Competitive Engineering: Structural Climate Modifications to Enhance Youth Athletes' Competitive Experience

Abstract

Competitive engineering (CE) is a structural-based approach to changing the competitive environment of youth sports to provide more nurturing competitive experiences. Thus, in youth sport, CE attempts to enhance a variety of psychosocial outcomes by making systematic changes to the competitive environment in which athletes perform. A working CE model is presented that employs four CE strategies (i.e., modifying structure, rules, facilities and equipment) to promote athlete engagement goals based on athlete-directed sandlot sport principles (i.e., increasing action and scoring, keeping scores close, enhancing personal involvement, and maintaining positive social relationships) in order to attain intrinsic motivation outcomes, particularly competence, autonomy, relatedness and Flow while promoting an autonomy supportive climate. Discussion focuses on how the CE model can best promote research and intervention to enhance competitive climates in order to promote better sport experiences for all youngsters.

Playing by the Rules: A Developmentally Appropriate Introduction to Rugby Union

“…While some of the issues driving this competitive engineering [21] might be specific to rugby union, there are also implications for other sports when designing rules for competitive youth sport. It is important that national governing bodies prioritise key behaviours and skills from specific games, rather than being constrained by what adult versions of the game might look like.…”

“…The aim of the current study was therefore to investigate if the principles for practice from the DMSP could be applied to competitive under-9 rugby union games, by manipulating the rules of play (competitive engineering [21]). As such, this is the first study to explore the impact of rules changes on player behaviours and opinions in a national trial in any youth sport.…”

Are all sport activities equal? A systematic review of how youth psychosocial experiences vary across differing sport activities

“…To do so, it is relevant to reconsider the call to adapt rules, equipment and facilities put forth within the Aspen Institute's ‘Project Play’ introduced earlier in this manuscript. Indeed, sport organisations continue to redesign youth sport leagues,72 and psychosocial models have emerged to guide adaptations to rules and facilities in ways that promote positive sport experiences (eg, competitive engineering17 73). However, only one article from this review examined young athletes' experiences following systematic adaptations to their league's sport rules and facilities.…”

Study on Youth Handball Regulations: A Documental Analysis on the Mandatory Use of Individual Defensive System in Under -12 and Under-14 Competitions

“…Este estudo inclui apenas as competições organizadas no estado de São Paulo que abrangem os anos de experimentação e especialização 8 , delimitadas para a faixa etária de 11 a 14 anos, conforme definido pelo referencial teórico utilizado neste artigo 6,7 . Duas entidades enviaram os regulamentos por e-mail e outros seis regulamentos foram coletados nos sites oficiais das entidades organizadoras, pois esses documentos estavam publicamente disponíveis e não apresentavam restrições para sua consulta, coleta e análise 20,21 Análise dos Dados A análise documental foi realizada pelo primeiro autor, experiente na interpretação e elaboração de regras competitivas para competições de jovens e ocorreu por meio da triangulação metodológica 22 estabelecida entre Análise de Conteúdo, seguindo as etapas de pré-análise, exploração do material e tratamento dos dados segundo a proposta de Bardin 17 e o processo de redução de dados e categorização indutiva de acordo com a Análise Qualitativa de Conteúdo proposta por Mayring 23 , resultando em uma análise de conteúdo por redução de dados, descrita a seguir.…”

“…Estruturas teóricas baseadas nessas premissas têm sido propostas para mudar o cenário competitivo dos jovens considerando metas de engajamento como aumento de ação e pontuação, manutenção de pontuações próximas, melhoria de envolvimento pessoal, oportunidade de equalização competitiva e níveis competitivos ajustados às possibilidades e interesses de jovens jogadores [6][7][8] . Estudos recentes têm sido baseados nessas estruturas teóricas para discutir como as mudanças nas instalações, equipamentos, estruturas e regras de jogo influenciam os diferentes objetivos de engajamento e aprendizagem dos jovens [9][10][11] .…”