Suchergebnisse

The dissertation was prepared in 2000–2004 at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and in 2004-2007 at Mykolas Romeris University, The dissertation is defend without PhD studies Scientific supervisor: Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S). The doctoral dissertation will be defended at the Management and Administration Research Council of Mykolas Romeris University: Chairman of the Council: Prof. Habil. Dr. Adolfas Kaziliūnas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Members: Prof. Dr. Eugenijus Chlivickas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Palidauskaitė (Kaunass University of Technology, Social Science, Sociology 05S) Prof. Dr. Alvydas Pumputis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law 01S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Opponents: Prof. Habil. Dr. Borisas Melnikas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Vygantas K. Paulikas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) The public defence of the doctoral dissertation will take place at Management and Administration Research Council on 28th December, 2007 at 10 a.m. in the Senate Hall of Mykolas Romeris University (Room C-230). Address: Ateities str. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania The summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on 20th November, 2007. The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of the Mykolas Romeris University and Lithuanian National Library of Martynas Mazvydas (Gedimino Av. 51, Vilnius). Introduction In the modern world the mindset of people as well as self-organization factors of various social groups change. Traditional ideologies that used to reflect the thinking of the majority of people in the past are now losing their popularity, and new ideas appear as unlimited pluralism settles in. Sometimes these ideas are old ones that have come from the past. An example would be the idea of communitarianism – some followers claim that this idea should already be called an ideology. When analysing communitarian ideas, most of them may be found in the ideologies of conservatives, Christian democrats, and social utopians or even anarchists–communists." Therefore it is necessary for contemporary man to choose from many strong or weaker ideological attitudes and to solve the dual problem: to identify new values that are often related with one of the segments of the "new public management" – participation of citizens and communities. So one of the traditional values, closely related with the "new public management" when reforming the public sector (especially when talking about self-governance), is considered more often in the Western democratic states nowadays – this value is sociality. Sociality in the democratic world in the context of public administration was and still is considered to be a special value that defines the quality of social organizations, and therefore it is promoted in various ways in the context of creating civil society, and it is one of the factors of modernisation of the public sector. Analysis of local communities from the managerial point of view may be based on the term of subsidiarity (discretion, additionality) that states that what may be done better by a community should not be done by the state. But where the forces of one man or a community are not enough, society and the state should support their efforts according to means. According to the classical definition of subsidiarity, matters that can be handled by individuals on their own should not be taken from them and assigned to the society as in this way justice would be offended. Scientific novelty of the dissertation may be defined by the following statements: • There are no dissertations in the area of public administration that would analyse especially the functionality of local communities, so this attempt to define and analyse the functionality of non-formal local communities of villages and towns allows to expect polemic with works of other authors that analyse the problem of sociality on the whole; • Factors that influence the functionality of contemporary local community have not been grouped and analysed till now; • The definition of factors and actions of local community functionality will enable to expect a faster realisation and implementation of these principles in practice for Lithuania that is developing state and self-governance local administration based on the principles of de-centralisation and subsidiarity; • The problems and directions of creation, development and expansion of local community functionality were analysed thoroughly and systematically, and theoretical and practical recommendations for solving these problems were prepared for the first time in Lithuania; • The concept that defines a functional local community has not been formed. Practical advantage of the dissertation. The actions intended by the author if performed by institutions existing in local communities will enable politicians, public officials and active citizens to draw attention to certain factors that influence the functionality of local communities and to choose certain managerial actions when creating functional local communities. When defining functional local community the author based himself on theoretical material as well as on personal experience because, having worked as a mayor of a regional municipality for five years, he had set the stimulation of mustering people in local communities as one of his strategic goals. From this point of view the dissertation will be useful for praticians because, according to Richard Fenn, the analysis of all subjects, especially the phenomenon of society, requires the researcher to indulge into institutional details – to experience institutions' habits, day-to-day life, successes and misfortunes, as they are experienced by all who live [169, p. 31]. Scientific problem. Lately sociality has been discussed a lot, but there has been no discussion about what it is in local communities, and only one its active form is acknowledged – the existence of a formalised community centre (registered community centres are counted). No attempt is made for local communities in villages and towns to be functional (while that is the basis of self-governance), and no analysis is performed about what its functionality as well as the efficiency of self-governance depends on. The research emphasizes that: • As traditional values of public life are vanishing, the appearing niche is being filled by negative phenomena that make public life more problematic (empirical data collected on alcoholism, neglect of children, criminality); there is discussion about whether this may be resisted by organising citizens into self-organization groups (cultural, charity, youth groups were researched) thus making local communities functional so that they may contribute to the efficiency of public life; • The functionality of villages and towns (that we call local communities) of contemporary Lithuania has withered or manifests itself episodically, while the re-creation of functionality is one of the activity criteria of public institutions and dimensional expression of democratic (real self-governance) management; • It has been noticed that social capital in Western countries is constantly rebuilding itself thus strengthening administrative structures – local government (municipality, eldership) and local institutions (the church, school, cultural institutions, etc.), citizen initiatives, so it should be discussed if functional local community could be one of such links since full-fledged social capital is not functioning yet in our country? The aim of the dissertation is to indicate that systematic managerial actions performed in certain factors may create functional local communities in Lithuanian villages and towns. Goals of the dissertation: 1. to determine factors that influence local community; 2. to define functional local community; 3. to determine the possibilities of institutions existing in local communities to form a functional local community; 4. to plan specific actions and functions of institutions when creating functional local communities; 5. to prepare practical recommendations for interested government institutions, formal and non-formal citizen groups what priority actions should be performed when creating functional local communities. Research object is non-formal local communities of Lithuanian villages and towns, the institution system that creates functional communities. Research subject is functional local communities. Hypotheses: 1. It is presumable that certain factors have a bigger influence on the creation of functional local community. 