Supporting parents of male academy footballers: An action research study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Action research cycles as applied in this study.

Figure 2. Timeline of action research cycles.

Table 1. Content of the parent support sessions.

Session	Aims	Content	Evidence from Exploration and Reflection Phase	Underpinning research
Tackling the football parenting game (Postulate 5*)	Manage the demands of being a football parent	Provide parents with an overview of the academy environment. Discuss current stressors and demands. Exploration of ways to effectively manage their demands and stressors.	Parents experience organizational and developmental demands throughout their journey. Potentially takes four years for parents to develop coping strategies.	Harwood and Knight (2009, 2009) Harwood et al. (2010) Burgess et al. (2016)
Communicating with the team (Postulate 4*)	Develop better relationships and effective communication with coaches, support staff, their families, and other parents	Focus on how to gain social support from other parents. Parents to introduce themselves and network with others. Inform parents of the communication process within the academy. Discuss scenarios in relation to coach-parent-son relationships.	Frustrations with the communication from the academy. Desire for enhanced relationships with coaches. Use other parents for social support.	Burgess et al. (2016) Smoll et al. (2011)
Being a football parent (Postulate 2*)	Understand how to create a healthy emotional climate and what their current parenting style involves	Offer parents information on creating an autonomy-supportive environment in the home and in football. Provide scenarios to initiate discussion on the parenting style and approach parents would take in different football situations.	Balancing the pressure, encouragement, and support that parents provide for optimal child development was a concern.	Darling & Steinberg (2017) Grolnick (2002) Holt et al. (2009)
Supporting your child (Postulate 1*)	Exploration of the support that parents provide to their son and optimize their son’s enjoyment of football.	Discuss positives and negatives of sampling sport and early specialization in football. Exploration of the support (tangible, informational, and emotional) required when sampling, specializing, and investing in sport.	Parents unsure of how best to provide informational and emotional support to their child.	Côté et al. (2009) Côté (1999) Kay (2000)
The ups and downs of matches (Postulate 3*)	Facilitate parents’ reflection on the emotions they experience during matches and offer suggestions on how best to manage these.	Encourage parents’ reflection on their emotions before, during, and after a match, followed by exploring their coping mechanisms. Suggest further coping mechanisms that parents may wish to try were provided.	The match experiences were stressful and came with many emotional demands.	Burgess et al. (2016) Harwood and Knight (2009) Omli & LaVoi (2012)
Bumps in the road (Postulate 6*)	Adapting to future challenges that may occur along the journey of being a football parent.	Offer parents guidance on managing future transitions. Facilitate discussion among parents on the challenges they have previously experienced to encourage learning.	Preparing children for reviews was challenging. Concerned about potential injuries.	Lally & Kerr (2008) Neely et al. (2017)

*Postulate 5: Parents manage the organizational and developmental demands placed on them as stakeholders in youth sport; Postulate 4: Parents foster and maintain healthy relationships with significant others in the youth sport environment; Postulate 2: Parents understand and apply an authoritative or autonomy-supportive parenting styles; Postulate 1: Parents select the appropriate sporting opportunities for their child and provide necessary types of social support; Postulate 3: Parents manage the emotional. The demands of competition and serve as emotionally intelligent role models for their child; Postulate 6: Expert parents adapt their involvement and support to different stages of their child’s athletic development and progressions (Harwood & Knight, 2015). These postulates are presented in the order in which they were delivered.

Table 2. Overall program evaluation.

