1. Concept Map 1
Concept maps are tools used to represent knowledge, organize ideas and connect
concepts in order to link subject categories and enhance learning experiences. In this course we
have covered a variety of concepts including; perceived competence, motivational climates, self-
determination theory, parental and peer influence, and sport specialization vs multisport
diversification. Putting these ideas together in a concept map will demonstrate the processes that
I believe are most influential to youth`s psychosocial development through physical activity.
The concept map was developed specifically for children aged 13-15 because this is the
age range I am currently coaching in my community. At this age there is a developmental change
in youth sport and physical activity where athletes begin to take on more responsibilities and
answer the question of sport specialization or multisport diversification. In order to answer this
question, an athlete requires fundamental skills that will result in a positive experience in
physical activity that is life-long. Support systems, motivation to participate, and level of
perceived competence are the fundamental structures of youth athletes that establish whether
physical activity will positively reinforce their physical, psychological, and social development.
Weiss suggests in her article that physical activity can have positive or negative effects on youth
psychosocial development depending on the systems used to instruct youth sport and the
methods used to encourage continued participation. The objective of each youth sport leader
should be to maximize the positive experiences and minimize the negative experiences of
children in physical activity as well as sustain active involvement and value the enjoyment of
sport (Weiss, M. 95). For this reason, I believe the coaches and teachers have an essential role in
determining whether an athlete has a positive or negative experience in physical activity and
influences further participation in a certain sport.

2. Concept Map 2
The first concept map includes the ideas that self-confidence, motivation, and support
systems are the main categories that influence the development of a young athlete. The structure
remained constant throughout the development of the final concept map with the only change
being replacing self-confidence with perceived competence as a fundamental structure in the
design. Perceived competence became the focal point of the map because the articles by Weiss,
Boyce, and Cote & Hay connect their fundamental concepts of motivational climates, sport
commitment, and achievement goals to the idea of competence and sources of perceived
competence. The articles provided knowledge which added depth and understanding to the
original concept map and clarified many key ideas. The psychosocial development of a young
athlete is directly connected to their perceived competence in physical activity because it
determines if a child finds enjoyment in a sport and establishes a healthy motivation to continue
participating in physical activity.
The second concept map is based mainly on the article by Weiss, relating key terms such
as; source of competence, dimensions of self-esteem, accuracy of physical competence, and the
relationship of ability and effort to the psychosocial development of children in sport and
physical activity. The concept map was targeted to athletes ages 13-15 and therefore contains
developmentally appropriate terminology such as the sources of evaluation and feedback, as well
as the four domains of self-esteem. Weiss (95) suggests that children at different stages of
development require modified sources of evaluation, as well as revised coach feedback,
modeling and reinforcement. When children enter adolescence they seek sources of feedback
and evaluations other than their parents, at ages 10-14 children rely heavily on peers for
evaluation and feedback in a sport and physical activity setting. As a result, friendships and

3. Concept Map 3
social comparisons in this age group are very important to an athlete’s perceived competence and
their level of self-esteem. Dimensions of self-esteem shift in adolescence, focusing more on
close friendships, romantic relationships, job competence, and morality. Furthermore, The
second concept maps shows a connection between peer evaluation, level of self-esteem, and
accuracy of physical competence because a change in one of these areas will have an impact on
the others. For example, if an athlete compares him or herself to a friend who is highly skilled,
they will have lowered perceived competence, and an altered sense of self-esteem. The concept
map also contains the notion that as children develop they are able to differentiate effort and
ability as performance outcomes of athletic ability. This idea is closely connected to ability
capacity and the realization that increased effort does not mean an increase in ability. When
children reach a level of maturation, they can accurately evaluate their own physical competence
based on self-reflection, self-regulation, and self-judging (Weiss, M., 95). Finally, the concept
map also contains the idea of reward systems and how they differ for intrinsically motivated
athletes where the activity is a reward in and of itself and extrinsically motivated athletes who
seek championships, money, and acceptance.
The third concept map introduces new concepts that were discussed in the articles by
Boyce (2009), Bryan & Solmon (2004), Gould & Carson (2004), and Cote & Hay (2002) that
add knowledge and depth to the understanding of athlete development. Key terms that were
added to the concept map include; motivational climates, self-determination, sport development,
and the sport commitment model which are connected to the pre-existing concepts. The new
organization system of the concept map integrates the main structures of motivation,
competence, and support systems with subcategories that explain how athletes develop and why