2. It is presumable that functional local community will start appearing if a system of factors that influence sociality will be formed in institutions of local self-governance (eldership, school, cultural institutions), parishes, and when organising social and physical security in villages and towns. CONTENTS OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Introduction Chapter 1. Analysis of Functionality of Local Communities in the Works of Western and Lithuanian Scientists and in EU Documents. 1.1. Works of Western Scientists and EU Documents about Functionality of Local Communities. 1.2. Works of Lithuanian Scientists on the Functionality of Local Communities. 1.3. Concepts Related to Local Community. 1.4. Conclusions. Chapter 2. Development of Local Communities in Lithuania in the 20th Century. 2.1. Local Communities in Lithuania before World War II. 2.2. The Soviet Period – Interrupted Tradition of Sociality. 2.3. Local Community in Lithuania after the Restoration of Ind

The dissertation was prepared in 2000–2004 at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and in 2004-2007 at Mykolas Romeris University, The dissertation is defend without PhD studies Scientific supervisor: Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S). The doctoral dissertation will be defended at the Management and Administration Research Council of Mykolas Romeris University: Chairman of the Council: Prof. Habil. Dr. Adolfas Kaziliūnas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Members: Prof. Dr. Eugenijus Chlivickas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration, 03S) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Palidauskaitė (Kaunass University of Technology, Social Science, Sociology 05S) Prof. Dr. Alvydas Pumputis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law 01S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Stasys Puškorius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Opponents: Prof. Habil. Dr. Borisas Melnikas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) Prof. Habil. Dr. Vygantas K. Paulikas (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Management and Administration 03S) The public defence of the doctoral dissertation will take place at Management and Administration Research Council on 28th December, 2007 at 10 a.m. in the Senate Hall of Mykolas Romeris University (Room C-230). Address: Ateities str. 20, LT-08303 Vilnius, Lithuania The summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on 20th November, 2007. The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of the Mykolas Romeris University and Lithuanian National Library of Martynas Mazvydas (Gedimino Av. 51, Vilnius). Introduction In the modern world the mindset of people as well as self-organization factors of various social groups change. Traditional ideologies that used to reflect the thinking of the majority of people in the past are now losing their popularity, and new ideas appear as unlimited pluralism settles in. Sometimes these ideas are old ones that have come from the past. An example would be the idea of communitarianism – some followers claim that this idea should already be called an ideology. When analysing communitarian ideas, most of them may be found in the ideologies of conservatives, Christian democrats, and social utopians or even anarchists–communists." Therefore it is necessary for contemporary man to choose from many strong or weaker ideological attitudes and to solve the dual problem: to identify new values that are often related with one of the segments of the "new public management" – participation of citizens and communities. So one of the traditional values, closely related with the "new public management" when reforming the public sector (especially when talking about self-governance), is considered more often in the Western democratic states nowadays – this value is sociality. Sociality in the democratic world in the context of public administration was and still is considered to be a special value that defines the quality of social organizations, and therefore it is promoted in various ways in the context of creating civil society, and it is one of the factors of modernisation of the public sector. Analysis of local communities from the managerial point of view may be based on the term of subsidiarity (discretion, additionality) that states that what may be done better by a community should not be done by the state. But where the forces of one man or a community are not enough, society and the state should support their efforts according to means. According to the classical definition of subsidiarity, matters that can be handled by individuals on their own should not be taken from them and assigned to the society as in this way justice would be offended. Scientific novelty of the dissertation may be defined by the following statements: • There are no dissertations in the area of public administration that would analyse especially the functionality of local communities, so this attempt to define and analyse the functionality of non-formal local communities of villages and towns allows to expect polemic with works of other authors that analyse the problem of sociality on the whole; • Factors that influence the functionality of contemporary local community have not been grouped and analysed till now; • The definition of factors and actions of local community functionality will enable to expect a faster realisation and implementation of these principles in practice for Lithuania that is developing state and self-governance local administration based on the principles of de-centralisation and subsidiarity; • The problems and directions of creation, development and expansion of local community functionality were analysed thoroughly and systematically, and theoretical and practical recommendations for solving these problems were prepared for the first time in Lithuania; • The concept that defines a functional local community has not been formed. Practical advantage of the dissertation. The actions intended by the author if performed by institutions existing in local communities will enable politicians, public officials and active citizens to draw attention to certain factors that influence the functionality of local communities and to choose certain managerial actions when creating functional local communities. When defining functional local community the author based himself on theoretical material as well as on personal experience because, having worked as a mayor of a regional municipality for five years, he had set the stimulation of mustering people in local communities as one of his strategic goals. From this point of view the dissertation will be useful for praticians because, according to Richard Fenn, the analysis of all subjects, especially the phenomenon of society, requires the researcher to indulge into institutional details – to experience institutions' habits, day-to-day life, successes and misfortunes, as they are experienced by all who live [169, p. 31]. Scientific problem. Lately sociality has been discussed a lot, but there has been no discussion about what it is in local communities, and only one its active form is acknowledged – the existence of a formalised community centre (registered community centres are counted). No attempt is made for local communities in villages and towns to be functional (while that is the basis of self-governance), and no analysis is performed about what its functionality as well as the efficiency of self-governance depends on. The research emphasizes that: • As traditional values of public life are vanishing, the appearing niche is being filled by negative phenomena that make