Enhancing enjoyment through positive pedagogy, wearable technology and flow

High school sports are an integral part of the youth sporting experience in the United States and serve as a platform with many benefits such as improved aca demic achievement and self-esteem, and enhanced physical and mental health (Brant, Johnson and Brou, 2019). While the benefits of youth sport participation are positive, there are also negative aspects that are seldom discussed in a similar regard (Coakley, 2011; Eley and Kirk, 2002). Some research shows that high school sports can prove to be a problematic space in youth development, such as with an over-emphasis on competition, high rates of overuse and overtraining injuries, and negative relationships between players and coaches (Côté, Lidor and Hackfort, 2009) but PPed has the potential to redress many of these problems (Light and Harvey, 2019). In this chapter I reflect on how, as an assistant soccer coach at a US high school, I drew on PPed to make learning positive but in combination with the use of wearable technology. What probably sounds like an odd combination, contributed to a shift from the traditional ways in which team had been coached toward a more game-based and athlete-centered approach that provided positive experiences for the young athletes, and in which the use of wearable technology was central to its success.