Evaluation Theme	Explanation	Examples from data
Increased access to information through better communication	Parents found the support sessions beneficial because they gained information and knowledge. Specifically, parents indicated that sessions were particularly useful because they had an opportunity to gain knowledge and information on topics that were not usually considered and they had a better understanding of the overall academy structure.	“I think it’s helped to understand and its helped to ask questions occasionally that you know perhaps there wouldn’t have been another natural opportunity to ask” (U9 parent). “Some of the other parents explained what they had experienced and talking about those things, you learn what you should do and what you shouldn’t do. It’s understanding the academy a lot more is very helpful” (U16 parent).
Gained support and reassurance	Parents reflected that the sessions had allowed them to talk about their concerns and gain reassurance both from other parents and from the lead researcher. By discussing their concerns with the lead researcher and other parents, parents were able to view things from an alternative lens. This alternative perspective allowed them to learn different strategies for managing their concerns or coping with their stressors and also realize others had the same concerns.	One parent detailed through the online reflective survey that the support sessions allowed them to, “iron out any concerns I may have had,” while another parent explained “it was a good opportunity to talk through any worries and hear other parents’ opinions and points of view.”
Opportunity for reflection on own and others’ behaviors	Sessions gave parents an opportunity for reflection on their involvement and behaviors. For some parents, they gained confidence in their actions and felt more capable of providing appropriate support to their son. In contrast, for some parents, the discussions in sessions encouraged them to think about their behavior and consider how they may wish to change their behavior or approach toward parenting their son.	“What’s been interesting is to see other parents’ views as well and how they tackle certain issues, as all children are different. But I suppose it’s certainly made me think, I’m doing everything great” (U14 parent). “One mother thanked me for the session from the previous week, because instead of feeling guilty for missing her son’s away match she had a discussion with her son about not going to his away match, and to her surprise he was happy for her to not go. So, she subsequently spent the time with her daughter and had a really great day” (Reflexive diary entry).
Scheduling and cultural issues	The initial challenge faced was fitting the program around the already busy schedule that existed within the academy and the fact that the program was not prioritized within the schedule.	“I am disappointed but know there is also nothing I can do about it. I have done my best in this difficult and challenging environment. It has been incredibly challenging to deliver a programme in an environment that is continuously changing and where scheduling changes occur that are out of my control. Regardless of the time and day that I run sessions, things are always changing and always preventing it from going as planned” (Reflexive diary entry).
Challenges with attendance	The biggest challenge throughout the delivery of the support sessions was gaining and maintaining parent attendance. The attendance numbers started low and slowly dipped across the course of the programme	There is a lot of time and commitment already given by parents with ensuring the boys attend all their training sessions and home and away matches. Where I appreciate that the football academy provides these sessions for the benefit of both parents and children, unfortunately the further commitment proves to be unrealistic for working parents and families with other children” (Survey response).

Table 3. Perceptions of support session topics.

