The challenge to care in a Premier League Football Club

Cronin, Colum; Knowles, Zöe; Enright, Kevin

doi:10.1080/21640629.2019.1578593

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The data here present an orthogonal relationship between the role of the coach and players' perceptions of their decisions and interactions. Coaches who were perceived by players to offer them 'tough love' were characterised as both caring for and caring about their players [39,40]. Our data are consistent with the assertions that a consideration of 'care', needs to be ecologically situated [40] and take account of the nature of the HP milieu.…”

Section: Interpersonal Dimensionssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Coaches who were perceived by players to offer them 'tough love' were characterised as both caring for and caring about their players [39,40]. Our data are consistent with the assertions that a consideration of 'care', needs to be ecologically situated [40] and take account of the nature of the HP milieu. Put simply, context is key.…”

Section: Interpersonal Dimensionssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…In contrast, the recent literature has drawn on the work of Noddings' theory of care in pedagogical relationships [38,39] to suggest a dual strand of care, where the coach should care 'for' and 'about' the athlete. To 'care for' an athlete, coaches express 'devotion and desire' to meet the needs and wants of that individual [40,41]. Such devotion is characterised by a coach's engrossment, motivational displacement and reciprocity in the coaching relationship.…”

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, others have highlighted limitations to this gentle view [41,42], suggesting that the nature of the HP milieu provides individuals with a social context where coaches may care for athletes through interactions that are harder in nature. For instance, Cronin and colleagues [40] explored the role of care within an English Premiership football environment, where the milieu was characterised as cut-throat, competitive and volatile [43,44]. They offer the conclusion that care is inherently contextual and situated within a social milieu [40].…”

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Cronin and colleagues [40] explored the role of care within an English Premiership football environment, where the milieu was characterised as cut-throat, competitive and volatile [43,44]. They offer the conclusion that care is inherently contextual and situated within a social milieu [40]. It is this view that sits in contrast to views of dichotomous perspectives of coaching practice, particularly in HP, that have suggested a separation of person and performer, with an emphasis on the former.…”

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

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Tough Love—Impactful, Caring Coaching in Psychologically Unsafe Environments

Taylor

Ashford

Collins

2022

Sports

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(1) Background: The interpersonal dimensions of coaching in high performance sport have been subject to increasing scrutiny but with limited evidence to guide practice. Similarly, there is increasing practical interest in the concept of psychological safety, often portrayed as an implicitly desirable characteristic of all sporting environments but, as yet, still to receive research attention in high performance. As a first step to addressing these deficiencies, the present study addressed two research aims: (a) to examine the extent to which matched groups of international and released professional rugby union players perceived psychological safety to be an adaptive feature of their developmental experience and (b) to understand what elements of the player’s coaching experience were perceived to be enabling or disenabling of future progress. (2) Methods: Seven rugby union players who had ‘made it’ and eight players who had been released from their professional contracts took part in a semi-structured interview exploring their developmental experiences. Data were subsequently analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. (3) Results: Both groups of players found each of their talent development and high performance environments to be psychologically unsafe. Furthermore, players perceived coaches who were the most impactful in their development as offering ‘tough love’. This included a range of ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ interpersonal approaches that presented the player with clear direction, role clarity and a sense of care. It appeared that this interpersonal approach helped the player to navigate, and benefit from, the psychologically unsafe high performance milieu. (4) Conclusions: There appear to be a number of balances for the coach in the high performance setting to navigate and a need for more nuance in applying constructs such as psychological safety.

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Section: Interpersonal Dimensionssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Interpersonal Dimensionssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Carementioning

confidence: 99%

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Tough Love—Impactful, Caring Coaching in Psychologically Unsafe Environments

Taylor

Ashford

Collins

2022

Sports

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Personal and situational factors that influence coaches’ ability to care

Gano-Overway,

Magrum,

McCall

et al. 2023

Journal of Sports Sciences

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Exploring the mental health and wellbeing of professional academy footballers in England

Sothern

O'Gorman

2021

Soccer & Society

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The mental health and wellbeing of elite footballers is beginning to receive much needed attention in research and practice terms. However, to date much of the knowledge generated and initiatives designed to improve provision for elite footballers' mental health and wellbeing is centred on adults. The mental health and wellbeing of junior footballers attached to elite development programmes have largely been overlooked. In England, this is particularly concerning given an estimated 12,500 young professional academy footballers are attached to such systems. Semi structured interviews were conducted to explore the extent to which social ties and interactions with significant others shaped the mental health and wellbeing of twelve professional academy footballers based in four category one football academies in England . Drawing on concepts derieved from symbolic interactionism, the analysis of the findings highlighted; i) the demands and expectations of their role often negatively affected emotions, ii) concealment of mental health and wellbeing issues to significant others in primary and secondary social networks, and ii) portrayals of the self-intended to foster positive relations with significant others to avoid stigmatization. Future research and practice should seek to inform and promote more effective interventions and models that more adequately support the mental health and wellbeing of professional academy footballers.

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The challenge to care in a Premier League Football Club

Abstract: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.

Cited by 12 publications

References 51 publications

Tough Love—Impactful, Caring Coaching in Psychologically Unsafe Environments

Tough Love—Impactful, Caring Coaching in Psychologically Unsafe Environments

Personal and situational factors that influence coaches’ ability to care

Exploring the mental health and wellbeing of professional academy footballers in England

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