public life more problematic (empirical data collected on alcoholism, neglect of children, criminality); there is discussion about whether this may be resisted by organising citizens into self-organization groups (cultural, charity, youth groups were researched) thus making local communities functional so that they may contribute to the efficiency of public life; • The functionality of villages and towns (that we call local communities) of contemporary Lithuania has withered or manifests itself episodically, while the re-creation of functionality is one of the activity criteria of public institutions and dimensional expression of democratic (real self-governance) management; • It has been noticed that social capital in Western countries is constantly rebuilding itself thus strengthening administrative structures – local government (municipality, eldership) and local institutions (the church, school, cultural institutions, etc.), citizen initiatives, so it should be discussed if functional local community could be one of such links since full-fledged social capital is not functioning yet in our country? The aim of the dissertation is to indicate that systematic managerial actions performed in certain factors may create functional local communities in Lithuanian villages and towns. Goals of the dissertation: 1. to determine factors that influence local community; 2. to define functional local community; 3. to determine the possibilities of institutions existing in local communities to form a functional local community; 4. to plan specific actions and functions of institutions when creating functional local communities; 5. to prepare practical recommendations for interested government institutions, formal and non-formal citizen groups what priority actions should be performed when creating functional local communities. Research object is non-formal local communities of Lithuanian villages and towns, the institution system that creates functional communities. Research subject is functional local communities. Hypotheses: 1. It is presumable that certain factors have a bigger influence on the creation of functional local community. 2. It is presumable that functional local community will start appearing if a system of factors that influence sociality will be formed in institutions of local self-governance (eldership, school, cultural institutions), parishes, and when organising social and physical security in villages and towns. CONTENTS OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Introduction Chapter 1. Analysis of Functionality of Local Communities in the Works of Western and Lithuanian Scientists and in EU Documents. 1.1. Works of Western Scientists and EU Documents about Functionality of Local Communities. 1.2. Works of Lithuanian Scientists on the Functionality of Local Communities. 1.3. Concepts Related to Local Community. 1.4. Conclusions. Chapter 2. Development of Local Communities in Lithuania in the 20th Century. 2.1. Local Communities in Lithuania before World War II. 2.2. The Soviet Period – Interrupted Tradition of Sociality. 2.3. Local Community in Lithuania after the Restoration of Ind

In 2015 we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first free local elections to self-governing bodies. Those elections activated local citizens initiatives and greatly contributed to the transformation in our social awareness, leading to real change in Poland's political regime. The underlying rationale of free local elections, however, was the package of laws adopted on 8 March 1990 which created real self-government, enabled the elections to commune and municipality councils of 27 May 1990 and introduced a new dynamic to the process of the decentralisation of the state.Changes are always the result of dreams and our ability to realise them. It is possible to make them if there exist organisational structures and institutions which allow such changes to be made. The need for political transformation had long been felt and deliberated on by those involved in spatial development or and for whom the state monopoly status quo was unacceptable. To quote the late and much missed Professor Jerzy Regulski, the implementation of self-governance was departure from the monopoly of central government, which in turn meant an actual change in the political regime. The reform of 1990 broke up five monopolies of an authoritarian state which had existed in Poland since the end of the World War II: the political monopoly of one party, of centralised power, of uniform state ownership, of public finances and the state budget, and of the uniform public administration of the state.However, it must always be remembered that the possibility of realising dreams of a change in the nature of the state was shaped in the first triumphant stage of the Solidarity period in 1989, and later became a stable basis for the future in the resolution of the First National Congress of Solidarity Delegates and in the 'Samorządna Rzeczpospolita' (A Self-governing Republic) document. The success of the real change of 1990 was rooted in the long term determination and persistence of those whose personal experiences were involved in the quest for rationality in land management. Both Professor Jerzy Regulski and Professor Michał Kulesza drew their inspiration to change the political regime from the need to ensure that society worked in a way that would allow the local needs and initiatives be articulated, and inhabitants having the ability to take concrete decisions about the surrounding environment. In this way, the existing possibility of active involvement in local initiatives, incapable of being realised in the former political system, would become a reality and the citizens would be able to make collective decisions about their local area. This would also give a chance to oppose formally the investment logic resulting from the central planning of those times.The analytic work aimed at the transformation of the political regime that Professor Regulski started in the 1970s during his employment at the University of Lodz were subsequently continued at the Economic Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and led to the formation of a group of individuals for whom self-governance became a core value of the new regime and a way of looking at the modern state. The change that took place in 1990 was the beginning of the building of a de-centralised, modern state, the status of which was subsequently confirmed when Poland adopted the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Self-government is never an institution whose constitution is ever finished. This was shown during the reform carried out by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek's government, which continued the break-up of the monopoly of power and implemented subsidiarity principles at the regional level enabling them to exercise powers locally, in newly created districts (powiat), as well as in the later legislative changes pertaining to the regulations governing the election of mayors (wójt or burmistrz) or the work of the Komisja Wspólna Rządu i Samorządu (Joint Committee of the Government and Self-Government). Today, after 25 years of our experience with self-government, we are much more aware of the changes needed in the self-governing system. They include the strengthening of actual independence of self-government achieved through the ensured free choice of the manner in which self-government bodies will carry out their tasks, guaranteed revenues and the possibility given to commune and municipality authorities of exercising real influence on their size, improved cooperation between communes and municipalities (gmina) and districts (powiat), and, fore and foremost, by ensuring all citizens a chance of co-decision on matters which directly affect them. Changes in the regime of self-governance are a consequence of its assessment by external, independent experts but are also motivated by the natural dynamics of the changes resulting from the very essence of self-governance and its institutions, communes and municipalities (gmina), districts (powiat) and regions (voivodships).In 2010 associations of self-governing units