Evaluation Point	Explanation	Examples from Data
Helped to manage stressors	Parents reported they particularly found topic one (Tackling the football parenting game) useful as it helped them to manage their stressors and develop ways of coping with their demands	“It was helpful in regard to the demands of traveling, and we talked about pre-planning meals that was really helpful. Managing family life as well as the football. And then the tips, the support for parents in the academy environment” (U14 parent)
Strengthened relationships with academy staff and other parents	Following the second parent support topic (Communicating with the team), parents reflected and described feeling more able to talk to the coaches honestly about how they felt, with the intent of helping the coaches see situations from the parent perspective. Additionally, through spending time together parents started to building relationships with new parents and strengthening their existing relationships with others	“I think it’s important for the coaches to know how we feel sometimes as parents because there’s definitely a boundary between the parents [and the coaches]. They still look at them [their children] as players, not as our little children or [their own] personalities, so it was good to tell them how much it meant to my son” (U10 parent)
Learnt how best to support their son	Through the online survey, parents said that topic four (Supporting your child) had offered them an opportunity to consider how best to support their son before, during, and after a match. By providing parents with some information on how best to support their son, they subsequently had an opportunity to carry out reflection on the support they provided and change it if needed.	The benefit of the support sessions was, “having a better idea how to support our kid before, after and during the game.” (Survey entry). One under-10 parent said since the support sessions something he had, “…stopped doing is critiquing him in a negative sense which I learnt, I wouldn’t say early on or quick because it has taken me nearly the whole season, but I have learnt that.”
Enhanced control of emotions	Following the delivery of topic five (The ups and downs of matches) parents reflected on their match experience and felt that they were now more in control of their emotions.	“I feel more in control of my emotions perhaps and I wasn’t out of control, but I think I was trying to input a bit too much and I wasn’t alone with that.” (U9 parent) “I used to [be] anxious before a game, I used to be worried, stressed and I look back now, and I don’t know why I was like that, but I was. And now it’s more of a “que sera” type approach. I find it far easier to manage my emotions.” (U11 parent)
Appropriateness of the supporting your child topic detail and information	Due to the broad range of educational backgrounds of the parents, selecting the amount and level of detail to provide regarding topic four (Supporting your child) to facilitate learning was challenging.	“I was aware that for some parents this session was going to be the most content heavy, due to covering the cognitive and social development of children. I felt that I was not truly aware of how much each parent knew about child development, so would have to cover the area briefly, trying not to overwhelm them with content, but ensure understanding. For other parents, they would want to go in to detail about this topic.” (Reflexive diary entry)
Uncomfortable discussing release from the academy and academy communication	A challenge during topic six (Bumps in the road) was that parents felt uncomfortable discussing their son’s potential release from the academy because although most admitted that it was inevitable at some point, they did not want it to happen. Although parents found it uncomfortable to talk about their son’s potential release, they did find it beneficial to understand the process and what might happen afterwards so they felt more prepared.	“As soon as I began talking about release, I could feel the parents all become very uncomfortable and nervous.” (Reflexive diary entry) “Nice and reassuring [talking about the release process] because I never get to speak to any of the parents that have been released, or the children, so I don’t know what process they’ve been through in the reviews.” (U10 parent)

Table 4. Positioning, delivery, and structure of support sessions.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Examples from data
Framing of the sessions	When designing the programme, the perspective was taken that parenting is challenging enough without adding further pressure to parents by teaching them how to parent. Therefore, the programme was delivered with the intention of being framed as a support programme, rather than an education programme. Despite this framing there were a number of parents who reported seeing the support programme as a way of educating parents.	“You’ve got to be very careful about how you frame it and support is, parent support, but even then, you’ve got to be careful you don’t suggest they need support.” (U16 parent) Another parent described it as a mechanism to teach parents about the journey and how to manage the challenges, “to educate parents about the journey, to provide parents with the tools to deal with both positive and negative aspects of your child’s journey and to provide parents with a platform to air any concerns they might have.”
Interactive, relaxed and group-based discussion	Each session was designed to be engaging and interactive with parents taking part in group activities, discussions, and reflections. The feedback regarding this approach was that parents enjoyed the interactive element and benefited from engaging with other parents. Overall, it appeared that an interactive approach worked well for parents because they felt it was relaxed and they were learning without having to put in too much work. Although parents reported that they enjoyed the discussion-based activities, some of the interactive activities did make some parents feel uncomfortable. Specifically, greater consideration needed to be given to the background of parents when the sessions were designed.	“It was interactive, it was two way, it wasn’t just we all sat there and looked at the slides.” (U14 parent) “Topics have been kind of discussion based haven’t they really and not too mentally taxing.” (U9 parent) “One of the parents made me write the one day, which I was uncomfortable about because my spelling isn’t the best.” (U10 parent) “When you’ve got to interact with the other parents, that can be a bit tricky, especially if your spelling isn’t very good. That can be a bit stressful.” (U14)
Timing of delivery	Recognizing the time pressures on parents, after some collaborative reflection it was decided that sessions should run alongside training, as it was anticipated parents would already be in attendance at the academy. Additionally, it was mutually agreed that sessions should all take place in the first two months of the school term, which are generally quieter for players and parents because there are fewer fixtures, parents are not yet planning or organizing Christmas, and academy football tours were not taking place.	“I suppose we’re all so busy and there’s a huge commitment down here and getting people to come and commit to the meetings is tough.” (U11 parent) “Really helpful the fact that they were factored into the actual times that we were down here for the training.” (U14 parent)
Provision of refreshments	The general consensus among the parents was that the food and refreshments created an environment that was pleasant and relaxed, encouraging them to attend. However, despite a positive response to the refreshments, they did not meet all the parents’ needs. Specifically, parents had been encouraged to bring their other children along to sessions if this would enable them to attend.	“As one parent was entering the room, she was saying that her son was looking forward to getting some food for dinner. However, when her and her son came to have some food, they said it was too posh for him. I felt awful, as her son was so excited about having food, and now he was just eating a bit of fruit and that was it. I did not expect wraps, vegetable spring rolls, and fruit to be considered too posh for some children. This did come as a surprise to me and something I will be aware of when catering for the next sessions.” (Reflexive diary entry)

