International High-Performance Sport Camps and the Development of Emplaced Physical Capital Among Pasifika Athletes

Abstract

In this paper, the authors explore how athletes from the Global South interact with the material environment of an international training camp program in the lead up to a major event. Set within the context of Pasifika nations with colonial and missionary legacies, they examine the material, affective, sensory, and rhythmic forces at work to produce enabling or constraining capacities for emplaced physical capital in athletes. Driven by a desire to improve their performance, athletes resisted, appropriated, and adopted various high-performance practices to develop their emplaced physical capital capacities.

Social aspects and sports performance: the principle of social-corporeal individuality

“…Studies centered on biomechanical, physiological, and technical aspects of running (Manechini et al, 2020) and trail running are predominant in the academic literature, with the use of equipment, emphasizing the improvement of performance or the prevention of lesions (Mo et al, 2021;Lima et al, 2021;Weir et al, 2020;Jewell et al, 2019;Vercruyssen et al, 2014;Daviaux et al, 2013). However, studies where sports are associated to social and cultural aspects have also been observed, though to a lesser extent (Hockey and Allen-Collinson, 2016;Davies et al, 2019;Deelen et al, 2019;King and Weedon, 2021;O'Brien et al, 2021).…”