realised the need for change and amendments to the law on self-governance. Thus, they formulated a number of proposals which were included in a document called 'Requests to the President of the Republic of Poland to commence work on the white book of territorial self-government in the year of the 20th anniversary.' This document initiated work on a draft law which in 2013 became the subject of a legislative initiative put forward by President Bronisław Komorowski. The purpose of the new law on the collaboration of self-governing bodies in local and regional development is to strengthen the role of the citizen as well as the community in the work of self-government in Poland. The effort that Professors Jerzy Regulski and Michał Kulesza in their capacity as Advisors to President Komorowski put into the legislative work remains invaluable. It is believed that the involvement of individual citizens constitutes the strength of self-government and is a guarantee of its role at the service and in the interest of communities, individual inhabitants and businesses. Hence the need for enhanced collaboration and the partnership of different bodies of self-government and the increased involvement of citizens. There is draft law that contains regulations supporting these activities.Under the draft law, a local referendum is seen as an important tool to ensure the participation of citizens in decision-making processes, including those concerning local development plans. Local referenda should constitute a mechanism used to solve local issues of material importance to residents. Their result should be binding regardless of the turnout.Self-governance helps to create and strengthen the natural inclination of individuals to act together in areas where because of their social, business or cultural ties, a local community spirit develops. In today's world of global challenges and competition, we are looking for a space for the individual which provides a feeling of security. Another important value of self-governance is the possibility of creating affiliations with a community as well as individual entrepreneurship, social activity and a regard for the collective memory of the symbols of a place. The ability to participate in community life is inseparable from the functioning of democracy at a local level, with the consultation process, election of public officers, or participation in referenda.Self-governance is a special value which gives each of us a chance to exercise a real influence on local matters. It therefore occupies a very special place where politics has a personal dimension. The variety of self-governance means at the same time a variety of development policies since there are different communities, with different emotions, different experiences or ability to participate in democratic management. This variety is a special asset in the process of the stabilisation of the state as a whole. The diversity of opinions and experiences, appointments to public office of citizens not affiliated to or necessarily recommended by any party creates the solid foundations of a democratic state. This feeling of freedom within self-governing communities must be continued and promoted.The authors of many of the texts published in this issue of Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny devoted to self-governance are, at the same time, authors of the transformation of Polish law and Poland's administration in the last 25 years. Contributions submitted by, among others, Prof. dr hab. Irena Lipowicz, Prof. Jerzy Stępień, Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Buzek, Prof. dr hab. Leon Kieres or Prof. dr hab. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz are the best proof of the capital importance that self-governance plays in a democratic state. I thank Professor Teresa Rabska and the editorial staff of Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny for their active involvement in questions of self-government from the very beginning. This issue is entirely devoted to a range of legal, economic and sociological aspects of new challenges facing self-government and its regime. Once again I thank them for such active involvement and participation in the jubilee celebrations of Self-Government and this special issue of the journal.We need self-governance not only to feel that we can influence decisions being made about local issues but also to be continually able to renew our confidence in institutions at a local level, and through their collaboration at the national level.

Relevance of the topic. Lithuania is not a large country and sports talents are not emerging very often. It does not depend on the social or economic situation of the country (Schnabel et al., 1994; Cedaro, 2000; Carling et al., 2009). When giving the opportunity for the talent to achieve positive results in sports, the talented personalities have to be selected, the purposeful training program has to be concluded as well as the monitoring of the practical implementation of the program has to be performed (Regnier et al., 1993; Durand-Bush, Salmela, 2001; Abernethy, 2008; Vaeyens et al., 2008; Bailey et al., 2010; Burgess, Naughton, 2010; Philips et al., 2010; Ford et al., 2011). Therefore it is very important that the training of the athletes has to be conceptualized, so a small quantity of the talented athletes is developed as optimally as possible. Inaccurate training system prevents the athletes from revealing their own potential. Thus, only the consistent sports training system shall stimulate a more rapid improvement of the sports results, as it is harder to identify a talent than to develop it (Balyi, Hamilton, 1999; Raslanas, 2001; Malina et al., 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010). It was considered for a long time that success in sports depends solely on the athletes, who are physically strong and developed tactically (Krasilshchikov, 2011), however, due to increase of the competition between athletes (De Bosscher et al., 2006) and major political and commercial influence of sports (Green, Oakley, 2001), there is a necessity to create long-term development programs with respect to different sports (Balyi, Hamilton, 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010). Long-term development of the young athletes taking place for a period between eight–to–twelve years before becoming elite athlete is a purposeful and integral didactic process (Ericsson, Charness, 1994; Salmela et al., 1998; Balyi, 2001; Balyi, Hamilton, 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010) which is significantly affected by the body composition of the athletes (genotypic and phenotypic factors) (Heyward, Stolarczyk, 1996; Jebb et al., 2000; Drinkwater et al., 2008; Ostojic et al., 2006; Abraham, 2010), training program (Trninic et al., 2001; Milanovič, 2002; Balčiūnas et al., 2006), exceptionally physical (Drinkwater et al., 2008; Delextrat, Cohen, 2009) and technical fitness (Apostolidis et al., 2004; Karpowicz, 2006), nature of sport performance (Hucinski, 2004; Dembinski, 2005). A reasonable long-term development system of young basketball players began to take shape in seventh decade of the 20th century. Different types of training were distinguished in such system: integral, physical, technical, tactical and theoretic (Stonkus, 1992; Butautas, 2002). The scientists have different opinions on the long-term development. Zeldovič and Keraminas (Зельдович, Кераминас, 1964) provide that 50 % of the total training time in the training cycle of the boys aged 11–14 years should be attributed to the physical and technical training. Dobry (1986) and Stonkus (1985) provide that physical training should prevail (at least 40 % of the total training time) in the training of boys aged 11–14 years. Other scientists (Mikulowsky, Oszast, 1976, Butautas, 2002; Milanovič et al., 2002; Cenic, 2004) state that the technical training is the most important type of training. Based on the opinion of the other group of scientists (Литвинов и др., 1996; Canadian Sports Centres, 2008), the time attributed to the physical training shall be reduced in parallel to the increase of age of an athlete, i.e. during the