Table 5. Evaluation of cultural changes.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Examples from data
Welcoming and including parents	Through conversations with academy staff, the importance of coaches and support staff building relationships with parents, understanding their background, and getting to know them was highlighted. These conversations took place informally while the lead author worked alongside the coaches and more formally within multi-disciplinary meetings. The intent was to reframe staff perspectives on parents embracing the recommendation from Newport et al. (2021) and the exploration phase of this action research cycle. Suggested changes included making the parents room more accessible, providing access to refreshments, and staff engaging in conversation with parents. Despite the potential positive changes associated with creating a more welcoming and inclusive academy culture for parents, there was some reluctance from coaches and support staff to embrace all the suggested changes.	One parent reflected using the online reflective survey that, “always having access to the parent room every training session” had improved their experience. “I had questioned the coaches and support staff as to why the parents were unable to have access or a greater understanding of the training sessions that took place. From my understanding this would help parents to feel less pushed out and more welcome within the academy. However, the response that I got from the coaches was ‘they will put the boys off their training’ and the support staff said, ‘it is a health and safety issue’. Both of these reasons I found really hard to believe that parents would negatively impact on the training session and how parents could be a health and safety issue, as often on a training night parents would watch through the bushes the other side of the fence or even climb the trees to watch their son.” (Reflexive diary entry)
Respecting parents through enhanced relationships	Parents indicated feeling more respected within the environment, particularly through coaches and support staff recognizing the time and commitment they give to supporting their son. An important change for parents was a reduction in the number of last-minute changes made to the training schedule and match fixtures. For example, before the support programme, if the weather had been forecast to be incumbent and potentially a risk to their boys’ safety, then training may not have been called off until the last possible moment. While this was done to increase the chances of the boys being able to train, it resulted in parents making arrangements and traveling to the academy expecting training to be going ahead, only to arrive and find that their training session had been canceled. Although, there was a reduction in last minute changes to the schedule and there was some recognition by academy staff of the importance of providing parents with more notice and better communication, this was not implemented by all coaches or always adhered to.	“Communication has improved dramatically. It also works really well having the academy secretary available for questions. He is always willing to help and is quick to respond.” (Survey response). “Although my son moved from his favored position the communication from coaches informing us, he has a more promising future in his second favored position was excellent.” (Survey response).
Valuing parents involvement within their son’s development	Following the exploration phase (Newport et al., 2021), the lead author recommended that a mechanism for obtaining and drawing on parents’ feedback should be used more regularly. It was agreed with the academy management team, that a “parents’ voice forum” would be set up to gather feedback and information from parents on a regular basis. A although it was agreed it did not materialize. Despite the intention to improve the parent experience within the academy and listen to their suggestions, it resulted in parents feeling more frustrated.	One under-14 mother said, “I think the introduction of the parents’ forum will provide huge benefits to the parents and a positive and effective channel for parents to communicate with the academy and coaching staff.” It was recorded within the lead author’s reflexive diary, “I am frustrated and annoyed that although parents had been promised and parents had been allocated to be a part of the parents’ voice forum, it has not materialized. Parents have asked whether it was going ahead as they had things they wanted to raise. They reported feeling infuriated that it did not appear to be going ahead.”

