Basketball experience: Exploring Nigerian basketball coaches' perspectives of grassroots sport-for-development programming as a tool to enhance well-being

Abstract

Considering the disparity between mental health services and resources available in Nigeria, researchers have highlighted the need for organizations, policymakers, and health service providers to revamp their approaches. Due to its unifying nature and cultural importance in the youth population, grassroots sport programming has been shown to be an effective mechanism in promoting education and life skills. In Lagos, Nigeria, the Basketball Experience program was designed to promote physical well-being, healthy living, mental health, and life skills in Nigerian youth utilizing principles from the Resilience and Youth Development Module. Researchers interviewed seven female and three male coaches using a phenomenological approach to investigate their perspectives of the program's impact on themselves and the youth they coach. Results suggest that implementing mental health education and resilience development, specifically through positive mentorship and strategies such as breathing and mindfulness exercises, into a sport for development program can assist with increased knowledge and reduced mental health stigma. Coaches strongly endorsed increased use of programs like Basketball Experience to promote positive development and combat the disparity in mental health literacy and policy, and they suggested that such programs have the power to help restructure the longstanding cycle of negative stressors inherent to life in Nigeria. Based on these perspectives, the authors discuss how grassroots sport programming can be an effective tool in the development of both coaches and youth. Moreover, the authors advocate for the Resilience and Youth Development Module as an impactful theoretical framework for facilitating resilience and life skills in coaches and youth.