Based on all the interviews, it was implied that the type of sport provider or coach matters in sport for children with ASD. Sport providers reported certain qualities and
characteristics that were important. For example, they were required to maintain high energy or be high energy in the program, something that was not always easy. When asked to describe a challenging experience, Roman, founder of KidoShido Martial Arts, stated:
The whole thing [owning, running, and instructing the program] is challenging. Sometimes it’s simply summoning the energy. You have to be alive. You have to be animated. You have to be loud.
Jesse, from Sportville, had a similar view, when also asked to describe the most challenging part of his role. He responded:
The most challenging part of my role is to like maintain consistency. So you know you have a great day and all the coaches are doing really well. And I feel like I’m very productive. And then to show up with the same zest and same the same energy.
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Another sport provider from Sportville phrased it as being “100%.” In his words,
A lot of these kids they only see once a week. So you have a responsibility to make sure. So you have to be 100% the whole time. (Liam)
Asides from maintaining high energy, the interviewees referred to what I call a sport provider aura. This aura was described as a vibe, connection, and integrity that was intrinsic to sport providers. This aura was supposedly sensed by children with ASD. Furthermore, a central part of the sport provider aura was the notion of authenticity. Sport providers needed to be authentic in their approach or instruction in sport, since sport providers, such as Roman and Liam, described the ability of children with ASD to also sense inauthenticity:
…It’s like a vibe thing. If you’ve never meditated a day in your life and you’re gonna tell a kid to meditate, they’re gonna laugh in your face. (Roman)
…They really need to see that there’s depth to your character. You have to be genuine. …they can sense a phony. (Liam)
Along with a vibrant, energetic personality and being authentic, patience and persistence were additionally reported as valuable. When asked what she would advise a new sport provider when working with children with ASD, Reba shared, “[Be] critical. Be patient. The child may not necessarily respond to you.” Liam had similar words, when asked what it is like interacting with children with ASD:
Initially, your first thought is okay this is gonna be a little bit difficult. And um eventually you learn how to. [Interacting with children with ASD is] not hard, it’s just um, a lot of patience. It’s more so tedious. [Interacting with children with ASD is] not as difficult and it’s not to say it can’t be done. A certain level of care is required to get it done. Generally,
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it’s different because you have to focus a little bit more on these individuals. Give them a little more attention.
For Liam, interacting with a child with ASD can be challenging. Interestingly, the patience and persistence of sport providers could foster these same qualities in the children. For example, Liam remembered one of his players on the autism spectrum:
This young little boy, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t participate ever. But they’re persistent. Slowly. And now he he’ll sit and listen to instructions.
In another example, Roman described strategies he has used in his class:
I’ve structured [the program] in a way where there are times where we work all together. An all together group. Sometimes there’s like an all together group but it’s like it’s just gonna get to your turn. Like hang on. Sometimes it’s just one on two, one on three, or one on one. Everybody else is taking a break. So, in between that, they go and sit down and they wait. I’ll call the next two, work with them for a minute or two.
He later adds,
One thing I started doing the last couple of years is I have a couple of kids who really have been with me for four or five or six years. So I put them in with some of the younger kids. And they help me run the class. (Roman)
Both of Roman’s comments demonstrate how he is able to simultaneously adapt, be creative, and be patient when he instructs the children in his program. There is an assumption that these
characteristics are then learned and taken up by the children themselves, such that some of them are then able to serve as Roman’s helpers.
When providing sport for children with ASD, it was expected by the children that the sport provider or coach be energetic and fully present, while also simultaneously being authentic
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and patient. These seemed to be important qualities and characteristics of sport providers that were desired in sport by children with ASD. This is illustrated specifically when Roman describes in greater detail what being a sport provider for children with disabilities entails:
It’s not about the words. Everyone can say the right words. Well… Why do kids follow this person and not that one? There is an integrity there. There is a vibe. They know. …I come in and I have no integrity, [the children] smell it, [the children] sense it. To the degree. And [the children] know that something is off. It’ll come in the voice. It’ll come in the body language.
From this excerpt, it appears that sport providers assume the children are aware of a particular sport provider aura and that this aura, in the form of certain qualities and characteristics, ensured ‘buy-in’ from the children to engage in sport (i.e., a ‘normal’ activity for ‘normal’ children). Some of these qualities and characteristics were then thought to be taken up by the children themselves. Thus, once buy-in was achieved, the children could be normalized. One could argue then that the sport providers are not just facilitating the children’s sports participation but they also are engaging in normalizing work.
On the surface, the sport provider aura seems ‘good.’ Sport providers appear selfless and likely have ‘good’ intentions. However, Roman’s quote may actually be worrisome. The sport providers seem to have a saviour complex. I, myself, have branded sport providers as seemingly ‘good’ by using the very term ‘aura.’ The sport providers are often untrained formally, yet they are seen as experts. In addition, they are not typical sport providers, since the literature would suggest that sport providers who work with or coach children with disabilities, including children with ASD, are not confident at all (Pedersen, 2019; Rosso, 2016). Perhaps, sport provider aura is a misleading, and instead should be replaced with sport provider saviour complex.
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