"LiFEsports in the Pandemic: COVID-19 Didn’t Stop Us!"
LiFEsports in the Pandemic
Keywords:
covid-19, youth sports, positive youth developmentAbstract
Sport is critical to the health and well-being of youth, especially those who are socially vulnerable. COVID-19, however, brought challenges to the design and implementation of youth sport program. The present study details the three adaptions of LiFEsports that ensured youth could continue to learn social skills through sport during the pandemic. One hundred twenty parents/caregivers of youth in the ‘Sport in a Bag’ home distribution adaptation completed post-surveys about their youths’ experiences. Youth in the ‘Sport in a Bag’ virtual camp and LiFEsports+ in the Community adaptations completed pre- and post-surveys. Evidence is provided to suggest youth benefited as they engaged in sport, developed relationships, and learned social skills. Efforts to improve implementation fidelity are needed, yet some innovations are important to leverage for virtual and at-home sport programming.
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