Beginning youth coaches often struggle to effectively guide children with difficult-to-understand behavior, such as anger or shyness. App4Support, developed under the leadership of Dr. Janet Moeijes (Windesheim University of Applied Sciences), offers a solution with practical, pedagogically sound tips. The app provides insight into behaviors and offers real-time suggestions on the sports field for how to respond effectively. Outside of training, the app helps coaches explore alternative approaches. This way, they learn to guide children positively, which contributes to a better sports climate and helps prevent sports dropout.

During TT Festival in Assen, the developers showed visitors—primarily parents and volunteers in sports—short videos of recognizable behavioral issues. Using the app, they could look up and evaluate appropriate responses. This tested how user-friendly, relevant, and effective the app is in practice. Over 60 people participated in the test. The tips were experienced as useful and clear, and most participants recognized the described hesitation to act. Valuable improvement feedback was also received: for example, users missed a category for “parent behavior” and wanted more synonyms in the search function. The app proved to be more suitable for use before or after training, rather than during. Additionally, coaches from other sports showed interest in its broader applicability.

Based on these insights, App4Support is adding new behavior categories and search terms, and is looking into application in multiple sports and potentially by parents. Research is being conducted into how gamification and visual materials (photos and videos) can make the tips more appealing. Collaboration with youth sports organizations and sports academies will be further expanded, while an active search for a sustainable business model is underway to be less dependent on subsidies.

In collaboration with: TT Festival Assen, Regieorgaan SIA, Sportinnovator, Feeton, and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences.