Trevor Bopp, Joshua D. Vadeboncoeur, Melissa Weinsz

Abstract: Sport-based youth development (SBYD) programs utilize sport to positively contribute to youth’s overall development. It is professed sport provides experiences and a context in which life skills and development assets can be learned and practiced, so as to transfer into other life occurrences. Resilience, the ability to positively act and adapt while coping with stress, anxiety, and adverse situations, is one such developmental asset. Thus, the overall purpose of this paper is to examine the role of a SBYD program in supporting and enhancing resilience among racially and economically marginalized youth. Interviews reveal that this particular SBYD program is having a positive impact on participants’ ability to better manage, interact with, and persevere in their current environments. One space in which this has been particularly helpful is the youths’ academic resilience. These findings are further discussed with regards to their practical and conceptual application to SBYD program design and curriculum.

Keywords: academic engagement, youth of color, resilience, sport-based youth development

Citation: Bopp, T., Vadeboncoeur, J. D., & Weinsz, M. (2021). Examining a sport-based youth development program’s impact on the resilience of racially and economically marginalized youth. International Journal of Sport Management, 22(2), 151-170.

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