ABSTRACT
Most Western youth engage in some form of organised sport during childhood and/or adolescence. Parents are engaged in this setting as well, and exhibit a range of involvement behaviours over the course of children’s athletic careers. The first aim of this chapter is to examine parent involvement through the complementary lenses of family systems theory and bioecological theory. To highlight the utility of these theories, the chapter highlights an American family whom the author has been following over its first six years of youth sport participation. Lessons are also shared from the author’s experiences as a coach, practitioner, and parent. The second aim of this chapter is to provide evidence for the effectiveness of evidence-based parenting programmes in North American and European organised youth sport. Two programmes are highlighted, one with football parents in the United States and another with tennis parents in the United Kingdom.
