Sport as a Social Arena: Physical Activity, Emotional Intelligence, and Social Development Across the Lifespan and Communities

Sport coaching is a powerful social and developmental practice in which participants learn to cooperate, communicate, manage emotions, and establish meaningful relationships. Although coaching research has traditionally prioritised physical, technical, tactical, and competitive outcomes, growing evidence highlights the contribution of supportive coaching environments to prosocial behaviour, social confidence, peer relationships, and belonging. Emotional intelligence—comprising the perception, understanding, use, and regulation of emotion—provides a useful framework for examining how coaches shape these outcomes and how coaches themselves develop the competencies required to build trust and manage group dynamics. However, important questions remain concerning how social and emotional development can be intentionally embedded in coaching practice, how these processes vary across team and individual sports, and how they differ across stages of the lifespan. Existing research is also concentrated in urban and well-resourced settings, leaving rural and low-density communities comparatively under-represented. Further investigation is needed to clarify the mechanisms, contextual conditions, and coaching strategies that support social competence, emotional intelligence, and belonging through sport.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how coaching practice, coach development, and programme design intentionally foster social competence, emotional intelligence, prosocial behaviour, social confidence, and belonging through sport. It seeks to examine how coaches develop and apply emotional competencies, how participants experience socially supportive coaching environments, and how outcomes vary across youth, adult, and older-adult participation. It also aims to identify the roles of sport type, community context, programme structure, and coach education in shaping these processes, while encouraging evidence-informed approaches that can be adapted to diverse populations and settings.To gather further insights into coaching for social and emotional development across the lifespan, this Research Topic focuses on participation and coaching contexts in team and individual sports, with particular attention to rural and low-density communities; studies primarily addressing technical or performance coaching without engaging social competence, emotional intelligence, or belonging are outside its scope. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Coaching practices and pedagogies that develop social competence, emotional regulation, and prosocial behaviour• Emotional intelligence in coaching, including coach competencies, assessment, and development through coach education• Coaching approaches that foster peer belonging, social confidence, trust, and inclusion• Social and emotional development across youth, adult, and older-adult sport participation• Differences between team and individual sports in coaching processes and social outcomes• Coaching and programme design in rural, remote, and low-density communities• Lifespan, longitudinal, and developmental perspectives on coaching for social and emotional development• Contextual factors that moderate coaching effects, including culture, socioeconomic conditions, accessibility, and group composition• Coach–participant relationships, group dynamics, and mechanisms supporting belonging• Evaluation of interventions, programmes, and coach-education initiatives targeting social and emotional outcomesAppendix: Article typesWe welcome Original Research, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Brief Research Reports, Study Protocols, Perspectives, and Community Case Studies. Topic editors: Helder Miguel Fernandes, José Joaquín Muros Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86372/sport-as-a-social-arena-physical-activity-emotional-intelligence-and-social-development-across-the-lifespan-and-communities