(Re)Imagining Civic Education: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study on How Youth Soccer Coaches Cultivate Civic Values in Young Players

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Abstract

This study examines how youth soccer coaches foster civic values such as respect, responsibility, empathy, and leadership in young players through their daily training practices. Based on John Dewey’s theory of democratic education and Wenger’s Communities of Practice framework, the research reimagines the soccer field as a “civic classroom in disguise.” It challenges the traditional view that civic education occurs only in formal classroom settings by exploring how youth soccer coaches act as civic educators. Using a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with four youth coaches who incorporate civic values into their coaching. Early findings indicate that coaches promote civic values unintentionally through leadership delegation and disciplinary routines that embody democratic principles and support civic development.

Author

• Saviour A. Kitcher, Michigan State University