first year of training the largest part shall be attributed to physical training. One of the most important conditions of effective sports training is control and management of sports training in order to determine and assess physical development, physical fitness, change in the level of technical skills (Johnson, Nelson, 1986; Bouchard et al., 1997; Stonkus, 2002, 2003; Graham et al., 2004; Barfield et al., 2007; Mirkov et al., 2008; Balčiūnas et al., 2009; Robinson, 2010). According to some studies performed, age periods which are the most sensitive for the training of motor abilities (Komi, 1992; Shephard, Astrand, 1992; Kraemer, 1993; Pauletto, 1995; Alter, 1996; Donald, Chu, 1996; Dintiman et al., 1997; Donald, Chu, 1998; Viru et al., 1999; Baquet et al., 2003; Boisseau, Delamarche, 2000; Malina et al., 2004; Ford et al., 2011), technical skills (Schmidt, 1991; Latash, 1993; Burton, Miller, 1998; Schmidt, Lee, 1999; Cabodevilla, 2008; Kasa, 2006; Zambova, Tomanek, 2012) is childhood and adolescence. Scientists (Impellizzeri et al., 2005; Wolf, 2006; Ljach, 2007) provide that with respect to training of young basketball players fitness objectives shall be important next to the training objectives, as they influence achievement of the results of a young personality. Considering that the population of Lithuania is just below 3 million (2.96 million; http://www.stat.gov.lt, 2013), the results and achievement of Lithuanian basketball men national team (5th place in the world ranking, 406 points; http://www.fiba.com, 2013) and of national teams of younger age groups (3rd place in the world ranking, 261 points (http://www.fiba.com, 2013) in the Olympic Games, World and European championships should be treated as exceptional phenomena. A case study of an effective training institution could help to form an assumption on the peculiarities of the long-term development program successfully implemented by the Lithuanian coaches. The relevance of the problem is influenced by the following factors: • a special meaning for the development of a personality has genuine activity in childhood and adolescence (Jovaiša, 1993; 2001); • basketball is becoming a more important social phenomena as sports results represent the country (Wilson, Spink, 2006; Sakalauskas, 2010; Paulauskas, 2010); • in order to form a training concept of young basketball players, tendencies of the training of the training and fitness of the best athletes has to be analyzed (Leonardo et al., 2002; Stonkus, 2003); • train and manage the process of young basketball players so that the best results are achieved in the most important competitions (Balyi, Williams, 2009). It is especially important for Lithuania as it has limited resources of sports talent and finance; • only the scientifically-sound optimum training program of the young basketball players (aged 7–17 years) shall allow the athletes to realize their individual potential in order to achieve results in sports, as well as to realize sensitive opportunities for the development of personality (Aksen, Gunay, 2010). Research problem: due to different training of the young basketball players and different concept of the fitness influencing the training, it is important to determine, which peculiarities of the training programs applied effectively while aiming for the best results influence the fitness of the players during different age periods. Research hypothesis: a case study of coaching of young basketball players of Sabonis Basketball Center aged 7–17 years will reveal the structure of the long-term coaching of the players. Research object: coaching of young basketball players (aged 7–17 years). Research aim: conceptualization of the peculiarities of coaching of young basketball players (aged 7–17 years). Research objectives: 1. Determine the peculiarities of the content changes and amount of load of the training programs of basketball players aged 7–17 years. 2. Evaluate the body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness of basketball players aged 7–17 years by creating the rank scales of the indicators. 3. Determine the model values of the sport performance indicators of basketball players aged 12–17 years. 4. Reveal the selection and coaching model of Sabonis Basketball Center. Originality and theoretical significance of the research As basketball is becoming a more complex sport (faster, more athletic and more versatile), the results depend on many internal and external factors (Stonkus, 2003; Wissel, 2012). Training of young basketball players has become multidimensional, systemic process as multidisciplinary knowledge, methods and measures are used. A revealed phenomenological interaction between training and fitness of young basketball players aged 7–17 years is based on the following aspects: • a selection and training model of Sabonis Basketball Center has been revealed; • a training program of young basketball players aged 7–17 years applied in Sabonis Basketball Center has been revealed; • a rank scale of body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness of young basketball players aged 7–17 years has been formed; • the most sensitive age periods for the training of motor abilities and technical skills of young basketball players have been determined; • the characteristics of sport performance of basketball players aged 12–17 years have been formed. Practical application of the research Training programs and their peculiarities for different age periods provided in this dissertation shall help Lithuanian coaches to organize, plan and implement the long-term development of young basketball players more effectively. The rank scales of young basketball players' body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness and the model indicator values of sport performance, which have been formed for the purposes of this dissertation, shall help to select and train the players, prepare them for competitions and develop the highly skilled athletes. The established sensitive age periods for the training of motor abilities and technical skills shall assist the coaches in developing the abilities of young basketball players more effectively. Conclusions 1. It was determined that aiming to develop the basic skills of basketball technique and game awareness the specialized development prevail

Relevance of the topic. Lithuania is not a large country and sports talents are not emerging very often. It does not depend on the social or economic situation of the country (Schnabel et al., 1994; Cedaro, 2000; Carling et al., 2009). When giving the opportunity for the talent to achieve positive results in sports, the talented personalities have to be selected, the purposeful training program has to be concluded as well as the monitoring of the practical implementation of the program has to be performed (Regnier et al., 1993; Durand-Bush, Salmela, 2001; Abernethy, 2008; Vaeyens et al., 2008; Bailey et al., 2010; Burgess, Naughton, 2010; Philips et al., 2010; Ford et al., 2011). Therefore it is very important that the training of the athletes has to be conceptualized, so a small quantity of the talented athletes is developed as optimally as possible. Inaccurate training system prevents the athletes from revealing their own potential. Thus, only the consistent sports training system shall stimulate a more rapid improvement of the sports results, as it is harder to identify a talent than to develop it (Balyi, Hamilton, 1999; Raslanas, 2001; Malina et al., 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010). It was considered for a long time that success in sports depends solely on the athletes, who are physically strong and developed tactically (Krasilshchikov, 2011), however, due to increase of the competition between athletes (De Bosscher et al., 2006) and major political and commercial influence of sports (Green, Oakley, 2001), there is a necessity to create long-term development programs with respect to different sports (Balyi, Hamilton, 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010). Long-term development of the young athletes taking place for a period between eight–to–twelve years before becoming elite athlete is a purposeful and