The traditional, the ideal and the unexplored: sport coaches' social identity constructs in film

Abstract

The sport coaching construct within mainstream fiction films has been described as stereotypical, reinforcing the traditional notion of the sport coach as a technician who conquers all, or a hapless individual, open to ridicule from athletes and fans (Crosson, 2013). Although this depiction is also prevalent in some independent fiction films and documentaries, film sub genres such as social realism and 'fly on the wall' style documentaries move away from the 'Hollywood sports film structure' (Crosson, 2013) towards stories that focus on everyday coaching moments. Through a critical discourse analysis of two UK films (Bend it Like Beckham and Twenty Four Seven), both featuring sport coaches in central roles, we reflect critically on these mass media multi-dimensional representations in terms of the sport coaching professionalisation agenda in the UK and the social identification process of sport coaches within their sporting environments.