Table 6. Recommendations for future programs.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Example from data
Transition into the academy	Parents identified that those who would benefit the most from the program were those just entering the academy system because they had worked it out by the later ages. Parents also recognized that they found being the parent of an academy footballer was hardest during the younger age groups, so this was where they believed the support would be most beneficial. In addition, parents felt that providing information to parents when they first joined the academy would be useful as it may help new parents adjust to the environment and the demands placed upon them and their son in the academy.	“At under nines, tens, maybe elevens, and twelves how do you support your child to build mental resilience because I found that quite a challenging period…when they’re like eleven and twelve years of age, how do you support them, how do you help them through the transition between primary and comp and cope with being in an academy environment” (U14 parent).
Provide parents with a voice	Parents wanted to see the opinions and recommendations they had shared during the sessions taken to the academy management team and responses being provided on the actions that the academy management team were going to take. This would create avenue to feedback, offer opinions, and input into decision making within the academy may potentially allow for parents to feel listened to and offer them a greater level of respect for their commitment.	“Give us results, show us change within the parent role, give parents the respect we deserve for our commitment and hard work” (Survey response).
Increase attendance	Parents suggested that greater attendance was needed at the sessions to maximize the benefits to all parents. One way to potentially improve attendance was making the support sessions mandatory or it was suggested that if parents do not want to attend, they could be provided with a guide instead of attending a in-person session. Parents requested that coaches were more involved with the support programme to enhance the parent-coach relationship further and encourage more parents to attend.	“I think perhaps there should be more of an emphasis on all parents attending to ensure each session has as much participation as possible” (Survey response). “I think it should be almost mandatory” (U11 parent). “Give parents some guides as to what they should do under certain situations because the kids are very young” (U14 parent)

Table 7. Overall evaluation of the second program.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Example from data
Application of learning and increased knowledge	Parents found the support session and booklet useful for reinforcing and condensing the knowledge gained from the previous support programme if they attended. For those who had not attended the previous sessions, the booklet was beneficial for increasing their knowledge and understanding the mechanisms they could use to help them along the academy journey.	“It helped pull together many of the learnings from the session I had attended previously” (Survey response) “I was delighted to hear how the information and knowledge that she had gained from the booklet and support session had helped her feel empowered to support her son when supporting him to make a decision about his education in preparation for scholarship decisions” (Reflexive diary entry).
Reflection on the journey	The group discussions and reflective tasks appeared to be beneficial for parents to encourage consideration of their child’s whole journey, creating a more balanced approach to academy football, and reflecting on the knowledge they had gained. The booklet and support session, particularly the Bumps in the road topic were found to be useful because they helped parents to carry out reflection on their journey and where they may still have to go on. As well as reflecting alone, parents enjoyed being able to share experiences with others and learn from their journey.	“It [the programme] helped me to sit back and look at the whole picture” (Survey response). “We discussed and reflected on some of the challenges that they may face going forward. The parents talked about how they may face challenges in relation to the pressures that the children may experience going forward and decisions around whether their child attends day release. The parents also felt that a challenge may also be the reviews and receiving critical feedback from the coaches.” (Observation)