4. Concept Map 4
they continue in sport participation. One subcategory is motivational climates which contain two
distinct organizational strategies that allow teachers or instructors to emphasize specific goals of
the team or class (Boyce, A. 2009). Classes are split into mastery (task-involving) or
performance (ego-involving) orientation depending on the goals of the instructor and have a
direct impact on an athlete’s self-determination to participate in physical activity. The self-
determination continuum represents the level of motivation a child has to participate in physical
activity, ranging from amotivation to intrinsic motivation. These concepts are tied together by
the fact that the level and type of motivation an athlete has plays a major role in their sport
experience. These ideas are linked to perceived competence and show how a motivational
climate can guide an athlete’s accuracy to evaluate physical competence and effect self-esteem.
Furthermore, sport development is associated with competence and maturation because as an
athlete progresses into the precision phase they must evaluate their physical competence and
determine if they will specialize in a certain sport or continue multi-sport diversification (Gould
& Carson 2004).
The final concept map introduces the theories of parental and peer influence described by
Brustad, (2002), ties all the articles together and modifies the links between concepts. Although
the main structure is the same as the previous map, there are slight modifications to the links
between subcategories such as joining autonomy to self-determination and freedom, and the
inclusion of relatedness in connection to commitment and the development of values, beliefs and
attitudes. These changes were made because they demonstrate a logical development path by
relating intrinsic motivation to autonomous play and the level of enjoyment a child experiences
in a sport (Brustad, R. 2002). Additionally, challenge-seeking behaviour has been relocated

5. Concept Map 5
because it is a product of intrinsic motivation and a mastery climate, and therefore should be
connected to the self-determination continuum. The concept map also outlines the specific
developmental changes that a child age 13-15 experiences in terms sources of feedback and
motivation. Children who are entering adolescence have a different support system compared to
when they were 8 and 9 years old because they are maturing psychologically, socially and
physically. As a result, they begin to rely on other sources of feedback and evaluation, moving
away from parental influence and moving towards peer influence and at a smaller scale, self-
regulation. A child’s psychosocial development is influenced both negatively and positively by
their support systems, motivation to participate, and level of perceived competence. For this
reason I included how different physical health environments can affect a child’s ongoing
participation in sport and their experiences in physical activity. I consider these three categories
to be the fundamental structures which develop youth athletes and positively reinforce athletic
experiences. In Brustad, 2002 the concept of parental and peer influence was discussed and how
it shapes a child’s development in a sport or physical activity setting. The source of evaluation
and type of feedback a youth athlete receives is essential for their development and maturation;
therefore, it is closely connected to support systems on the concept map. When a child is in their
early development years (ages 8-9) they rely strongly on their parents to initiate socialization and
provide the child with a source of evaluation and feedback of sport performance. Parents play a
large role in establishing perceptions of competence, and heightened positive affect by providing
encouragement, feedback, and reinforcement which influences a child’s views on their sport
performance. In this concept map, parental influence is replaced, in part by peer evaluation
because at ages 10-14 a child’s source of feedback shifts due to physical, psychological, and
social development. As a result, peer acceptance, social comparisons, and friendships are the

