This study aimed to understand how positive youth development through sport and physical activity is understood and experienced by urban indigenous youth. Research in positive youth development claims that structured physical activities are critical for development. The 5 Cs (i.e., confidence, competence, character, connection, caring) are a gold standard when discussing positive outcomes and are important characteristics for youth to possess to attain the sixth C-contribution. Indigenous leaders recognize the value of sport for indigenous children and youth. Recent works in sport psychology have called for research to understand youth sport and physical activity from diverse cultural perspectives. The current study used a community-based participatory framework, and 43 youth from across 3 Canadian settings were recruited. Talking circles were used to collect the data. Results point to some unique understandings of the 5 Cs by the participants-namely, the inclusion of the self within each C.
Indigenous leaders, both at the national (Truth and Recon-ciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) and community level (Maskwachees Declaration, 2005), recognize the value of sportfor Indigenous children and youth. Researchers in sport psychol-ogy have called for more research to understand youth participationin sport and physical activity from diverse cultural perspectives,particularly the perspectives of Indigenous youth (Bruner et al.,2016;McHugh, Coppola, Holt, & Andersen, 2015;Schinke &Hanrahan, 2009). The limited research that does focus on Indige-nous youth sport and physical activity suggests that Indigenousyouth share many challenges accessing a sport system that islargely based on Euro-Canadian (i.e., Canadians of Europeandescent) values and structures (Schinke, Peltier, & YungBlut,2013) and experience many constraints to participation, includingracism, marginalization, and socioeconomic barriers (Mason &Koehli, 2012). By understanding the sport experiences of Indige-nous youth, researchers could demonstrate how to produce cul-turally specific programs that recognize their unique challengesand adapt these programs to meet their specific needs (Bruneret al., 2016).