title: Exploring children's agency, wellbeing and consent in competitive sport: a case study from a rugby club
Creators: name: Barnes, Ruth
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: children’s participation in sport
subject: children’s wellbeing and harm
subject: children’s agency
subject: rugby
subject: team relationships
subject: wellbeing benefits
subject: parental consent
subject: policy and practice
subject: parent-child relationships in sport

description: The wellbeing benefits of children’s sport are well documented, with children encouraged to participate in sporting activities for their physical and mental health and for the social opportunities they can provide. At the same time, there has been increasing awareness that children in organised sport face wellbeing risks. These concerns relate to excessive exertion or injury but are also connected to abuse and perpetrated harm. Yet, children continue to participate in sport, and, especially outside of school settings, this is most often facilitated by parental agreement and resources. Children playing – and enjoying – sports in contexts in which harm is known to be possible calls into consideration how wellbeing and harm are understood by those involved, how children practice agency in this participation and how parental consent interacts with and affects children’s wellbeing, agency and consent. Existing research has considered children’s agency and wellbeing at length, resulting in detailed discussions over meanings across many aspects of children’s lives, including where children act outside of societal expectations. However, this research is somewhat limited in its application to children’s agency within sport, particularly as it relates to the potential for harm. Further, while scholars have considered experiences of harm, injury and exertion in sport, the field has yet to address perceptions and co-constructions of wellbeing – including with regards to expectations around harm. Finally, there is currently a gap in the consideration of how understandings of parental consent affect children’s experiences in sport, including children’s agentic practice, their perceptions of wellbeing and harm and their own consent. This study aimed to examine the constructions of and interactions between children’s wellbeing and harm, agency and consent and parental consent in competitive sport. Three research questions were developed to address this aim: 1. How do children, parents and coaches view and understand children’s wellbeing and harm, including ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ harm, in competitive sport? 2. How do children, parents and coaches view and understand children’s agency and consent in competitive sport? 3. How do children, parents and coaches view and understand parental consent in competitive sport and how does this affect children’s perceptions of their own wellbeing and harm, agency and consent? The research used a single embedded case study to answer the research questions and address its aim. Fieldwork took place with a youth section of a rugby club in England. Rugby was chosen as a popular sport in England that involves high levels of physicality. Fieldwork included five observations of relevant teams’ training sessions (with children aged 14-18), 29 semi-structured interviews with children, parents, coaches and officials and six group discussions with children aged 14-18. Research activities also included a review of over 40 governing body and club documents. The research design included eight child-parent-coach triads as embedded units of analysis within the broader case study. Ethical considerations were core to all stages throughout the research planning and implementation, particularly as the research involved child participants and a potentially sensitive subject matter. Actions to support ethical research included using voluntary, informed consent practices, attention to confidentiality and privacy, and consideration of risks and benefits to participants throughout the study. Ethical approval was obtained from Moray House School of Education and Sport and ethical practice was further supported by the development and implementation of a living ethical protocol, including a safeguarding referral process and information sharing protocol. Data were analysed using reflective thematic analysis (Braun &amp; Clarke, 2022). This analysis drew on concepts relating to relational agency, including ‘generagency’ (Leonard, 2016), wellbeing, including subjective wellbeing (e.g., Axford et al., 2014; Ben-Arieh et al., 2014), the categorisation of harm in sport (e.g., Alexander et al., 2011) and the communication of consent in sport (e.g., Channon &amp; Matthews, 2021). Based on this, the findings chapters explore: 1) children’s, parents’ and coaches’ views and understandings of agency, particularly as connected to ‘generagency’ and the prominent ‘rugby family’ motif; 2) children’s, parents’ and coaches’ views and understandings of wellbeing and harm, including co-constructions of acceptable and unacceptable harm; and 3) children’s, parents’ and coaches’ views of children’s and parental consent and the impact on children’s agency, wellbeing and harm. The thesis forefronts children’s relational practice of agency as crucial to their wellbeing in sport, particularly in the ongoing practice of agency to provide, withhold or withdraw consent. Further, it highlights how relationships with and actions by adults – parents and coaches – can co-construct a sporting environment that supports children’s wellbeing, agency and consent. This thesis contributes to the fields of research relating to childhood studies and to children’s sport in its application of concepts – particularly those relating to relational agency – to children’s experiences within sport. In this regard, it offers a nuanced approach to understanding children’s agency that may be applied in areas outside of sport. It also contributes to closing a gap in the understanding of children’s experiences of consent and the impact of this on children’s agency and wellbeing, particularly in the identification, establishment and enforcement of consent boundaries. In this regard, this thesis highlights the importance of trust and relationships to children’s wellbeing, and within consent discussions and decisions that affect children’s wellbeing and potential harm. The thesis concludes by setting out implications for research, policy and practice, especially for children’s practice of agency and the protection of children from harm in sport. These emphasise the importance that rules and guidelines relating to physicality in sport support children’s wellbeing and protect children from harm, given their contribution to expectations relating to physical injury and in establishing boundaries to consent. Policy and practice implications also call for actions to raise awareness and support engagement among parents to ensure awareness of appropriate behaviours in sporting environments and to facilitate strong intergenerational relationships, in which shared understandings can support children’s wellbeing. Finally, the thesis calls for additional research about individual or non-contact sports, and research that addresses the intersectionality of children’s experiences within sport.