonal level: Care towards self
Interpersonal level: Care towards others
Professional level: Care towards sport/task
Reframing youth talent-based programs as high care environments guides coaches towards autonomy-supportive behaviours rather than controlling behaviours, and promotes growth mindsets in athletes by focusing on the process-based elements that fuel performance.
The messaging to a coach and system changes from 'we expect you all to achieve an elite level of performance' to 'we expect you all to achieve an elite level of care towards all elements of performance’.
Rather than act to the detriment of performance and progression, creating high care environments encourages more holistic means of attaining elite performance and podium success.
