Power and knowledge in a coach mentoring program

Zehntner, Chris; McMahon, Jenny

doi:10.1080/21640629.2018.1480736

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Blackett et al, 2019;Cushion, 2018;Gerdin et al, 2019;Taylor et al, 2016;Taylor et al, 2018) and coach education (e.g. Avner et al, 2017;Piggott, 2012;Zehntner & McMahon, 2019). In doing so, we argue, they have helped to illuminate the hidden, yet powerful, structural and cultural practices that underpin particular and prevailing orthodoxies.…”

Section: A Critical (Broadly Poststructuralist) Lensmentioning

confidence: 87%

“Long ball” and “balls deep”: a critical reading of female coach-learners’ experiences of the UEFA A licence

Sawiuk

Taylor

2021

Sports Coaching Review

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In this article we present a critical reading of female coach-learners' experiences of the Union of European Football Association's Advanced Licence (UEFA A), which at the time of writing have been largely ignored. It comes at a point when The Football Association's policy, the 2017-2020 Gameplan for Growth Strategy, which focuses on the women's game, has been completed. We wanted to understand better the challenges faced by female coaches as they navigate their way through the male-dominated educational programmes. We interviewed nine female UEFA A Licence holders who had participated in differing cohorts across a ten-year span. Interpreting the female coach-learners' experiences through a critical and broadly poststructuralist lens reveals how the language, structure and assumptions inherent in the course affect female coach-learner experiences. The data exposes a catalogue of androcentric assumptions, toxic masculinity, sexualised language, dismissive practices, ignorance of the women's game, and acts of resistance.

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Section: A Critical (Broadly Poststructuralist) Lensmentioning

confidence: 87%

“Long ball” and “balls deep”: a critical reading of female coach-learners’ experiences of the UEFA A licence

Sawiuk

Taylor

2021

Sports Coaching Review

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“…In building upon this notion, recent Foucauldian inspired research has begun to shed light on how both pastoral and disciplinary concepts of power operate within formalised coach mentoring programmes, which may direct mentee coaching practices to align with their mentors' normalised beliefs (e.g. Leeder, 2019;Zehntner & McMahon, 2019). Coach mentors are instrumental in defining legitimate knowledge within the mentoring process, where through a process of social editing mentors may 'choose' to espouse particular coaching practices and beliefs whilst disregarding alternatives (Cushion, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the discussion, Bourdieu's concepts were woven into the analysis to increase the growing sociological literature on coach mentoring (see Leeder, 2019;Sawiuk et al, 2018;Zehntner & McMahon, 2019). The value of this work lays in addressing the need for more empirical research on coach mentoring programmes (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The reproduction of ‘coaching culture’: a Bourdieusian analysis of a formalised coach mentoring programme

Leeder

Cushion

2019

Sports Coaching Review

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Despite its positive rhetoric, formalised coach mentoring can be problematic due to the institutional agendas of National Governing Bodies (NGB), with mentoring functioning as a method to reproduce organisational cultures and beliefs. This research attempted to explore this issue in greater depth by critically analysing a formalised coach mentoring programme. Fourteen mentors and four mentees participated in semi-structured interviews to discuss their experiences of a NGB's formalised mentoring programme.Analysed through a Bourdieusian lens, the findings present formalised coach mentoring as a source of cultural reproduction, where mentors embodied a group habitus that reinforced the NGB's dispositions and beliefs towards coaching practice. Mentors strived to inculcate mentees and rework their habituses to align with the field's doxa through a process of pedagogic action, with symbolic capital proving influential in reproducing coaching ideologies. NGBs should begin to critically analyse their coach mentoring provision to maximise opportunities for mentee learning and development.

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“…Having greater structure and control is deemed valuable, yet the formalisation process might introduce problematic elements relating to institutional agendas and financial constraints. Through this increased formalisation, employed coach mentors may begin to adopt normalising and disciplinary practices, to ensure mentee coaches are working towards prescribed coaching frameworks and objectives required by the administering organisation (Sawiuk, Taylor, & Groom, 2016;Zehntner & McMahon, 2018). This will of course pose challenges towards coach learning and development, where the focus of the mentoring relationship is on socialising coaches, whilst collecting and recording empirical data to meet institutional targets (Jones et al, 2009;Sawiuk et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent research (see Sawiuk et al, 2016;Zehntner & McMahon, 2018) has begun to add an enhanced level of criticality to sports coach mentoring and has challenged the prevailing "distorted and utopian view", whilst revealing the "essential social and relational complexities" inherent within the practice (Potrac, 2016, p. 84). Mentoring is multifaceted and contextual, with organisational structures influencing how the process is perceived and enacted, alongside dictating the volume of training and support mentors receive (Griffiths, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Learning the Hard Way”: Understanding the Workplace Learning of Sports Coach Mentors

Leeder

Russell

Beaumont

2019

International Sport Coaching Journal

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The purpose of this study was to understand the workplace learning of sports coach mentors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 coach mentors employed by a sport governing body (SGB) as part of a formalised mentoring programme. ‘Current’ coach mentors (n = 9) had been employed for a minimum of one year by the organisation and were all interviewed once. ‘New’ coach mentors (n = 9) were all interviewed twice, once at the start of their employment and once again 9 months later. Moreover, regional mentors (n = 8) who oversee the training and practice of the coach mentors participated in one focus group. Data were analysed thematically, with the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and relevant workplace learning literature used to support the analytical process. The findings highlight how habitus structures coach mentors’ participation in learning opportunities afforded to them in the workplace. In addition, habitus and embodied capital will impact how coach mentors interact with and interpret mentor training, whilst influencing their level of engagement with other employees. It is argued SGB social fields are crucial in the production of promoted norms and ‘legitimate’ knowledge within workplaces, which subsequently influences mentor learning. Recommendations are made for critically transformative approaches to training coach mentors.

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Power and knowledge in a coach mentoring program

Cited by 22 publications

References 23 publications

“Long ball” and “balls deep”: a critical reading of female coach-learners’ experiences of the UEFA A licence

“Long ball” and “balls deep”: a critical reading of female coach-learners’ experiences of the UEFA A licence

The reproduction of ‘coaching culture’: a Bourdieusian analysis of a formalised coach mentoring programme

“Learning the Hard Way”: Understanding the Workplace Learning of Sports Coach Mentors

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