Chronicles of emerging leaders: Examining the Temporal Habitus in the Development of Two Youth Sports Leadership Programmes

Typically, youth leadership education programmes treat leadership as a trait or a skill. Consequently, the influence of power dynamics and socio-cultural norms on effective leadership is often neglected. In contrast, the 'Aspiring and Inspiring Youth Leadership' (AIYL) programme adopted a multi-level strategy that integrated young leader's perspectives into curriculum development aligned to field hockey. To this end, ten cross-sectorial partners from across Europe created two interdependent youth leadership programmes. The goal was to develop a comprehensive curriculum covering sports administration and governance by incorporating the perspectives of youth leaders in curriculum development, training, and in piloting key elements of the curricula. Subsequently, key differences emerged between the temporal perspectives of youth leaders and ‘expert’ stakeholders. A figurational approach was adopted to analyze how young people's temporal choices regarding voluntary education were shaped by intricate configurations of social and natural time constraints. Such constraints both enabled and constrained young leaders' engagement. Incorporation of young-leaders’ perspectives offered insights into i) the tempo of their lives, ii) their conceptualisations of interdependent past, present and future, and iii) the role of voluntary education within. The construction of young leaders’ personal time was influenced both by recurring phenomena, such as other educational or sporting commitments, and by temporal discontinuities in their career, education, or family life. Such experiences contrasted with the assumptions of educators, who conceptualized the education programmes as a ‘project with a precise aim’ aligned with wider educational temporal norms. The result was a co-constructed approach to the temporal architecture of both curricula.