Olympism as education: Analysing the learning experiences of elite athletes

Olympic athletes are potentially the most visible exponents of Olympic values. How athletes learn values, however, has not captured the attention of those responsible for Olympic documentation or pedagogues. This paper examines how aspects of Olympism became relevant for three former Olympians during their athletic careers. Interview material suggested that: (1) inconsistencies within official expressions of Olympism mirror tensions in athletic experiences; (2) some claims concerning sport made in the Olympic Charter are simplistic and translate poorly to Olympic experiences that are multidimensional and complex; and (3) universal ethical principles have limited influence on how athletes conduct themselves. The results imply that pedagogues working with elite athletes should make discursive discontinuities in sport explicit, reflect on traditional views of sport education while acknowledging implicit learning, and approach questions of ethics from a specific and practice-oriented standpoint rather than a universal and principle-based one

Athlete learning in Olympic sport

High-performance sport impacts athletes beyond the physical. Coaches and coaching practice are particularly influential in shaping this learning and development. This article examines the learning identified through an inductive content analysis of eight former Olympic athletes’ career narratives. Three phases of learning could be identified across the cohort: ‘Growing into high-performance sport’, ‘Making sense of high-performance sport’, and ‘(Re)shaping high-performance sport’. A cultural perspective of learning, in particular the metaphor of ‘becoming’, is employed to interpret the Olympians’ learning experiences. The findings of this research indicate that athlete learning is bound by particular high-performance sporting contexts and career phases, yet impacted by the athletes’ individual backgrounds and dispositions. Further, data indicate that athletes’ personal development reflexively intertwines with athletic performance and performance enhancement. Implications for coaches are to: (1) involve athletes in co-constructing their sporting cultures and training contexts; and (2) provide possibilities and support for athletes to develop personally

‘One door closes, a next door opens up somewhere’: The learning of one Olympic synchronised swimmer

Although training in sport is necessary to reach Olympic status, a conditioned body is not the only outcome. Athletes also learn how to be Olympians. This learning involves taking on certain ways of acting, thinking and valuing. Such learning has implications beyond competition, as athletes eventually retire from elite sport and devote their time to other activities. This paper examines processes of learning and transition using the case of Amelia, a former Olympic synchronised swimmer. Through two in-depth interviews, empirical material was generated which focused on the learning that took place during this athlete’s career and after, during her transition to paid employment. A cultural view of learning was used as the theoretical frame to understand the athlete’s experiences. Our reading suggests that the athlete learned in various ways to be productive. Some of these ways of being were useful after retirement; others were less compatible. In fact, Amelia used a two-year period after retirement to reconstruct herself. Key to her eventual successful transition was to distance herself from the sport and to critically reflect upon her sporting experiences. We thus recommend that those involved with high-performance athletes foster a more balanced perspective that acknowledges and promotes ways of being beyond athletic involvement

Trampoline gymnasts’ body-self narratives of the leotard:a seamless fit?

Critical gymnastics literature suggests that a specific and narrowly defined body aesthetic is, in part, to blame for a range of serious health and well-being issues observed amongst female gymnasts. The leotard, a vital component of this ideal body aesthetic, has received relatively little scholarly attention which we suggest reflects a wider lack of focused attention towards gymnasts’ subjective or phenomenological experiences of their bodies. In this chapter we draw from an 18-month ethnographic study of British trampoline gymnasts’ bodily experiences told through their body narratives. We draw upon Frank’s (2013) body typology to explore the moments of body-self construction, unity, and disruption as the trampoline gymnasts respond to action problems in various social contexts. We illuminate moments of body-self disruption as gymnasts experience puberty and body dissatisfaction highlighting the role of the leotard in these experiences. We close by suggesting that the focus on gymnastic body problems requires more self-conscious and reflexive solutions and encourage researchers and practitioners to enable gymnasts to tell stories in an ethical endeavour to find more liveable relations with their bodies

Injury-Free Children and Adolescents: Towards Better Practice in Swedish Football (FIT project)

