The Portuguese focus group discussion was organised by Sport Evolution Alliance (SEA). The session brought together 10 participants (ex-athletes, teachers, coaches, sport managers, aged 25-60, gender-mixed).
SEA is a Portuguese sport organisation working at the intersection of sport, education, inclusion, youth development and employability. Through European projects and local initiatives, SEA uses sport as a tool to support young people in developing personal, social and professional competences that can be transferred beyond the sporting environment. In the YouthSportCV project, SEA contributes with its experience in youth sport, non-formal education, employability and Erasmus+ cooperation.
Young people are developing valuable employable skills through sport. But they don’t know it.
The focus group was structured around three blocks: a practical case study, reflection on the Map of Soft Skills, and design thinking about what the YouthSportCV platform should actually be.
The starting point for most participants was a fundamental agreement: sport is a powerful environment for developing soft skills. But this “but” became central to everything discussed; this development does not happen automatically.
One participant captured it perfectly: “Young athletes often have the skills already, but they do not always know how to name them or understand how they can use them outside sport.”
This distinction matters enormously. It’s not that sport fails to develop skills. It’s that the transfer from sport to employment requires intentional support, reflection and guidance. Another participant expressed it this way: “Sport can develop soft skills, but only if someone helps the young person reflect on what is happening and connect it with real life.”
Participants spoke from direct experience. They understood soft skills as personal, social and behavioural competences visible in how young people train, compete, communicate, respond to pressure, cooperate with others and deal with rules or feedback. They could point to the responsibility visible in a young athlete preparing for training. The resilience visible in recovering from defeat. The empathy visible in supporting a struggling teammate.
But they also knew that these visible skills often remain invisible to the young people displaying them.
What surprised the facilitators most was the depth of discussion about the role of coaches. Participants didn’t see coaches only as technical instructors. They described them as educational figures, people who influence values, behaviours, motivation, responsibility and personal development. One coach in the group spoke candidly about the weight of this responsibility. Another reflected on how often young people don’t recognise the coach’s educational role until years later, when they’re adults looking back at formative experiences.
This reframing mattered. If coaches are educators, not just trainers, then the question isn’t “Why should coaches teach soft skills?” It’s “How can we help coaches intentionally recognise and develop the educational work they’re already doing?”
Ranking Skills: Sport Success vs. Employability
When the group was asked what soft skills were most important for sporting success versus employability, a clear pattern emerged but with important nuances.
For sporting success, the most frequently highlighted skills were resilience, discipline and teamwork/cooperation. Participants connected these directly to the athlete’s experience: consistency in training, accepting feedback, managing emotions, dealing with pressure, recovering from mistakes, continuing after defeat. Other skills mentioned included focus, goal-setting, stress management, communication, emotional intelligence, leadership and self-reflection.
For employability, the group highlighted responsibility/commitment, cooperation/teamwork and adaptability. Communication, empathy, autonomy, discipline, critical thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, time management and decision-making were also considered important.
One participant shared: “Responsibility and cooperation are important in almost every context, whether we are talking about a sports team or a workplace.”
The Barriers: Why Skills Stay Hidden
The focus group’s discussion of barriers to recognising soft skills revealed the complexity of the challenge.
The first barrier was time. Many coaches have jobs, families and limited availability beyond regular training and competition. Providing deeper individual support, intentional reflection, and skill development takes time that’s often unavailable. Participants understood this not as a personal failing but as a structural reality: coaches are often stretched thin.
The second barrier was motivation, but not young people’s motivation to succeed. Rather, the challenge was engaging young people with tools and processes that feel disconnected from their reality. If a platform is too theoretical, generic or removed from lived experience, young people won’t use it. They need short, practical, interactive and visually engaging content that speaks their language.
One participant emphasised: “If the tool is too theoretical, young people will not use it. It needs to speak their language and connect with their real experience.”
The third barrier was the gap between theory and practice. Many existing tools explain soft skills in abstract terms but don’t help young people connect them to their own experiences. A young person might read about “resilience” but not understand how their experience recovering from losing a championship relates to that concept or how that experience matters in a job interview.
A fourth barrier was lack of formal recognition. Employers may not always understand how sport experience demonstrates responsibility, resilience, cooperation or leadership. Even when a young person can articulate these skills, the employer might not know how to value them or where they fit in the organisation.
Finally, the group stressed: coaches cannot do this work alone. Clubs, families, schools, employers and public policies all influence whether soft skills are developed, recognised and valued. The ecosystem matters.
Designing a Platform That Actually Works
When the conversation turned to what the YouthSportCV Platform should actually be, the group was clear.
The platform should be simple, intuitive, visually appealing and engaging from the first moment. It should avoid long theoretical introductions and instead offer short, practical and interactive content. The most valuable features suggested were videos, real-life cases, interactive questions, self-reflection exercises, gamification and personalised pathways.
The topics identified as most relevant were self-awareness, skills identification, life project planning, transfer of sport skills to employment, communication, responsibility, teamwork, resilience, adaptability and understanding how different professions require different competences.
One participant summarised the vision: “The platform should help young people discover what they are good at and understand where those skills can take them.”
Making Skills Visible and Transferable
What the Portuguese focus group revealed is that the infrastructure for recognising soft skills already exists in sport. Coaches see these skills. Young people develop them. The question is how to make this visible, intentional and transferable.
The group also revealed something about the nature of the challenge itself. This isn’t primarily about young people lacking skills. It’s about young people not recognising their own competencies, adults not having systematic ways to support skill development, and employers not knowing how to understand or value sport-developed skills.
The solution requires changes at multiple levels: young people need tools and support to recognise and name their skills; coaches need resources to intentionally develop and reflect on skills; employers need education about how sport develops competencies; and platforms need to bridge these worlds with practical, accessible, engaging tools.
This is the work YouthSportCV is undertaking. The Portuguese focus group has helped clarify what that work should be: not to create something entirely new, but to make visible, intentional, and transferable what sport communities already know.
As one participant reflected: “Sport can develop soft skills, but only if someone helps the young person reflect on what is happening and connect it with real life.”