Resilience Training for High School Student-Athletes: A Pilot of the Life and Leadership Through Sport Series

High school student-athletes are reporting unprecedented needs regarding their mental health and development of life and leadership skills. With stressors and pressures surmounting, there is an evident need for school-based interventions to prevent mental health concerns and teach student-athletes how to “bounce back” in the face of adversity. This article details the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Life and Leadership Through Sport Series, a six-session resilience skills training piloted in Tier I and Tier II formats. The aims of the study were to explore student-athlete and coach perceptions of the intervention and to examine whether student-athlete perceptions of the learning differed based on the delivery format. In total, 415 student-athletes and 26 coaches participated in the Tier I intervention, and 16 student-athletes participated in the Tier II intervention. Using a post-training evaluation measure, descriptive statistics indicated student-athletes participating in the Tier II intervention reported more favorable perceptions of the intervention and efficacy regarding the learning outcomes compared to those participating in the Tier I intervention. Our pilot provides preliminary evidence regarding the potential for the Life and Leadership Through Sport Series to act as an evidence-based Tier II intervention for high school student-athletes participating in school-based sports.