Research Foundation

Scientific evidence confirms that a mastery orientation has strong positive effects on children in a variety of achievement domains, including sports. A mastery orientation involves an emphasis on skill development, maximum effort, and fun, and it occurs within an encouraging and supportive learning environment. In contrast to a "win at all costs" approach, a mastery climate has been shown to have the following benefits for young athletes:

• More enjoyment of their sport experiences
• Greater attachment to the coach
• Greater liking for teammates
• Increases in self-esteem
• Decreases in performance anxiety
• Reduced dropout rates from sports
• Increases in mastery-oriented achievement goals and decreases in an emphasis on defining success as outperforming others
• Higher mastery-oriented achievement goals in school