Co-creation in youth sport development: examining (mis)alignment between coaches and parents

The authors explore the challenges and opportunities for a youth sport system in an entrepreneurial marketplace by identifying areas of (mis)alignment between parents and coaches, a key partnership in youth sport development. The context of tennis was used to recruit a sample of 130 parents and 113 coaches based in the United States. Choice-based conjoint analysis was used to compare the relative importance parents and coaches place on key youth sport program attributes and their preference for specific attribute levels. Information sources were also examined. Significant differences were found between parents’ and coaches’ preferences for specific program implementations, and the importance they placed on each attribute. Univariate analyses revealed significant differences for parents’ and coaches’ preferences for levels within each attribute, although the order of preference for each level was the same. Parents and coaches also differed in the importance placed on information sources. Overall findings indicate misalignment, which may affect parent/coach collaboration and ultimately inhibit effective athlete development. However, the findings do suggest the potential for collaboration, as parents and coaches value shared responsibility. Recommendations for facilitating collaboration for more effective athlete development include reducing consumer confusion via shared language and interpretation, and stimulating co-creation via structural change. Youth sport parents considered coach certification the most important element of a youth sport program.Coaches placed the most importance on who had overall responsibility for athlete development.Parents and coaches saw shared responsibility for athlete development as preferrable.Relatively low preference for interaction acts as a barrier to effective co-creation.