ABSTRACT
A key component to out-of-school-time sport programming includes properly training adult mentors. In order for programs to foster positive youth development outcomes, their staff must have a mutually-shared approach towards rules, routines, and positive youth development principles. This chapter will overview best practices cited in current literature for training individuals to work in sport-based youth development programs. To further illustrate the evidence-based strategies, two program cases will be presented. The first program focused on developing personal and social responsibility in elementary-aged children from marginalized backgrounds. The second program was an adolescent girl's after-school boxing club focused on body empowerment. Both programs utilized community-university partnerships to recruit adults and developed the necessary training, practice, and reflective experiences to deliver an exemplary program for youth and positive experiences for mentors. The chapter concludes by sharing challenges faced when training and maintaining mentors and considerations out-of-school time program practitioners should make moving forward.
