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The role that parents play in a young athlete's sport involvement is receiving much scrutiny today and reports of "problem" or over-involved parents are common. There are also concerns that parental push to compete at a high level, specialise in single sports, and engage in year round intense training at very young ages is leading to an increase in overuse injuries in young athletes. 1
These concerns also exist in tennis. High profile cases, such as the father who in the hope of gaining a competitive advantage drugged his child's competitors, have helped to label many tennis parents as problems that coaches and tennis administrators must manage. For example, a study of junior tennis players and their parents revealed that winning was very important for 33% of parents, and 29% of players and 20% of parents reported that inappropriate behaviours were exhibited by parents. 2 Yet, coaches also realise that many parents are positive sources of support for their children, even though negative parents often receive much of the attention. 3 In fact, many top players are reported to have parents highly involved in their tennis experience who instil in them the critical values needed for tennis success (N Saviano, personal communication, 2001). In addition, parental involvement and support has been associated with a player's enjoyment, performance, and self esteem. 4, 5 Finally, Fredericks and Eccles 6 have theorised that parents play two important roles in their child's sport involvement: as both providers of experiences and interpreters of those experiences-for example, they help them to define success. Recent evidence 7 supports these contentions.
The role of parents in both junior tennis and youth sports at large then is paradoxical-on the one hand an issue of growing concern, whereas on the other hand essential for enhancing involvement and talent development. Recognising this, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Sport Science Committee funded a three phase project designed to understand the parent's role in tennis talent development and success with an emphasis on gaining a broader view of positive and negative parental behaviours and actions. The second phase of this project is the focus of this paper: a national survey of junior tennis coaches and their perceptions of positive and negative parental behaviours.
METHOD
Participants in the...