integral didactic process (Ericsson, Charness, 1994; Salmela et al., 1998; Balyi, 2001; Balyi, Hamilton, 2004; Balyi, Williams, 2009; Stafford, 2010) which is significantly affected by the body composition of the athletes (genotypic and phenotypic factors) (Heyward, Stolarczyk, 1996; Jebb et al., 2000; Drinkwater et al., 2008; Ostojic et al., 2006; Abraham, 2010), training program (Trninic et al., 2001; Milanovič, 2002; Balčiūnas et al., 2006), exceptionally physical (Drinkwater et al., 2008; Delextrat, Cohen, 2009) and technical fitness (Apostolidis et al., 2004; Karpowicz, 2006), nature of sport performance (Hucinski, 2004; Dembinski, 2005). A reasonable long-term development system of young basketball players began to take shape in seventh decade of the 20th century. Different types of training were distinguished in such system: integral, physical, technical, tactical and theoretic (Stonkus, 1992; Butautas, 2002). The scientists have different opinions on the long-term development. Zeldovič and Keraminas (Зельдович, Кераминас, 1964) provide that 50 % of the total training time in the training cycle of the boys aged 11–14 years should be attributed to the physical and technical training. Dobry (1986) and Stonkus (1985) provide that physical training should prevail (at least 40 % of the total training time) in the training of boys aged 11–14 years. Other scientists (Mikulowsky, Oszast, 1976, Butautas, 2002; Milanovič et al., 2002; Cenic, 2004) state that the technical training is the most important type of training. Based on the opinion of the other group of scientists (Литвинов и др., 1996; Canadian Sports Centres, 2008), the time attributed to the physical training shall be reduced in parallel to the increase of age of an athlete, i.e. during the first year of training the largest part shall be attributed to physical training. One of the most important conditions of effective sports training is control and management of sports training in order to determine and assess physical development, physical fitness, change in the level of technical skills (Johnson, Nelson, 1986; Bouchard et al., 1997; Stonkus, 2002, 2003; Graham et al., 2004; Barfield et al., 2007; Mirkov et al., 2008; Balčiūnas et al., 2009; Robinson, 2010). According to some studies performed, age periods which are the most sensitive for the training of motor abilities (Komi, 1992; Shephard, Astrand, 1992; Kraemer, 1993; Pauletto, 1995; Alter, 1996; Donald, Chu, 1996; Dintiman et al., 1997; Donald, Chu, 1998; Viru et al., 1999; Baquet et al., 2003; Boisseau, Delamarche, 2000; Malina et al., 2004; Ford et al., 2011), technical skills (Schmidt, 1991; Latash, 1993; Burton, Miller, 1998; Schmidt, Lee, 1999; Cabodevilla, 2008; Kasa, 2006; Zambova, Tomanek, 2012) is childhood and adolescence. Scientists (Impellizzeri et al., 2005; Wolf, 2006; Ljach, 2007) provide that with respect to training of young basketball players fitness objectives shall be important next to the training objectives, as they influence achievement of the results of a young personality. Considering that the population of Lithuania is just below 3 million (2.96 million; http://www.stat.gov.lt, 2013), the results and achievement of Lithuanian basketball men national team (5th place in the world ranking, 406 points; http://www.fiba.com, 2013) and of national teams of younger age groups (3rd place in the world ranking, 261 points (http://www.fiba.com, 2013) in the Olympic Games, World and European championships should be treated as exceptional phenomena. A case study of an effective training institution could help to form an assumption on the peculiarities of the long-term development program successfully implemented by the Lithuanian coaches. The relevance of the problem is influenced by the following factors: • a special meaning for the development of a personality has genuine activity in childhood and adolescence (Jovaiša, 1993; 2001); • basketball is becoming a more important social phenomena as sports results represent the country (Wilson, Spink, 2006; Sakalauskas, 2010; Paulauskas, 2010); • in order to form a training concept of young basketball players, tendencies of the training of the training and fitness of the best athletes has to be analyzed (Leonardo et al., 2002; Stonkus, 2003); • train and manage the process of young basketball players so that the best results are achieved in the most important competitions (Balyi, Williams, 2009). It is especially important for Lithuania as it has limited resources of sports talent and finance; • only the scientifically-sound optimum training program of the young basketball players (aged 7–17 years) shall allow the athletes to realize their individual potential in order to achieve results in sports, as well as to realize sensitive opportunities for the development of personality (Aksen, Gunay, 2010). Research problem: due to different training of the young basketball players and different concept of the fitness influencing the training, it is important to determine, which peculiarities of the training programs applied effectively while aiming for the best results influence the fitness of the players during different age periods. Research hypothesis: a case study of coaching of young basketball players of Sabonis Basketball Center aged 7–17 years will reveal the structure of the long-term coaching of the players. Research object: coaching of young basketball players (aged 7–17 years). Research aim: conceptualization of the peculiarities of coaching of young basketball players (aged 7–17 years). Research objectives: 1. Determine the peculiarities of the content changes and amount of load of the training programs of basketball players aged 7–17 years. 2. Evaluate the body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness of basketball players aged 7–17 years by creating the rank scales of the indicators. 3. Determine the model values of the sport performance indicators of basketball players aged 12–17 years. 4. Reveal the selection and coaching model of Sabonis Basketball Center. Originality and theoretical significance of the research As basketball is becoming a more complex sport (faster, more athletic and more versatile), the results depend on many internal and external factors (Stonkus, 2003; Wissel, 2012). Training of young basketball players has become multidimensional, systemic process as multidisciplinary knowledge, methods and measures are used. A revealed phenomenological interaction between training and fitness of young basketball players aged 7–17 years is based on the following aspects: • a selection and training model of Sabonis Basketball Center has been revealed; • a training program of young basketball players aged 7–17 years applied in Sabonis Basketball Center has been revealed; • a rank scale of body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness of young basketball players aged 7–17 years has been formed; • the most sensitive age periods for the training of motor abilities and technical skills of young basketball players have been determined; • the characteristics of sport performance of basketball players aged 12–17 years have been formed. Practical application of the research Training programs and their peculiarities for different age periods provided in this dissertation shall help Lithuanian coaches to organize, plan and implement the long-term development of young basketball players more effectively. The rank scales of young basketball players' body composition indicators, physical and technical fitness and the model indicator values of sport performance, which have been formed for the purposes of this dissertation, shall help to select and train the players, prepare them for competitions and develop the highly skilled athletes. The established sensitive age periods for the training of motor abilities and technical skills shall assist the coaches in developing the abilities of young basketball players more effectively. Conclusions 1. It was determined that aiming to develop the basic skills of basketball technique and game awareness the specialized development prevail

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Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.