Table 8. Session and Booklet Evaluation.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Example from data
Learnt coping strategies	Parents found it useful talking about the demands they experienced and were able to develop some new coping strategies. Specifically, the booklet and support sessions helped parents to carry out reflection on the strategies that they can put in place to help manage the demands. Even with this positive change, parents were often experiencing such high levels of demands that once they began reflecting upon could overwhelm them.	“It was pleasing when talking to parents that the suggestion of car sharing as much as possible was having a positive impact on their experience. Although they felt guilty for sending their child off with a stranger, they were able to spend more time with other family members as a result.” (Fieldnotes)
Learnt from the age group above	Prior to the session starting, the under-9s parents indicated that they were unaware of some of the challenges that may occur along the developmental journey and how they may support their son through these situations. The discussions on the academy journey appeared to help parents to prepare for the journey ahead and the challenges that they may be faced with situations, such as injury or being released.	“Parents were all keen at the beginning of the session to learn new things about the academy and understand what it is going to be like. However, they did at times struggle to think about what may occur in the future while their son is in the academy. That’s when I found was useful combining age groups and encourage the sharing of experiences.” (Reflexive diary entry).“[Booklet helped by] trying to understand what could happen along the way.” (Survey response)
Recognizing effort	The managing emotions at matches (The ups and downs of matches) topic was found to be useful because it helped parents to manage their emotions and recognize that their son’s effort was more important than the outcome of a match. Similarly, topic four (Supporting your child) was useful for parents to adjust the support they are providing to their son and recognize their son’s effort more. Thus, although this may have been a topic that, in advance of the session, the parents were most confident about, when posing questions and encouraging reflection parents found themselves re-considering how they could support their son and focus more on their son’s effort than the outcome of a match.	“Key one for me has been an improved ability to manage my emotions. Understanding that effort is a more important focus than outcome.” (Survey response). “Many of the parents were confident that they knew the support their son wanted from them, including what their son wanted to talk about in the car on the way home. However, when I asked the parents whether they had talked to their son about the support he wanted, most of them said they had not. I was pleased in this moment to offer parents an alternative perspective that may have true impact on them and their son.” (Reflexive diary entry).
Lack of engagement due to existing frustrations	Parents struggled to engage with the topic on building relationships with their child’s coach and support staff (communicating with the team) topic due to being pre-occupied by their frustrations with the communication from the academy. Communication was an issue for the parents and until change occurs within the academy culture, it is unlikely that parents are going to positively receive the content on the communication topic.	“The parents talked about the communication and how frustrated they were by it, as they felt that a last-minute email was not good enough.” (Reflexive diary entry).
Informing without telling	Despite feeling more confident in delivering the parenting styles (being a football parent) topic than during the previous programme (phase 4), I still found it challenging to deliver the content without feeling as if I was telling parents how to parent.	“One mother stated that her approach was autonomy-supportive, whereas her husband was authoritarian in his approach. I did not want to come across as telling them how to parent, so I opted to discuss the benefits of her husband becoming more autonomy-supportive. The balance of discussing parenting styles without coming across as telling parents how to parent was challenging.” (Reflexive diary entry).
Elicited high levels of emotion	The demands and stressors (Tackling the football parenting game) topic elicited high levels of emotions among the parents. Some parents experienced such high levels of demands that as they reflected on the stress and pressure, they became overwhelmed with emotion. For some parents the discussions triggered negative emotions and they became upset. This was clearly a sensitive topic, which needed to be handled with care. Therefore, when planning topics for parents to engage with the potential emotional response of parents should be taken into consideration and sessions adapted to offer support to parents who become upset.	“Not long into this conversation one of the parents became upset by the demands she was experiencing. She began saying that she puts a lot of pressure on herself and her son to do well, as she is the only parent for her children.” (Reflexive diary entry).

Table 9. Evaluation of cultural changes.