6. Concept Map 6
main factors that impact sport performance satisfaction, and determine if a young athlete will
continue to participate in physical activity. Peer comparison and evaluation becomes a dominant
form of feedback for the students I am coaching, as well as the use of internal regulation for
early maturing athletes. At late adolescence, there is another shift away from peer evaluation and
an increase in the use of internal criteria such as goal achievement, self-improvement, ease of
learning new skills, and the enjoyment of the activity (Weiss, M. 95). The concept map shows
the importance of peer comparison and an increase in self-regulation at this stage of development
and how it is connected to other concepts of perceived competence, dimensions of self-esteem,
and motivation to participate. I linked support systems to parental feedback, peer evaluation, and
self-assessment on the concept map because the ideas are closely connected and the influence of
family, coaches, teachers, and peers shape a young athletes psychosocial development.
Perceived competence is another fundamental concept that I believe to be essential for
an athlete’s growth and maturation in physical activity. Competence is developed through
feelings and patterns of self-perceptions originating from external or internal sources of
performance control. Athletes develop perceived competence through parental or peer evaluation
and feedback which are external sources of information, or internal sources such as self-
regulation to judge their performance. As children develop, they can more accurately determine
their perceived level of competence because of their increased cognitive ability to evaluate the
causes of performance outcomes in terms of ability, effort, and task difficulty (Weiss, M. 95).
With the increase in accuracy of performance judgments there is also a developmental shift that
signals lower levels of perceived competence with increasing age. This is a result of athletes
being able to differentiate effort and ability and its impact performance outcomes and athletic
ability. Cognitive development allows children to understand that high effort in a certain sport

7. Concept Map 7
does not necessarily mean successful perform, as a result the athletes are able to judge their
competence based on a balance between effort and ability. The idea of perceived competence is a
fundamental structure on the concept map because it contributes a major role in determining an
athlete’s willingness to try new activities and participate in challenge-seeking activities (Bryan,
C., Solmon, M. 2007). Furthermore, there is a strong connection between perceived competence
and an athlete’s level of self-determination. Self-determination is the reason why an athlete
continues to participate in a certain sport whether it is extrinsic or intrinsic motivation.
Additionally, athletes who have high perceive competence typically have high self-determination
and rely on internal factors for reasons to participate. I chose to connect these terms on the
concept map because feelings of competence in a sport will have a strong influence on an
athlete’s level of self-determination to participate in physical activity and their involvement in
challenge-seeking behavior. The continuum of self-determination states that children’s
participation in physical activity ranging from Amotivation which is a state where individuals are
not stimulated to make an effort to participate, to intrinsic motivation where the enjoyment of the
activity is the main reason to participate (Bryan, C., Solmon, M. 2007). As a result, children who
consider themselves competent at a certain sport and are more likely motivated to participate
based on the enjoyment of the activity itself and will engage in more challenging activities in the
future.
A child’s psychosocial development in a sport is regulated by motivation, competence
and support systems which can provide both negative and positive experiences in physical
activity. The concept map outlines the internal and external processes that impact children and
define the likelihood they will continue to participate in physical activity. An athlete’s
experience shapes their level of enjoyment in a sport and determines their willingness to try new

8. Concept Map 8
activities and seek challenges. For this reason, coaches and teachers must foster an environment
that nurtures mastery attempts over performance, provides social acceptance, and improves
perceived competence so that children find enjoyment in sports and continue to participate in
physical activity.

9. Concept Map 9
References:
Boyce, A. (2009). Creating Instructional Environments that Keep Students on TARGET.
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (pub.) vol 80 n. 1
Brutstad, R. (2002). Parental and Peer Influence on Children’s Psychosocial Development
Through Sport. University of Northern Colorado.
Bryan, C., Solmon, M. (2007). Self-Determination in Physicl Educstion: Designing Class
Environments to Promote Active Lifestyles. Journal of Teaching in PhysicalEducation, Human
Kinetics. Louisiana State University.
Cote, J., Hay, J. (2002) Children’s Involvement in Sport: A Developmental Perspective. Allyn &
Bacon (pub.)
Gould, D., Carson, S. (2004) Myths surrounding the role of youth sports in developing Olympic
champions. Australian Clearinghouse of Youth Studies (pub.) vol 23 n. 1
Weiis, M. (1995) Children In Sport: An Educational Model. Human Kinetics (pub.) University of
Oregon.