Sport psychologists Drs. Frank Smoll and Ronald Smith of the University of Washington are the co-directors of a project known as Youth Enrichment in Sports (YESports). Originally funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the William T. Grant Foundation, the project is designed to develop, evaluate, and deliver child-centered educational programs that benefit young athletes. These training programs help coaches and parents create a mastery climate that promotes healthy achievement in all areas of life, including sports. A mastery orientation emphasizes skill development, maximum effort, and fun; and it occurs within an encouraging and supportive interpersonal environment. Scientific research has shown that a mastery orientation to youth sports has strong positive effects on children and adolescents.

The Mastery Approach to Coaching is the only scientifically validated coaching-education workshop that has been shown to have desirable effects on youngsters’ personal, social, and athletic development. The workshop has been transformed into a self-instruction DVD. The program presents recorded segments of a live workshop that incorporates several educational procedures (lecture, dynamic interaction, modeling, and role playing). It is specifically designed to teach mastery-oriented coaching principles with the aid of animated coach-athlete cartoons, photos, and embedded videos.

The Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports is a research-based self-instruction DVD that complements the program for coaches. Similar to coaching education, the major focus is on encouraging mastery involvement by parents. This includes an emphasis on reinforcement of effort as well as outcome, personalized goal setting, defining success as achieving one’s potential, and emphasizing enjoyment and personal improvement as opposed to winning at all costs.