Relevance of research topic. Recent decades have seen a growing concern for the prospects of today's youth. Major problems of young people are related to pervasive destructive and inappropriate behaviour: delinquency, aggression, bullying, drug abuse etc. (Holt, Jones, 2008; Strachan, Côté, Deakin, 2011). These problems are the result of changing social factors: both parents work full-time, single-parent families, unattended children at home (Strachan et al., 2011). Successful personality development depends on a number of external factors: family, school, positive role models, purposefully and deliberately chosen way of self-realization and leisure time activities. The role of a family for the child's positive personality development is in particular highlighted (Vierimaa et al., 2012). Close and solid relationships between children and parents ensure the consistent feeling of security and confidence (Carr, 2014). Affectionate relations between parents and children influence the formation of close links with other people (Holt, Knight, 2014; Steinberg, 2014). The importance of attachment becomes apparent in adolescence – the period of psychological and social transition from childhood to adulthood (Nawaz, 2011). Early parent–child relationship plays a vital role in this period. Attachment and relationship with parents change in the period of adolescence, young people becoming more independent from their parents. In this period the parent–child attachment weakens as young people are faced with new challenges; they seek independence and self-sufficiency, develop their self-identity. Researchers have noted that secure attachment to family gives adolescents a more secure emotional basis which they can always rely on. Gained self-confidence and affectionate relations help adolescents in developing and maintaining relationships with peers (Nawaz, Gilani, 2011). As adolescents spend most of the time without parents, their personality development is strongly influenced not only by parents, but also by peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Therefore, it is important for adolescents to establish or strengthen the existing relationships with friends (Nawaz, 2011). The time spent with peers enables them to develop and maintain social relationships outside the family, to be independent from their parents, to build their future adult identity, express their needs and develop their culture in a group of peers (Arnon et al., 2008). Communication and time spent with peers is not just having fun in one's leisure time but also an important part of socialization process (Arnon et al., 2008). Meaningful leisure activities have a positive impact on adolescents' development: prevent risky behaviour with negative consequences for the future; ensure better academic achievements; involve into community activities and help to pursue a career in adulthood (Fredricks, Eccles, 2010). Meaningful leisure activities include participation in sporting activities, which, according to scientific research, is one of the most popular after-school activities among adolescents (Šukys, 2008; Tomik et al., 2012). Parental mission is to guide the child into activities that, through continuous participation, would build the child's self-confidence and ability to solve problems, teach aim setting and instil values (Warner et al., 2015). Deliberate practice and its advantages have been widely researched (Strachan et al., 2011; Vierimaa et al., 2012). Participation in sports is one of social activities that has a positive effect on a child's development. This attractive activity with respectable image can lead to positive social changes. Participation in sporting activities gives children the opportunity to enjoy high-quality leisure time; children become more disciplined and active in many different spheres (Rottensteiner et al., 2013). Although organized youth sports provide meaningful activities to millions of children, sociological studies suggest that the number of children engaged in sporting activities is constantly decreasing, and children's negative attitude towards sports, alienation and passiveness is becoming a serious problem (Smoll et al., 2011). Most of researchers acknowledge that parents have the greatest influence in sporting activities of their children (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Dorsch et al., 2009; Sapieja et al., 2011; Nunomura, Oliveira, 2013; Holt, Knight, 2014; Knight, Holt 2014; Dorsch, Smith, 2016), that participation in youth sport is the process where parents play the most important role (Sanchez-Miguel et al., 2013). Initially children enjoy sports for small achievements; later on sport becomes a motivating factor, an interesting and meaningful activity that eventually becomes a lifestyle (Wells et al., 2005; Perrotta, Pannelli, 2014; Prichard, Deutsch, 2015; McMillan et al., 2016) passed on to children and grandchildren, i.e. to the next generations. In order to involve children into sporting activities from the early age and to achieve progress in fully disclosing their talents it is necessary to create a favourable environment in the early years of the child's personality development and parents play a very important role in this process (Sánchez-Miguel et al., 2013; Legg et al., 2015; Dorsch et al., 2015; Dorsch, Smith, 2016). The child's success in sports can be regarded as the parents' merit too (Bailey et al., 2013). Parents can shape the child's behaviour and give the right direction (Lavoi, Stellino, 2008; Arthur-Banning et al., 2009; Smoll et al., 2011). Parents are involved in disclosing and recognizing the child's talent (Côté, Vierimaa, 2014), experienced joy from participation in sporting activities (McCarthy, Jones, 2007), understanding the athletic competence (Lee et al., 2008), competition anxiety and stress management experience (Gould et al. 2012), and development of psychological skills (MacNamara et al., 2010). Family relations is the context where answers to questions how and why participation in sporting activities changes the child's thinking and behaviour. Such issues as the role of parents in this process and how they cope with this role, how sporting activities modify not only children's but also parents' personality orientations, behaviour and communication in the family. Research problem. The analysis of Lithuanian and foreign studies in the context of research topic revealed the following problem aspects: only very few athlete children can remain in sports without emotional and financial support from their family (O'Connor, 2011); not all parents are interested in sports and not all parents understand the importance of education through sports (O'Rourke et al., 2014); little is known about the influence of children's participation in sports on parents, their motivation and experience (Wiersma, Fifer, 2008) little is known about the relationship between children's participation in sport and their communication in the family and with peers. Therefore, there is a need to find out how parental involvement in youth sport could be strengthened and supported by recognizing the prospects of children and respecting parental experiences. Research object – educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research goal – reveal the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. Research objectives: 1. Theoretically ground the educational interaction between parents and adolescents in sports. 2. Disclose the links between participation in sporting activities and attachment to parents and peers among athlete and non-athlete adolescents. 3. Disclose parental experiences related to the involvement into children's sporting activities. 4. Disclose adolescents' experiences related participation in sporting activities and relationship with parents. Expected outcomes of research (hypotheses): 1. A hypothesis that the relationship of athletic children with parents is more affectionate compared to that of non-athletic peers is proposed. 