The National Olympic and Sports Association of Iceland (ISI) in association with The Youth Association of Iceland (UMFI) has run a project called “Sýnum Karakter” (Developing Character) since 2016. That project ́s aim is to bring focus on developing character through sports participation. The organization's ISI and UMFI, wanted sports clubs to be more socially inclusive by focusing more on the individual then competition and results. The project has a homepage www.synumkarakter.is which hosts different articles, from scholars, coaches, elite athletes, etc. This has brought the sports club's attention to the value of coaching character. Following the start of the project, the Sports Associations found a gap in the coaching education regarding how to coach life skills or how to develop character in training. The aim of this Erasmus+ Strategic partnership application in the field of education, training, and youth is to develop this work further and provide the Sports movement with innovative education regarding coaching character, teaching life skills, and helping sports clubs becoming more inclusive. To implement this we will focus on the application of the 5Cs model (Harwood, 2008; Harwood et al., 2015) for engaging, connecting, and empowering youth through sport via coach education and community sports engagement. The partnership will support the newly signed Memo of Understanding (MoU) between Loughborough University, the Icelandic Olympic and Sports Association, the Icelandic Football Association, The Icelandic Gymnastic Association, and the Icelandic Youth Association in addition to Reykjavik University. Principally, we will work on this aim by engaging and educating sports coaching staff in the 5Cs ‘model and method’ as part of coach education. This will enable them to introduce, model, and integrate the key concepts of Commitment, Communication, Concentration, emotional Control, and Self Confidence in their natural club coaching sessions. To supplement this education, we will create (and apply existing) educational resources to support parents and young athletes to wrap around the coach delivery. This will include some online resources/bite-size education over the course of the sports season. We aim to build a website dedicated to the 5C´s in Icelandic which will support the website www.synumkarakter.is. Build Course Curriculums for Coach Education regarding the 5C´s methods and training for the Sports Associations to teach future coaches. Create promotional materials about the 5C´s, and materials for athletes and parents. Finally, the Universities will write research papers about the project and its results as well as journal articles. The project will involve two large Icelandic sports clubs - a youth football club (Fylkir) and gymnastics club (Ármann) - a total of around 400 youth (target age is likely 11-17 years old), 30 coaches, 400-800 parents. Research using a mixed-methods implementation science model will be conducted to examine the impact, processes, and perceptions of 5Cs education to coaches, athletes, parents into the community system, and explore a variety of psychosocial outcomes - importantly linked to psychosocial literacy, character, and life skills development. The impact of the 5Cs initiative on coaching satisfaction and quality of parental involvement will also be evaluated in order to inform the ongoing application and sustainability of such psychosocial education and training going forwards throughout Icelandic youth sport. The desired impact of the project is as follows: Local - That the 5C´s will positively affect the sports environment in which athletes, parents, and coaches of the cooperating clubs operate. That it will raise awareness of psychosocial factors as necessary ingredients in talent development. That stakeholders have access to education on the 5C's and how to implement them. That the intervention will display positive effects through psychosocial assessment (questionnaires, focus groups). That there will be a spillover effect to groups not directly targeted in the intervention. Regional/National - That the 5C's will become a feature in coach education at Iceland's largest sports Associations. That sports clubs under the umbrella of the Icelandic sports Association will adopt the approach into their coaching strategy and encourage their coaches to educate themselves on the framework. This could have a big impact in the Nordic countries, Danmark, Sweden, Finnland and Norway. All of these nations cooperate and share ideas and coaching education there have also the same gap regarding coaching character and interpersonal skills. The long term benefits will be a healthier, well-balanced youth with a strong character, emotional control, and the self-esteem to make the future what they want it to be. Increased participation of youth participants and coaches who care for the individual over the out
The 5C's intervention aimed to positively impact the local sports environment by emphasizing the importance of psychosocial aspects in sports training for athletes, coaches, and parents. It provided access to education on implementing the 5Cs through club coaches, with informed coaching practices leading to anticipated positive effects assessed through psychosocial evaluations. Beyond this direct intervention within specific clubs, the project aimed to influence sports groups in Iceland to use the framework following project completion. Regionally, the 5Cs sought to become an integral part of coach education at major Icelandic sports Federations and were adopted by sports clubs under the Icelandic Olympic and Sport Association. This initiative could potentially extend to Nordic countries, addressing the gap in psychosocial training in coach education, and ultimately fostering healthier youth with strong character and self-esteem. Moreover, it encouraged a shift towards prioritizing individual development over competitive success, promoting increased participation among youth athletes and coaches.
The Sýnum Karakter www.synumkarakter.is (Developing Character) project was the impetus for this project, which the Icelandic Olympic and Sport Association and the Icelandic Youth Association started in 2016. It was an initiative to encourage sports clubs and coaches to take care of the psychological and social aspects of training and educating young people in sports. However, what was lacking was courses in training the psychosocial elements that were needed. We wanted to investigate whether it is possible to increase the well-being and development of youth athletes and coaches by giving the athletes the opportunity to learn sports psychology through coaches and how to apply it as well as the physical and technical aspects of sports training. Firstly, we applied for the project in order to investigate whether coaches could receive educational material on psychosocial training alongside other training in their sport and deliver it to youth athletes. Secondly, there was the need to explore if the 5C framework and methodology contributes to the development of core psychosocial competencies and life skills in young people.