This interdisciplinary research project will produce evidence-based recommendations on how injuries in Swedish youth football (soccer) can be prevented. Fewer injuries will positively impact athlete health, performance and career longevity and have the potential to promote life-long physical activity and wellbeing. Injury pattern research demonstrates that injuries are a significant problem in (Swedish) youth sport. Football has a higher traumatic and overuse injury rate than many contact/collision sports (e.g., field hockey, basketball). In research on youth football, the incidence of overuse training injuries was measured as high as 15.4 injuries per 1000 training hours, and the incidence of traumatic and overuse match injuries was 47.5 injuries per 1000 match hours. The injury frequency is alarming and applies to the 54% of children aged 7-14 and the 39% of youths aged 15-19 years who participate in Swedish organised sports. A large body of research identifies injury risk factors and preventative strategies; however, as the recent IOC consensus statement on youth athletic development points out, the existing, mostly bio-medical knowledge does not provide effective evidence-based injury prevention strategies. To address this deficit, interdisciplinary and context-driven knowledge on injury development in youth sport is needed. The proposed project will produce scientific evidence through four consecutive studies: a) Questionnaire to register the types, frequency and management of injuries; b) Laboratory testing of biomechanical, clinical and training-specific parameters to establish individual physical and sport-specific dispositions; c) Observation of sporting contexts to understand sporting cultures, coaching methods and coach-athlete relationships; and d) Interviews with coaches and players to recognize knowledge that shapes coaching and training. The sample of youth players will be recruited from Sweden’s most popular and injury-prone sport: football. Each of the four studies will conduct its own data production and analyses, and a collective analysis will produce integrated evidence. Concrete recommendations for best sporting practice will be developed, which will serve sporting federations, sport education institutions, coaches, sport support staff and players

Bodily crises in skilled performance: Considering the need for artistic habits

Empirical evidence demonstrates that performing artists are confronted by a variety of ‘bodily crises’ (e.g., injury, attrition of habits induced by ageing) over the course of their careers (Wainwright, Williams, & Turner, 2005). Such crises may present a serious threat to the embodied subject. Unfortunately, many prominent theories of skill acquisition (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967) appear to evacuate the body from performance by suggesting that any form of conscious processing (i.e., paying conscious attention to one's action during motor skill execution) will disrupt habitual behaviour. As a result, few researchers have considered how performers might tackle bodily anomalies. In the current paper, we seek to address this issue by discussing a variety of the ‘crises’ that confront the performing body. We start by discussing a number of disciplinary practices that may contribute to these crises. Next, we argue that habitual movements must be open to ‘acts of creativity’ in order to maintain a productive relationship between the performing body and the environment. Then we consider what this ‘creative action’ might involve and discuss a number of approaches (e.g., mindfulness, somaesthetic awareness) that could maintain and improve one's movement proficiency. Here, our argument draws on Dewey's (1922) pragmatist philosophy and his belief that ‘intelligent habit’ was required to help people to improve their movement functioning. Finally, we consider the implications of our argument for current conceptualisations of ‘habitual’ movement and recommend that researchers explore the adaptive and flexible capacity of the performing body

Radial Migration in Disk Galaxies I: Transient Spiral Structure and Dynamics

We seek to understand the origin of radial migration in spiral galaxies by analyzing in detail the structure and evolution of an idealized, isolated galactic disk. To understand the redistribution of stars, we characterize the time-evolution of properties of spirals that spontaneously form in the disk. Our models unambiguously show that in such disks, single spirals are unlikely, but that a number of transient patterns may coexist in the disk. However, we also show that while spirals are transient in amplitude, at any given time the disk favors patterns of certain pattern speeds. Using several runs with different numerical parameters we show that the properties of spirals that occur spontaneously in the disk do not sensitively depend on resolution. The existence of multiple transient patterns has large implications for the orbits of stars in the disk, and we therefore examine the resonant scattering mechanisms that profoundly alter angular momenta of individual stars. We confirm that the corotation scattering mechanism described by Sellwood & Binney (2002) is responsible for the largest angular momentum changes in our simulations.Comment: accepted to MNRAS; substantial additions to Section 4 dealing with the radial mixing proces

“I Don’t Really Know What the Magic Wand Is to Get Yourself in There” : Women’s Sense of Organizational Fit as Coach Developers

Building on the body of research that has addressed the experiences of female coaches, the present study examines women’s role as coach developers. English football served as the context for the research. Figures demonstrate women are underrepresented in this role more so than they are as coaches, and their distribution across the coach developer pathway is unevenly balanced, with most women qualified at Level I of the pathway. Using the concept of ‘organizational fit’, the research connects the experiences of the 10 coach developers interviewed, to the structural practices of their national and local governing bodies. These practices were symptomatic of the organizations’ culture that is created and upheld by masculine ideals. Work expectations and the environment were structured on the image of men as coaches and coach developers. Cultural barriers to women’s sense of organizational fit were specifically found to be: the incentive to progress (return on investment from higher coaching qualifications), the degree of organizational support and nurture, and the opportunity to progress and practice. Consequently, organizational expectations and values do not support the ambitions of women to climb the coach developer career ladder, and restrict their sense of choice and control. Future research should direct its attention towards a greater interrogation of aspects of sport organizational culture that may serve to ‘push’ female coaches away from its core, or alternatively, pull them closer to engage and make use of their expertise and abilities as coach developers