2. A hypothesis that adolescents with longer athletic experience are more attached to parents compared to adolescents with less athletic experience is proposed. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation The findings of scientific studies done in Lithuania and abroad on family involvement into adolescents' activities are significant in terms of importance of attachment to parents in the period of adolescence. However, integrated research into children's attachment to parents and peers in the context of sport is scarce, and no studies analysing parent–child experiences related to sport and revealing the educational interaction were done in Lithuania. Thus there is insufficient scientific information in this area. Therefore the scientific novelty of the dissertation is grounded on three levels: theoretical, empirical and practical. On the theoretical level this dissertation presents and substantiates the expanded concepts and interpretations of attachment to parents, attachment to peers and educational interaction between parents and children. Until now the constructs representing attachment to parents, attachment to peers, adolescents' participation in sporting activities were analysed in scientific studies as separate issues. In this dissertation these constructs are united into an integral and continuous process of educational interaction between parents and children. A modern theoretical model of educational interaction between parents and children developed and theoretically grounded in this dissertation is significant for its scientific novelty. On the empirical level a quantitative survey of adolescents was conducted in this dissertation in order to analyse the importance of attachment and communication within the family in the period of adolescence. The experiences of parents stemming from the involvement in their children's sporting activities and the experiences of adolescents related to the participation in sporting activities and relations with parents were disclosed in the qualitative survey. Both surveys were combined by a mixed method. These complementing surveys enabled to get a deeper and clearer understanding of parent–adolescent relations and attachment to family in the background of sporting activities. It is not only new approach in the context of Lithuanian research but also expands the available results of empirical research from foreign countries. This approach was used not only with the aim to find out how different variables related to sporting activities (attachment to family, attachment to peers, coaches' input) acting together may add to the expression of positive educational interaction between parents and children in sporting activities. Another new thing is that for the first time in research literature adolescents' attachment to parents is operationalized by two variables (attachment to parents and attachment to peers) reflecting their participation in sporting activities in order to find out, which variable is more important in the period of adolescence. On the practical level the results and conclusions of this dissertation may first of all help managers of sport clubs, organizations, school staff and educators to better understand how parents – by creating positive and supporting relations in sporting activities of their teenage children – may add to the achievement of the goals and objectives and in this way educate democratically minded youth ready to actively engage in social and public life. Secondly, this dissertation is relevant and has a practical value for the promotion of positive development of adolescents and responsible parenting. It opens a new view for professionals (coaches, sport educators, sport psychologists) working with athletes and their parents to the variety of experiences and through the knowledge gained increase the wellness of athletes and their parents. Thus, the clearer aspects of family attachment and experiences of athlete adolescents in their relations with parents may help to improve the skills not only of athlete adolescents but also of their parents and coaches. It should be noted that the findings of this dissertation were implemented in practice – a new intervention programme facilitating the parental involvement in children's sporting activities has been developed. More information about this educational programme is available at www.lisinskiene.com. CONCLUSIONS 1. Scientific literature analysis revealed that parent–child educational interaction in sport is a bi-directional system. Parents influence children: they learn to be emphatic, self-disciplined, self-respected, they build communication skills, and plan their daily routine. Children influence parents because involvement in the child's sport naturally changes parents and modifies their lives: parental daily routine alters, their cognition, knowledge and emotions change, their circle of contacts increases, interpersonal relations with the child, in the family, with other participants in sports also change. Marital relations of parents also alter through the child's participation in sport, some parents start playing sports. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on financial and psychological support from parents, the child's physical and emotional security, the coach's positive education strategy, competence and authority. Educational interaction in sport is possible by more active attraction of parents into children's sport; not making pressure on athletic children; motivating them to play sports through psychologically supporting environment; providing continuous training possibilities for coaches. 2. The investigation into the relationship between the adolescents' sporting activities and attachment to family and peers revealed that athlete adolescents' relations with parents are more intensively expressed in all scales: communication, trust and alienation compared to non-athlete adolescents. No relationship was found between adolescents' participation in sport and attachment to peers. 3. Interviews with parents revealed the importance of the coach's role for strengthening parent–child interaction in sport. Parent–child educational interaction in sport depends on the coaching strategy selected by the coach and the degree and form of parental involvement in children's sport. Parents of athlete adolescents acknowledge the benefit of positive coaching and education strategy selected by the coach. This understanding confirms the importance of positive tri-dimensional interaction among parents, children and coaches. However, a phenomenon that has a negative effect on this interaction: parents find it difficult to admit the children's growing attachment to coach. The contraposition to close relations between the child and the coach demonstrated by parents may encourage the alienation between parents and children in sport. 4. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that parental involvement into children's sport is more important in the early period of sporting life and becomes less appreciable or unwelcome when children gain sporting experience. In the background of parent–child interrelations in sporting activities adolescents alienation from parents is more common than communication and trust. Alienation of older adolescents from parents in sports has several causes: growing children seek to be independent from their families in sports, some parents behave inappropriately in youth sport and embarrass their children. Interviews with athlete adolescents revealed that some parents demonstrate substandard behaviour in relation to their children, have no loyalty towards other participants of the sporting activity. However, financial support remains and important factor of parental support in all levels of sporting experience. The degree and form of parental involvement into children's sport influences the effectiveness of parent–child educational interaction. The degree and form of involvement chosen by the parents are not always appropriate and encouraging, and not always acceptable to adolescents.