Coach's perceptions of life skill development in badminton sport: A preliminary study

The development of life skills through sport has become an interesting issue in research studies over the last few decades. Life skills are one of the variables that are the focus of the Positive Youth Development (PYD) program through sports activities, with the hope that youth sports involvement can lead to results that are classified into 3Ps: performance, participation, and personal development. This research aims to examine coaches' perceptions of developing life skills in coaching badminton. A total of 47 coaches consisting of 10 badminton clubs in the West Java region were used as participants in this research, consisting of 30 male coaches and 17 female coaches with an average length of training (M=5.7 years; SD=3.3), and average age. (M=25.4 years; SD=6.2). The data were obtained through a survey related to the cognitive level of the low-level thinking skills (LOTS) category, namely knowledge, understanding and application of basic life skills concepts, as well as perceptions regarding the need for life skill components in badminton regarding the eight dimensions developed by Cronin & Allen (2017) consisting of 1) timework, 2) goal setting, 3) social skills, 4) problem-solving, 5) emotional skills, 6) leadership, 7) time management, 8) interpersonal communication. The data measurement results were analyzed using percentage analysis and multiple regression to see the contribution of the life skill dimensions in badminton. The results of the analysis proved that the coaches' perceptions of developing life skills in badminton were still not comprehensive. There were still coaches who did not know, understand, and integrate life skills in coaching badminton. In addition, the results of the regression model analysis showed that all the dimensional constructs assessed had different contributions. However, the eight dimensions referred to were considered dimensions needed in coaching badminton. Thus, it can be concluded that life skills are perceived as important by coaches to be integrated with badminton sports development. Therefore, the results of this preliminary study provide a very important picture regarding the need to develop a badminton sports development program by integrating life skills in the training process, with the hope of having a positive impact on youth development, especially through badminton sports development.