Implicit Transfer of Life Skills Through Participation in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Chinkov, A. E., & Holt, N. L. (2015). Implicit Transfer of Life Skills Through Participation in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1-15.

Mentioned: Jones, M. I., & Lavallee, D. (2009). Exploring perceived life skills development and participation in sport. Qualitative research in sport and exercise, 1(1), 36-50.

by Rachael Webb

It is well known through the literature that sports can be used as a vehicle for athletes or exercisers to achieve positive outcomes in their life. In this study the focus of the research was on exploring the transferability of life skills among adult athletes who participated in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Chinkoy & Holt, 2015). Life skills can be understood as skills that allow someone to deal with the demands and challenges of everyday life, More so in sport psychology we define life skills as the social, cognitive, emotional, intellectual, and physical qualities necessary for an individual to thrive as a successful member in society (Jones & Lavallee, 2009). Acquiring life skills through sport is important research to investigate in order to successfully create sporting environments that enable the learning of these life skills and allow individuals to be active agents in their own personal development. Authors Chinkoy and Holt recognize that there are two approaches to learning life skills through sport, implicit or explicit. Implicit suggests that coaches and programs, if operating under positive philosophies, will allow individuals to simply gathering life skills through learning sport-specific skills. The explicit approach implies that these life skills must be systematically taught, and this could be an opportunity for a sport psychology consultant or coach begin incorporating these like skills components into the programs they are involved in. This study brings to light not on the necessity of learning more about mechanisms through which individuals can acquire life skills, but also takes into account a sport that has been given little attention in this field.

Through a qualitative descriptive study, findings implied that the values and characteristics of this sport in operation with strong head instructors and peer support, an atmosphere for learning life skills was successful created (Chinkoy & Holt, 2015). As the research moves away form merely identifying the life skills themselves, we can begin to use this study as a foundation for understanding what characteristics and personal coach or social network attributes are leading to the success of transferable life skills. It is supported that head coaches or instructors play a significant role in this atmosphere, so taking this body of knowledge and applying it to programs from the top will be crucial in the efforts of developing individuals in their sport and in their personal lives.

On May 30, 2016