Perception of fathers and mothers about the sports practice of young athletes: a qualitative study

Resumen

The balanced development of young athletes in cognitive, social and affective processes is influenced by the
psychosocial agents in their environment. The aim of this study was to analyse the perceptions of parents about their
children’s participation in sport. The data of this research are from 33 semi-structured interviews with parents of
athletes belonging to two athletics clubs from U14 to U18. The results indicate that the participants think that
sport provides important values and that it is necessary to combine it with studies. In general, they maintain good
communication with their children about their sports practice, although there is little communication with the
coach, whose qualifications they do not know either. The majority of subjects indicate that they are concerned about
managing their children’s nerves and failure, because although they mention that they do not have performance
expectations of them, they recognise that they have put them under pressure on occasion. The information
gathered in this research is of great interest to find out how parents understand their children’s sports practice,
as this conditions the way in which they understand and experience sport.