ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is essentially promoting Positive Youth Development (PYD) as an area of research and practice. Positive youth development (PYD) is part of the positive psychology movement. Positive psychology itself arose in reaction to the deficit-reduction perspective that dominated the field of psychology in the latter half of the twentieth century. As Martin Seligman, one of the founding fathers of positive psychology, explained: "psychology is not just about illness or health; it is also about work, education, love, growth, and play". A natural connection to PYD, whose proponents adopt a strength-based approach and regard youth as having "resources to be developed" rather than "problems to be solved". Since the early 2000s PYD has been used to examine youth development through participation in sport.
