A critical examination of children’s well-being and well-becoming in a professional youth football academy.

Abstract

This paper offers a novel application of the concepts of well-being and well-becoming to Professional Youth Sport (PYS). Analysing data from a category one football academy in the United Kingdom, we examine a representation of the lived experiences of children, parents, and the sporting entourage. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we identify three key themes: the academy’s structural prioritisation of future success, the normalisation of accelerated adulthood, and the burden placed on children to cope in these environments. The study addresses a gap in sports sociology by critically applying well-becoming to PYS, revealing how a hyper-focus on future potential undermines children’s immediate well-being and their human rights. The significance of this study lies in its reframing of children’s well-being and points for reflection, which challenge the status-quo of PYS to prioritise both children’s well-being and well-becoming while aligning practices with their human rights.