Evaluation point	Explanation	Example from data
Welcoming parents into the academy	Through discussions within multi-disciplinary meetings, talking informally with the coaches, and engaging with the academy management team I sought to highlight the benefits that would arise if parents had a greater understanding of their children’s training. Over time, it became apparent that this was starting to have an impact. Specifically, optional information evenings and attendance at training was introduce. The information session occurred while the players were getting ready and warming up. They provided parents with information on training and match objectives for the month. The coaches delivered a presentation, provided video clips, and were available to talk to parents. Following the presentation, parents were then invited to watch a training session from the outside of the 3 G pitch. On reflection, it appeared that sharing the training experience with their son helped parents to understand their son’s development and be able to support their development away from the academy. Although the open evenings initially had a positive response from the coaches, some found the additional workload of preparing a presentation for the parents of their session began to become tiresome.	“The academy manager recognized in the multi-disciplinary meeting that parents were a key part of the players development, and we should be doing everything to ensure that they understand the process. If an open day was carried out where the parents were able to see around the grounds, understand the support that is available, ask questions to each of the members of staff about their role and how their son could use them to benefit their performance it would go a long way. This does not take away from it being an elite environment it merely adds to the parents understanding of what it is like for their son to be here, what to expect and how they can support their child more effectively, as they give up so much time and effort to ensure their son has this footballing opportunity.” (Reflexive diary entry). “For the first parents’ information evening the room was full of parents sitting at the tables and standing at the back of the classroom. They all listened attentively and asked the coaches questions afterwards. Speaking to a number of the dads on the way down to the pitch, they were all very impressed with how professional it was and were excited to watch their son training.” (Fieldnotes). “I still have to prepare a presentation for this evening for these parents. I don’t see why we should include them. They probably won’t turn up anyway.” (Observation of a coach).
Enhanced communication with parents	Prior to the culture changes taking full effect parents experienced last minute changes and cancelations to the schedule, which made the experience more stressful for parents. Meetings were introduced to provide parents with all the information relating to a tour or a big tournament. The introduction of the tours and international tournaments meetings was a positive step toward enhancing the communication with parents. Despite the attempted changes to enhance communication, not all the parents agreed that the academy communication with parents had improved. Specifically, enhanced communication was desired to improve the Academy/parent relationship, it was only in part successful. Some coaches remained reluctant to engage with parents.	“At the first tour meeting parents were asking lots of questions and the key bit for them was who was in the team and who would be going on the tour. The information about flights, accommodation, and the staff attending was useful, but it was all irrelevant unless they were told their son was attending. On reflection I would advise the academy manager to have started with this information and then answer any questions afterwards.” (Reflexive diary entry). “Poor communication throughout the year. When the kids are on parent free events there’s no formal communication point where we can find out what times our kids will return home, it’s normally just a text if that. Mostly we would hear of other age groups.” (Fieldnote from an informal conversation with a parent).
Listening to parents’ feedback	It had been fed back during the first action research cycle that parents struggled to take a family holiday and manage work during the holiday training period. To value the support of parents within the academy the management team were encouraged and supported to adjust the season dates for children under-9 to under-14 to align with the school term. Another change that had a positive impact on parents was the creation of the parents’ voice forum, which had encountered resistance from some academy staff. During this action research cycle, through further persuasion of the benefits, the academy decided to implement a parents’ voice forum. Once the parents’ voice forum had got started it was recognized by parents that this was a beneficial improvement to the academy. A supplementary way to listen to parents was through the introduction of the end of season feedback survey. Following the benefits of the information gathered on the parent experience (chapter four), it was agreed with the academy management team that it would be useful to understand the parents’ experiences of the season and whether there were any changes that could be made to improve the experience of parents and support them to enhance their son’s experience too.	“The change of dates was done to help the parents and players, by allowing them to have a solid break away from training and school, plus maximize the amount of time that they are at the academy by avoiding players and parents taking holidays during their pre-season training time.” (Fieldnotes from the academy manager at a parent meeting). “The first parents’ voice forum took place this evening which I found challenging and uncomfortable, but enjoyable. The parents came armed with a list of questions they wanted answers to, ranging from “where can I get more socks?” to “why was the fixture canceled last weekend?” Many of these questions we did not have the answers to and were unable to provide them with the answers they wanted. It was clear they were frustrated and angry, but this was a positive step toward listening to them and acknowledging their concerns.” (Reflexive diary entry). “Able to see a positive growth in my son’s development and maturity. Feel that I have been kept informed and they have delivered the best within their control.” (Survey response at the end of the season).

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