Daniel Gould
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, USA
Dan Gould is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and the Gwen Norrell Professor of Youth Sports and Student-Athlete Well-Being Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the Michigan State University. Actively involved in research, Dan has studied the stress-athletic performance relationship, sources of athletic stress, stress and burnout in young athletes, the psychology of coaching, and athletic talent development. His current research focuses on the psychology of coaching and how life skills are developed in young athletes.
Dan has over 200 scholarly publications and has been invited to speak on sport psychology topics in over 30 countries. His research has been funded by organizations such as the US Olympic Committee, The US Tennis Association, the US Anti-Doping Agency, and the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Three research-based children’s sports texts have been co-edited by Dan and he served as one of the founding coeditors of The Sport Psychologist. He has co-authored, Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology (with Bob Weinberg), the most widely used textbook in sport and exercise psychology, and Understanding Psychological Preparation for Sport: Theory and Practice of Elite Performers (with Lew Hardy and Graham Jones).
Dan has dedicated much of his career to applied sport psychology efforts as a mental skills training consultant, coaching educator and author. He has consulted extensively with athletes of all age and skill levels and served as a performance enhancement consultant with the U.S. Ski Team, USA Wrestling, US Figure Skating, professional auto racing teams and numerous other Olympic athletes. Dan has also given hundreds of coaching education clinic presentations and developed numerous coaching and coaching education programs aimed at coaches ranging from the youth to Olympic levels.
Developing Life Skills in Athletes
Daniel Gould
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, USA
It is often assumed that participation in sport will enhance participant psychological and social growth. Implicit in this assumption is that players will develop such characteristics as teamwork, work ethic, communication skills, integrity and emotional regulation that will not only help them on the field of play but in other life venues. This presentation will summarize the research on life skills development through sport participation showing that under the “right” conditions life skills can be developed through sport. A model explaining how and under what circumstances this occurs will be presented. I will then discuss the steps that can be used to help athletes develop life skills through sport. These include: (1) assessing the athletes current level of life skills and openness to further developing them; (2) creating a conducive environment for life skills development; (3) emphasizing the intentional teaching and fostering of life skills; (4) selecting coaches with the right philosophy and coaching competencies; (5) fostering strong coach-athlete relationships; (6) coordinating life skills development efforts with other individuals and agencies in athletes lives; (7) emphasizing the use of reflection on the part of athletes, and (8) teaching for transfer.
